Three Amazing Traditional Blues Guitar Tunes in Open G Tuning

by Eric Noden

Death Letter Blues by Son House

When it comes to low down Mississippi Blues played on a resonator guitar Son House is hard to beat! This track the “Death Letter Blues” is one of Son’s coolest tunes. Son’s playing approach to open G tuning is very rhythmic and most likely inspired by Charley Patton. He played almost exclusively in open G and open D tunings. If you watch this video closely you’ll see that he isn’t using fingerpicks and he’s snapping and slapping the strings to get a percussive, rhythmic effect. The use of the slide is fairly minimal in this tune used mainly to punctuate the driving groove and intense vocals. You also might want to check out “My Black Mama” which is basically another version of this tune.

Spanish Fandango by Elizabeth Cotton

Elizabeth Cotton was a guitar picker and songster from Chapel Hill, North Carolina who was best know for writing the fingerpicking classic “Freight Train”. Here she’s playing her version of the mid 1800’s guitar piece know as the “Spanish Fandango” or as she calls it the “Spanish Flang Dang”. Often the early blues guitar players referred to open G tuning as “Spanish” tuning because of this song! The tune comes from a style of music that was popular in the US in the mid 1800’s know as Parlor guitar. Note her use of multiple fingers picking with the right hand similar to a classical guitarist.

Special Rider Blues by Skip James

Skip was from Bentonia, Mississippi and had a very unique way of playing guitar and signing. The majority of his repertoire was in an open E minor tuning but this particular tune is in open G. It’s a very different approach than Son House and Elizabeth Cotton. He’s not using a slide and is playing octaves all over the neck of the guitar. The other thing that makes James stand out is his falsetto singing. Other players in the Bentonia style include Jack Owens and Jimmy “Duck” Holmes.