Romeo and Juliet Dire tune

[eyesore]

Hi I'm so stoked that I just figured the tuning out that works really well for this tune. Capo on 2nd fret; tune guitar to DADGBD [without capo] ... I used to play this with a band a million years ago and it never sounded right, but now I think I can make it work . I'll keep pluggin away... don't even know how I stumbled on this .. Had to bend your ear because nobody else would understand. Thanks for reading.

[Toucan]

Great song. Let us know when you put the final pieces together.

[jay42]

Originally Posted by eyesore

Hi I'm so stoked that I just figured the tuning out that works really well for this tune. Capo on 2nd fret; tune guitar to DADGBD [without capo] ... I used to play this with a band a million years ago and it never sounded right, but now I think I can make it work . I'll keep pluggin away... don't even know how I stumbled on this .. Had to bend your ear because nobody else would understand. Thanks for reading.

Not to be an annoyance, but live renditions are easy to find. He's got it capo'd at the third fret. I vaguely recall him saying what tuning he used in an interview. The On The Night version has a brilliant sax solo.

[JayBee1404]

Capo placing is irrelevant, it’s the tuning that matters. Once you have the tuning right, you can capo wherever fits your voice. There’s no rule that you have to do a song in the original artist’s key.

I think Mark used Open G (DGDGBD) on his National on ‘Romeo and Juliet’.

As always, the standard disclaimer applies - IMHO. However, I realise that YMMV, and I’m cool with that.

[grandstick]

Originally Posted by eyesore

Hi I'm so stoked that I just figured the tuning out that works really well for this tune. Capo on 2nd fret; tune guitar to DADGBD [without capo] ... I used to play this with a band a million years ago and it never sounded right, but now I think I can make it work . I'll keep pluggin away... don't even know how I stumbled on this .. Had to bend your ear because nobody else would understand. Thanks for reading.

This is the tuning I learned to play it in. And in my case, I too have the capo at the third fret (although I don’t have a National guitar, only a low-end Gretsch resonator ).

[eyesore]

I do have an old National steel and it sounds great but I use my OM28. I did try DGDGBD but the open G doesn't work for me.PS I also use this tuning for Midnight Rider and Black Water, no capo.

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by eyesore

Hi I'm so stoked that I just figured the tuning out that works really well for this tune. Capo on 2nd fret; tune guitar to DADGBD [without capo] ... I used to play this with a band a million years ago and it never sounded right, but now I think I can make it work . I'll keep pluggin away... don't even know how I stumbled on this .. Had to bend your ear because nobody else would understand. Thanks for reading.

Actually the tuning is DGDGBD and capo is on fret 3. You didn't have it work it out by stumbling on it, these days you can easily look it up.
https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab...t-tabs-1851504

As mentioned, you don't have to play it that way if you can get it to sound how you want some other way. It's just good to try the original. (Of course if you really wanted to get as close as possible to the original sound, you'd need to play on a resonator guitar anyway.)

[turtlejimmy]

I have a version of this with regular tuning. I can't remember where I got it, but it works for me capoed anywhere from 3 to 5. With the capo at 5 it sounds a little more like recordings I've heard but at 3 it's easier to sing.

Turtejimmy