I hope you gleaned something from last week's send out about Drop-D tuning: http://www.guitarsite.com/newsletters/991011/10.shtml?nl62

It's a whole world of new possibilities, one, as I've already mentioned, that I've adopted as my regular tuning. I love slide so much that I rarely have it off my pinky. I may only use it for a certain part of the song, but it's there. Drop-D tuning is great for that duality of playing styles. To able to play a low, chunky rhythm thing punctuated by slide stabs on the fifteenth fret is great, or finger pick the verses, play clean slide chords for the choruses, and overdriven slide for the solo. When you get all that happening, it really becomes addictive. You just can't get enough.

This week I'll show you how I see the fret board, in drop-d, with the slide on my little finger, in the key of A, then the key of Am. Keep in mind, all keys are the same. The design of the guitar gets in the way of simply moving all these patterns up or down for the other keys, but never forget that they're all the same. Once again, (a little plug) PlaneTalk, along with a plain English description of how music works and connects up, reveals the 'trick' to decoding the fretboard. Three minutes with The Guitar Slide Rule will teach you all there is to know.

Read this weeks column here:
http://www.onthenet.com.au/~kirkclan/Fbs.htm

Kirk Lorange
http://www.lorange.kirk.net.

Hear Kirk play "Georgia"
http://www.audiogalaxy.com/bands/kirk/kk.html