Mitchell Tunings tab by Joni Mitchell

Guitar tabs

JONI MITCHELL TUNINGS
            -----------------------------


                        written by Howard Wright
                        [email protected]



I thought I'd put together a little piece on Joni's tunings because I've
recently worked out quite a few of the tunings she uses, and it's easier
to list them all in one place than try to TAB them all separately.

I hope to get round to tabbing at least a couple of the songs mentioned
in full, but it takes time so I thought I'd write this first to give the
basic info.

Two 'standard' tunings which she has used quite a bit are the open G+G and
open D MajorD tunings.


Open G+G is (from low to hight) : DGDGBD

Open D MajorD is (low to high)    : DADF#AD


I say 'standard' tunings because these have been used by a lot of people.
The open G+G tuning is used a hell of a lot by Keith Richards for example.


Another favourite of hers is a variation on the open D MajorD which I call the
Dadd9Dadd9 tuning.

It is  : DAEF#AD


There are also a couple of other tunings I've worked out, though I've only
found her using them on one particular song.


Anyway, here is a list of songs with their appropriate tunings. I hope to add
to this list as I work out more songs, but I've got a feeling that she has a
small number of tunings which she uses on a lot of different songs, rather than
inventing a new tuning for every new song.
If you play around a bit you might start to get the song worked out for yourself
- once you've got the right tuning, things are a lot easier !

Thanks also to Jared White for sending some tunings he knew, and to Jimfre Bacal
for sending some others (courtesy of Patrick Willoughby).

 Tuning      SONG         Album
---------------------------------------------------------------


C majorC G+G Bb majorBb Eb MajorEb FF Bb majorBb :

        Sex Kills       Turbulent Indigo


D MajorD A augmentedA E MajorE F#F# A augmentedA D MajorD :

        Sunny Sunday      Turbulent Indigo

        Passion Play      Night Ride Home

        Cherokee Louise    Night Ride Home

        Night Ride Home    Night Ride Home


 D MajorD A augmentedA E MajorE G+G C majorC E MajorE :

        Furry Sings the    Hejira
           Blues

        Jericho        Don Juan's Reckless
                     Daughter


C majorC G+G D MajorD FF C majorC E MajorE :

        Coyote         Hejira

        Woman of Heart and   For the Roses
         Mind

        Don Juan's       Don Juan's ...
         Reckless Daughter


C majorC G+G D MajorD FF G+G C majorC :

        Chalk mark in a    Chalk Mark in a
         Rainstorm no. 1     Rainstorm

        Cool Water       Chalk Mark in a
                     Rainstorm

        Hejira         Hejira


D MajorD A augmentedA D MajorD F#F# A augmentedA D MajorD :

        Free Man In Paris   Court And Spark

        People's Parties    Court And Spark

        Michael From      Joni Mitchell
         Mountains

        Cactus Tree      Joni Mitchell

        Night in the City   Joni Mitchell

        Pirate of Penzance   Joni Mitchell

        Both Sides now     Clouds

        Chelsea Morning    Clouds

        You turn me on     For the roses


D MajorD A augmentedA D MajorD E MajorE A augmentedA D MajorD :

        I had a King      Joni Mitchell


D MajorD G+G D MajorD G+G BB D MajorD :

        Don't Interrupt    Hissing of Summer
         The Sorrow       Lawns

        Nathan La Franeer   Joni Mitchell

        Little Green     Blue

        For the roses     For the roses

        Marcie        Joni Mitchell

        Circle Game      Ladies of the Canyon

        Morning Morgantown  Ladies of the canyon


BB F#F# BB E MajorE A augmentedA E MajorE :

        Magdalen Laundries  Turbulent Indigo





 Remember that you can tune down and then use a capo to get the same sound

- so instead of tuning to open D MajorD (DADF#AD), you could tune to open C majorC (CGCEGC)
 then put a capo on the 2nd fret.


I've tabbed 'Free Man in Paris' and 'People's Parties' already - check out
Nevada for those (but use a mirror site !)

If you have any trouble finding them I can mail them to you

I hope to TAB some of the others soon


Howard