Hello all! Some advice on a Joe Walsh tune? Driving me nuts

[sotvomike]

Hey people! There are a pair of Joe Walsh James Gang tunes that are driving me crazy trying to figure out. The songs are called Again, and Collage. Both are acoustic and I know they are open-tuning. You can really hear when Joe hits the bass strings hard and that low D just growls on the groove section in Again. Some have told me he liked to play in open G but I tried it and it didn't sound even close. I could kind of come up with a tuning on Collage, but it sounded like the recording was a slight bit off so I don't even know what I winged it to.

Anyways, if there are any expert open tuners here, any advice or lead would be greatly appreciated!

[tinsmith]

I thought he was an open E-D guy

Actually nothing would surprise me....he's capable of going anywhere......I know he doesn't like to play slide in standard tuning...He'll play with two guitars instead..

[sotvomike]

I thought he was an open E-D guy

Actually nothing would surprise me....he's capable of going anywhere......I know he doesn't like to play slide in standard tuning...He'll play with two guitars instead..

I toyed with the open-D and open-E, but the problem is that the song Again is in B and just uses B and F#. I tried tuning again what I thought was close but it sounded nothing close. So frustrating. I can hear that low string really resonating but for the life of me can't figure out that open tuning.

[Alan Green]

It's always possible the guitar is:

1 - out of tune on the recording. The instructions at the top of the page for pre-Walsh Eagles song Take It Easy read "Tune guitar slightly flat"

2 - using an iffy reference frequency. We normally tune to A=440, but it wasn't always like that and my tuner here can cope with everything from A=390 to A=480 which will cover almost any possibility from the last 500 years. Maybe the original recording was just using a non-current starting point.

I'd suggest option 1 as the more likely

[the breeze]

Just looking at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSv9Sdo3VLw (collage)

Sounds to me like open D. If you listen to the first upward strum though there is no third, I think he is holding the third string third fret. However if you listen to the 12th fret harmonics you will hear the second and third strings in open D.
From "The Best of Joe Walsh and The James Gang" the opening is open D again, third string third fret hammering on to fret 5.

Sorry can't find any reference to a song "again".

[the breeze]

Just found Again:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcbgaDu22UA&feature=plcp

It's D minor scale so try D minor tuning, though this recording is tuned slightly sharp.

Regards.