Barry Gibb plays in open D?

[LouieAtienza]

So I was watching "In Their Own Words," a documentary about the Bee Gees as told by Barry, Robin, and Maurice. While there are scenes where Barry (and Maurice) seem to be playing in standard tuning, I did notice toward the end Barry possibly using open D. Watching the entire film again, I noticed he did this pretty early on, and likely taught Andy to play in this way too (Andy does a 3 or 4 string barre with his THUMB in one scene!) Just wondering if anyone played their songs with open D tuning; I was playing standard tuning and using a capo where necessary...

[LouieAtienza]

I suppose I'm the only guy here that likes to play Bee Gee's songs? 120 views and no comment?!

Watched "One Night Only" recently, and Barry definitely plays open D, though some of the fingerings for the chords he plays (other than major chords) elude me a little, because of some of the somewhat uncomfortable fingerings (for me at least.) I know he was starting to suffer from arthritis and bad back then (he had a wrist support on as well.)

[VTexan]

...but I'm of the DISCO SUCKS era. I never ever ever liked it. Never will.

I did kinda like NIGHTS ON BROADWAY and a couple of other songs they did. And there's no denying they were quite talented. I just don't like their particular talent.

[Mandobart]

The Bee Gees were formed in 1958 and put out 13 albums before disco. Although I too never cared for disco, they can't be written off as just a disco band.

[VTexan]

Read my second paragraph.

And really, your opinion is yours to have and enjoy. That I have another is no big whoop.

(insert peace sign here)

[LouieAtienza]

Originally Posted by VTexan

...but I'm of the DISCO SUCKS era. I never ever ever liked it. Never will.

I did kinda like NIGHTS ON BROADWAY and a couple of other songs they did. And there's no denying they were quite talented. I just don't like their particular talent.

No, li won't be playing Night Fever at my next acoustic jam!

But, they were a pop/rock band till about '72, then had the r&b era from then to about '76, rode the disco wave to '80... and when they couldn't perform as the Bee Gees due to over-saturation, they wrote #1 hits for other artists. And really, they were not technically "disco" though they'll forever be linked to that era... the lyrics are a bit too meaningful to be labeled "disco."

[GCWaters]

They wrote some great songs:
https://youtu.be/nV2vp-U4jrg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[LouieAtienza]

Great songs to play with acoustic accompaniment:

New York Mining Disaster
To Love Somebody
Words
I Got To Get A Message To You
I Can't See Nobody
How Can You Mend A Broken Heart
Run To Me
First Of May
Spicks And Specks
I Started A Joke
Massachusetts
Every Christian Lion-Hearted Man
World
(basically the entire Best Of Bee Gees 1 album)

Those are all from their pre-1970 era

forgot to add
Morning Of My Life

[jseth]

They made a huge splash in Southern California in the mid-60's when I was a kid... I really liked a bunch of their songs... especially the "NY Mining Disaster", but there were many more great songs. As someone pointed out, pretty much their entire first record were hit songs!

I was actually surprised to hear them doing the whole "Disco" thing... although I was not a fan of that era, there was no denying how infectious the Bee Gees' "Saturday Night Fever" stuff was...

[Denny B]

I remember watching an interview of the Bee Gees many years ago...

They were asked what was their first impression when they listened to the music they'd recorded for Saturday Night Fever...

They all laughed and said they thought it sounded like the sound track to a bad porn movie...

Then they broke into "how DEEP is your love, how DEEP is your love".....

[Joscefi78]

I have "The Bee Gees Guitar Songbook" which shows everything in standard tuning but for one song in Dropped D.

[LouieAtienza]

Originally Posted by Joscefi78

I have "The Bee Gees Guitar Songbook" which shows everything in standard tuning but for one song in Dropped D.

Interesting...

I actually tuned one guitar to open D and was able to figure out most the chord shapes Barry used. Looking back again, he used this tuning on most all their songs. I ended up re-learning many of the songs I learned playing in standard tuning. They sound a bit more "true" to the original work now - I was playing the correct chords before, but the "voicings" would never match up to my ears, as much they do now for me.

[LouieAtienza]

So from what I can observe, Barry does not barre the 6 strings for a major chord. Instead he uses middle, ring, and pinkie, barring 2 strings with each. (Example in E) (Open D tuning DADF#AD)

2 (p)
2 (p)
2 (r)
2 (r)
2 (m)
2 (m)

I thought it looked uncomfortable till I tried it... not bad, and easier to switch to a different fingering as opposed to from a barre. Barry plays more horizontally than vertically on the neck.

Seventh chord can be made by barring the strings with the index and using the pinkie three frets up on wither string 2 or 5. though not in Barry's style.

Major seventh chords can be played like this: (example in Emaj7)

2 (p)
2 (p)
2 (r)
1 (i)
X
2 (t)

For most minor chords he plays this shape: (example in Em)

2 (p)
2 (r)
1 (I)
2 (m)
X
2 (t)

From what I can tell he usually omits the thumb, and on Dm (10th fret) he looks to strum the open 5th and 6th strings.

For Bm he plays this:

O
2 (r)
O
O
2 (m)
X

As you can see, this can be made major by adding the index on fret 1 string 4. It is also moveable if you barre with the index leaving the other fingers to fret the other notes. (example in C#, C#m):

X
4 (p)
2 (i)
3 (m)
4 (r)
X

X
4 (p)
2 (i)
2 (i)
4 (r)
X


I have not seen Barry use these moveable shapes, however.

As to the right hand, he does some strumming with just his thumb (like many of their early ballads, and even Jive Talkin'), and a pick on other songs. Also noticed on some slower songs he strums UP on the down beat.

This is pretty much most of it as I can tell, and I've been able to play all my favorite songs using the patterns above. Pretty easy once I got the hang of changing from major to minor cleanly. I've even worked many of my strummed repertoire using open D for fun. The Bee Gees only managed to write 9 #1 singles (including 6 in a row!) for themselves with Barry using this technique and written/produced 6 more...

[Ben1979]

Hi Everyone I saw this thread and was hoping someone could provide me with the guitar chords (in normal tuning) to Too Much Heaven and the strumming pattern.
I'm a big fan and I really want to get this down.
The way it's played in the concert One Night Only.
Thanks in Advance