Language of the Blues - Edmonton Blues Society

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he knew. When he came back he made some songs in this tuning but never recorded. He
showed them [the songs] to [Skip] James. They played together a lot during the twenties.
Johnny Temple said he was really a fine guitarist, people didn't realize, almost as good
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James used the eerie-sounding cross-note tuning to great effect in such spooky recordings
cross-note in E minor for most of his songs, he also played cross-note in D minor, and
Songs:
- Skip James (Nehemiah Curtis James)
- Skip James
C R OSS-SPA NISH
In cross-Spanish tuning, the guitar is tuned to E major (E B E G# B E). If you strum the
guitar without fretting any notes, you will sound an E major chord. Cross-Spanish tuning
is popular with slide players because simply by fretting straight across the neck with the
slide, you can play major chords. Son House
Many Delta blues bottleneck players also used Spanish tuning, which is open G (D G D
G B D). You can hear Spanish tuning on recordings by Son House, Robert Johnson
Robert Johnson used an open A tuning (E A E A C# E), which is sometimes referred to
- although, more traditionally, Spanish tuning is D G D G B D. Johnson used
to in order to achieve the higher pitched sound of an open B tuning. Delta blues players
used a lot of creative tunings, and guitarists are still puzzling over some of Robert
Songs:
- Robert Johnson
- Elmore James
C R OSSR O A DS
The crossroads is the place where two or more roads intersect. It symbolizes the point at
demons, and make a life-altering decision. The exceptionally gifted blues artist Robert
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