Traveling with Guitar

Adirondacks '12

I've written about my travel guitar a few times since getting it last year, and I still couldn't be more pleased with it. It's been exactly what I envisioned it would be - a guitar that I can toss in the car whenever I'm going anywhere that I might have some time to sit down and play. So far, it's gone to the River many times, Ocean City, MD twice, Staunton, VA a few times, and it accompanied us on our Adirondacks hiking trip last year. (As an aside, I'm very sad that I won't be able to bring it to Maine next month, as we're flying.)

I realized after a couple of lazy afternoons sitting out by the river and playing, that I tend to go through a pattern of tunings and songs, which I'll document here mostly so I can look back later and see how the pattern changes over time.

Standard Tuning, no capo
The Needle and the Damage Done (Neil Young)
Babe I'm Gonna Leave You (Led Zeppelin)
Scarborough Fair (Simon and Garfunkel)
Feelin' Groovy (S&G)
Blackbird (Beatles)
Guaranteed (Eddie Vedder)
Norwegian Wood (Beatles)
Rainy Night in Georgia (Brook Benton)
Across the Universe (Beatles)

Standard Tuning, capo 2
America (Simon and Garfunkel)

Standard Tuning, capo 3
Catch the Wind (Donovan)
Something in the Way She Moves (James Taylor)

Standard Tuning, capo 7
Here Comes the Sun (Beatles)
Hotel California (Eagles)

Drop-D Tuning
Harvest Moon (Neil Young)

Double Drop-D Tuning
Going to California (Led Zeppelin)

Ocean City '13

Open-G Tuning
That's the Way (Led Zeppelin)

Open-G Tuning, capo 2
Morning Morgantown (Joni Mitchell)

DADGAD Tuning
No Quarter (Led Zeppelin)
Kashmir (Led Zeppelin)

This isn't to say that I can play all these songs well - some are very much works-in-progress - but I think they're all at least recognizable to someone who knows the song.

The pic at right was taken from the beach at Ocean City. It was after our nightly walk on the boardwalk, and I was playing while Darling Wife and Chris walked on the beach. Since I have the capo on the 7th fret, that means I'm playing either "Here Comes the Sun" or "Hotel California."