Chet / Kentucky in CGDGBE tuning

[Doug Working]

That was VERY nice of you! I know I appreciate it, and I'll bet I'm not the only one!

Since I have my guitar tuned down, I just kind of went crazy, trying out other Chet arrangements that I always loved. I went back and re-learned "Yellow Bird," (not sure if I mentioned that) some tunes from the "Alone" album, and today I went back to "Cindy Oh Cindy," which is one of my favorites. I got it better than I had in the past, because I really, really listened close. I can pretty much nail it.

In a way, the alternate tunings make a lot of songs easier to play. You don't need a lot of knuckebusting chords, because the bass is right there handy for you. You can play triads or two note chords on the higher strings, and have a handy dandy bass note to fill out the chord, and keeping a bouncy rythym going is not too hard, either, because the notes are so made to order.

I counted a total of eight different tunings that Chet used, the most common being dropped D, of which I counted 39 times he used it.

Some others he only used once, such as CGCEGC for "BlackJack," and DADF#AD for "The Odd Folks Of Ocracoke."

I think the most difficult part, strange to say, is to recall exactly which tuning goes for each particular tune. Don't do much good to try to do an arrangement that requires a low C bass, when your guitar is tuned to low D.

Sounds bad folks! "Uh, pardon me folks, while I re-tune my guitar!"

Take it from me. I've done that in front of a crowd.