Mitchell Tunings Chords

JONI MITCHELL TUNINGS
                        -----------------------------
 
                                               written by Howard Wright
                                               spxhaw@uk.ac.cf.thor
 
 
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 and
open D tunings.
 
 
Open G is (from low to hight) : DGDGBD
 
Open D is (low to high)       : DADF#AD
 
 
I say 'standard' tunings because these have been used by a lot of people.
The open 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 which I call the
Dadd9 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 G Bb Eb F Bb :
 
                Sex Kills              Turbulent Indigo
 
 
D A E F# A D :
 
                Sunny Sunday           Turbulent Indigo
 
                Passion Play           Night Ride Home
 
                Cherokee Louise        Night Ride Home
 
                Night Ride Home        Night Ride Home
 
 
 D A E G C E :
 
                Furry Sings the        Hejira
                     Blues
 
                Jericho                Don Juan's Reckless
                                         Daughter
 
 
C G D F C E :
 
                Coyote                 Hejira
 
                Woman of Heart and     For the Roses
                  Mind
 
                Don Juan's             Don Juan's ...
                  Reckless Daughter
 
 
C G D F G C :
 
                Chalk mark in a        Chalk Mark in a
                  Rainstorm no. 1         Rainstorm
 
                Cool Water             Chalk Mark in a
                                         Rainstorm
 
                Hejira                 Hejira
 
 
D A D F# A D :
 
 
 
                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 A D E A D :
 
                I had a King           Joni Mitchell
 
D A D G B D:
 
                Free Man In Paris      Court And Spark
 
D G D G B D :
 
                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
 
 
B F# B E A E :
 
                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 (DADF#AD), you could tune to open C (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
X