From: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org (JMDL Digest) To: joni-digest@smoe.org Subject: JMDL Digest V2014 #335 Reply-To: joni@smoe.org Sender: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk Unsubscribe:mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe Website:http://jonimitchell.com JMDL Digest Friday, February 28 2014 Volume 2014 : Number 335 ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- RE: tunings ["Susan E. McNamara" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2014 20:27:44 +0000 From: "Susan E. McNamara" Subject: RE: tunings Wasn't that Jazz festival performance in New Orleans one of her first gigs in over 10 years? I would have loved to have been there!!! :) Susan Tierney McNamara email: sem8@cornell.edu From: Michael Paz [mailto:michael@thepazgroup.com] Sent: Friday, February 28, 2014 1:47 PM To: Susan E. McNamara Cc: Dave Blackburn; JMDL JMDL Subject: Re: tunings I did record that night. I do not know if Dave will ever do anything with those recordings. I remember that period you are talking about and saw her a couple of times here in New Orleans and I agree that it was a great time for her guitar playing. On Feb 28, 2014, at 11:16 AM, Susan E. McNamara wrote: Of course, I completely agree that you can play these songs in the same way in different tunings as long as you are getting the same sound (I used argue with my ex about that all the time). For me it's always been "how is Joni playing it" more from a desire to really get into her creative spirit ... plus the tunings are such a great puzzle ... So I would say playing it how you want to play it as long as it sounds true to the song, or playing it just as Joni plays it in her tunings and her picking/strumming style are both completely valid ... plus I've been to Mutts concerts and there is everything right in the way Dave and Robin perform these songs!! I wish I had a recording of Friday night at Pazfest III in New Orleans (Dawntreader ... ahhh). I did get my book and turned immediately to Sweet Bird, which is one of the songs I'll be playing at the Joni tribute here in Ithaca on March 8. I think Joel's version is a bit simplified and has a number of differences from Marian's tab (which I'm using). He doesn't use the 10th and 8th fret fingerings at the end of the verses, which I think sounds better (and I agree with Marian that Joni plays it that way). Otherwise, it's the correct tuning and the chord shapes he uses are true to Joni's style. I just want to describe an experience I had the other day driving in my car, to illustrate why I love the way Joni Mitchell plays guitar. For me, one of the greatest periods of her mature performances was pre- VG8 when she was doing small venues to promote Turbulent Indigo, and my favorite example is the Gene Autry Museum Radio concert, January 26, 1995. She is constantly fussing with the tunings and explains about her Irish ear (listening in a lower frequency) and begging the audience to be patient. And the patience pays off because in each song she performs the guitar sings like a chorus of chimes ... but she does something in the middle of Facelift that really floored me ... she plays an interlude of variations on the same chord for a couple of minutes that sounds like an aural version of a rushing mountain stream ... that's the type of creativity that sends me ... that's why I think Joni Mitchell is a genius ... Susan Tierney McNamara email: sem8@cornell.edu - -----Original Message----- From: Dave Blackburn [mailto:beatntrack@att.net] Sent: Friday, February 28, 2014 1:14 AM To: Susan E. McNamara; JMDL JMDL Subject: Re: tunings I think that if the sonorities and the voicings are right, the tuning/fingering is a matter of preference, or on-stage convenience in my case. For example, I play Furry in drop D; It's the same notes as Joni's version but I can get into the tuning faster than using Joni's and the guitar is happier because the neck is not being torqued in a way that it was not built for. Same idea with Electricity and Cold Blue Steel which I do in double drop D, For the Roses in standard etc. For me Joni's exact tuning is not as much her cool innovation as her voicings, and those can be played in different ways, in many cases. Sometimes she chose a tuning that let her play the chords with one or two fingers, so ease was a factor; apparently her polio experience left her hand strength weaker. One another, but related note, I bet Joni would have loved having a baritone guitar, which are now commonplace but were rare in her heyday. All those slack strings and pitchy intonation issues go away when the guitar is meant to be dropped down a third or fourth. I played Hejira on a Brazilian rosewood baritone once and it was a whole different thing having it in tune. Dave On Feb 27, 2014, at 2:11 PM, Susan E. McNamara > wrote: I got my book yesterday but didn't get a chance to look at it yet. It is my understanding that Joel Bernstein, Joni's long time guitar technician, compiled and produced the book with Joni's imprimatur. Joni has said many times that she depended on Joel to keep an archive of her tunings because she didn't have time or the inclination to cling to old songs past! Although I stand behind some of the tried and true transcriptions on the JM.com site, I believe that there will be more than a couple differences between what we've come up with and what Joel believes is the way Joni played it. Plus I may be pleasantly surprised and find that, oh, maybe Joel got this one right and I'm wrong. I'm OK with that too. It's all a beautiful and fun process and I don't think we will be done soon studying our sublime Queen of Tunings. :-) ------------------------------ End of JMDL Digest V2014 #335 ***************************** ------- To post messages to the list,sendtojoni@smoe.org. Unsubscribe by clicking here: mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe -------