Suite Judy Blue Eyes - Woodstock Live

Just listened to the live Woodstock version of Suite Judy Blue Eyes. What a freakin' great acoustic guitar sound. That was a Martin, right? My day has been made.

I don't know about that version, but for the studio album Stills tuned, lo-hi, E-E-E-E-B-E. Try it, it really works!

He also did 4+20 with this tuning.

Not bad for a first gig...
Martin, yes.

EzF_MoXOU1E

Crosby's eyes look like fresh donut glaze

D28, if I'm not mistaken.

No fancy transducer/piezo/internal/superduper/newfangled whatever, just an SM58 (unless I miss my guess).

I believe D-28 but doesn't matter much considering the impact of sound reinforcement...but that is one great song.

A fun "lite" version of this tuning is to just drop your third (G) string down to the low E note, and leave the rest standard. You can do convincing versions of said Stills songs and, playing around with your first position and bar chord fingerings, discover some neat dark Celtic-like chord inversions.

Not bad for a first gig...




Second gig. First gig was in Chicago.

"This is only the second time we've performed in front of people. We're scared sh-tless."

Second gig. First gig was in Chicago.

"This is only the second time we've performed in front of people. We're scared sh-tless."

Still...

Funny they would be afraid as they all were previously in other successful groups. Buffalo Springfield, Bryds and Hollies come to mind. Of course staring down 500K people might have some effect.

I don't know about that version, but for the studio album Stills tuned, lo-hi, E-E-E-E-B-E. Try it, it really works!

He also did 4+20 with this tuning.

I have always thought that the song was done in open E..
E
B
G#
E
B
E

IN this tuning, all of the chords work. I will try this odd ''bunch of E's"
tuning, but I already know that the A7sus11 that occurs right before the lyrics "you make it hard" occur will be hard if not impossible to do. And....the way that chord falls in open E is definitely what occurs in the song.The chord movement that adds the sus4 and the 6th to the A and the B chords in the chorus would be difficult to hit, also, in that bunch of E's tuning. I have seen the song written out...maybe in GP in the '70's, and it was in open E.

IN open E tuning....
A chord with the added sus4 and 6th...
5..5..5..5
5..5..5..5
5..6..6..5.
5..5..5..5..
5..7..7..5.
5..5..5..5.

The B moves this up to the 7th fret.

The A7sus11 is formed....

5
8
6
5
5
5


The intro works in both of those tunings becasue it takes place on the first two strings...E and B. I hear a complete E chord when I listen to this song....not just the 'power chord' 1st and 5th intervals. When they hit the harmonic chord at the 12th fret, the chord has the 3rd as well as the 1 and 5.
That G# needs to be there, to my ear.

Okay...I jsut tuned to that "bunch of E's " chord.. that isn't it for my ear. YMMV......but Ihave been listening to this song for over 40 years and playing it almost as long. You can't do---on one guitar----what needs to be done unless you are in 'conventional' open E.

There are two guitars playing it...

Listen to the drone under the the single note lead. You'll hear the many E's.

CSN are an American treasure.

David is like Yoda......with a guitar.......and a few more freaky stories. We love him.

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k106/johnlg-2006/JohnCourtneyCroz-B.jpg

Martin, as I noted, if you want to play this song as a solo/one guitar performer AND realize the chords that are made out of however many guitars are on the recordings, the conventional open E gets it done...whereas that bunch of E's tuning prevents one from hitting the chords that are the dramatic points of this song...ime. Try the way I have it laid out....as one guitarist. Then see if you can hit those same chords...which are part of the original song no matter how many guitars are on that recording....in that bunch of E's tuning. It ain't happening.

Okay. I agree...if you're solo the open E tuning is the way to go for Judy Blue Eyes, (4+20 though works the other way.)

There's a live Stills album where he does 4+20 and Crossroads with the EEEEBE tuning solo.

EEEEBE is correct.. It's called "Bruce Palmer" tuning....named after Bruce Palmer of the Buffalo Springfield

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suite:_Judy_Blue_Eyes

4 and 20 doesnt' have those cool 'accent' chords that Judy Blue Eyes does.
IF...only if.... you want to play the song as a solo guitarist AND you want to have the song sound something like the song sounds with however many other gutiars are recorded there, traditional open E gets it done. YOu jsut cant' get to those chords out of that bunch of E's tuning.
I started using the open E becasue that is what I read that was used....adn it gets the intro done. I found those other chords....adn those are what really make the song stand out. Without those chords, it is just another open E song droning on.

FYI:
There's a great pre-CSN version available on CD: Stephen Stills Just Roll Tape. Apparently he got the engineer to record him with his Martin after a Judy Collins session in 1968. Got him retuning between songs, etc. If you're a CSN or Stephen Stills fan, it's worth finding.