"easy" song's to learn in open tuning's

[jd-drafter]

sorry for the hackish request but as the title say's- i am looking for a few basic song's to learn- i have been strumming and finger picking a bit but i need to try and get some actual song sounding music out.. to get over the hump of transitioning from playing around/noodling to actually playing a tune the wife or other's might recognize.

 

not i know that the open tuning may be a drawback but my dad has been playing them for 40 years and i really enjoy the options they provide. so why don't i get some pointers from my dad? because he has a very set sound- lot's of blues and such that nobody would really know by ear unless they were a blues person- maybe a weak excuse but it's all i have. 8^)

 

open E is the favored tuning- but open D and G are nice as well- even open A-

 

any how- i have also been looking on youtube and other places- and thought this might be a good place to drop a line as well...

 

thanks ahead of time or any ideas- and i beg the pardon of anyone this may irritate.

 

play on...

[eddieboston2]

How about Elizabeth Cotten's Flang Dang? (Also called Fandango.) That's in open G. Hard Time Killing Floor Blues, by Skip James, is in open E minor, which is strange but sounds awesomely eerie.

[jd-drafter]

thanks- i know cotton had an interesting "cotton pickin'" style - thumb and index finger only i think- and i do like freight train... although her as a lefty playing a righty strung guitar throuw's a curve in there... 8^)

[brahmz118]

Here's a popular tune that I arranged in Open G:

[eflat]

How do you insert TAB like that?

And OP I think you need to edit your post - you've put "open is the favoured tuning", don't you mean for example "open E is the favoured tuning"???

[LiveMusic]

He inserted the tab by using the CODE BB tag.

[Freeman Keller]

Open G is often called "Spanish" tuning after the song Spanish Fandango, but there are a ton of great songs that work in that tuning. Many many blues songs - both bottleneck and fretted (Walkin' Blues, Roll'n'Tumble, etc), lots of Leo Kottke and John Fahey songs (Vaseline Machine Gun, Sailors Grave, Crow River Waltz, Jesu-Joy of Man's Desiring, Steamboat Gwen Round the Bend...), some versions of old standards - Amazing Grace sounds, well, amazing and Will the Circle Be Unbroken works too. Black Mountain Rag and Big Mountain Sunrise (two very different songs) are in open G. Remember that open A is just G up two frets - many electric players prefer it but tuning up is a little hard on your git.

Open D, also called Vestapol, has a song by that name. There are also a lot of blues in D - both slide and fretted. Police Dog Blues, Dark Was the Night, Steel Guitar Rag and many more. Fahey, Cooder and Kottke used it - Poor Boy 'long Way From Home, Watermellon, Echoing Gilowitz are in D, along with Duane Allman's Little Martha. Most of Kelly Joe Phelps stuff is in open D. Open E is the same tuning, only up two, and like A, is more an electric tuning, but the songs are the same.

Open it up and have some fun

[Queequeg]

If you'll permit me to make the same recommendation to you as I did for another earlier today...

Mel Bay American Treasures: Early American Ballads, Hymns, & Songs of Patriotism for Solo Guitar. by Phillip Lester

(with an endorsement by Christopher Parkening)

I have gotten a lot of use out of this book and I highly recommend it.

from amazon.com...

Book Description

These solo fingerstyle guitar arrangements cover a wide spectrum of American music. They include early hymns of the pilgrims, American Revolutionary war tunes, British folk ballads that later became colonial pop songs, sea chanteys, spirituals, Civil War tunes, pioneer frontier ballads, military hymns, and songs of patriotism. They were selected for their heartfelt melodies and their adaptability for solo instrumental guitar. While these arrangements seek to tap the rich polyphonic nature of the guitar, players of all levels will enjoy them and be richly rewarded with the music that is unleashed here. This collection offers an extensively researched musical snapshot of early America and a reminder of the amazing heritage of this great country. Written in standard notation and tablature. There is also an accompanying CD in this package.

[jd-drafter]

thank you all- great suggestions...

 

and i did edit the OP- sorry it was late 8^)