by Adam Levy
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It starts with a cowbell and ends with a horn section, but in between, the Rolling Stones’ “Honky Tonk Women” is all about Keith Richards’ open-G country-rock riffing. In the verse sections, Richards leans heavy on the downbeats, keeping the chords bone-simple. Richards fills the gaps in Mick Jagger’s vocal lines (bars 3 and 4, and 7 and 8 ) with sly double- and triple-stop jabs, giving the verses a bluesy call-and-response shape. My favorite bit, though, is the down-and-dirty major-pentatonic phrase at the end of bar 8.
It’s possible to approximate “Honky Tonk Women” in standard tuning, of course, but it is so much more fun to play in open-G (low to high: D, G, D, G, B, D). From standard tuning, you’ll need to tune your low E down to D, your A down to G, and your high E down to D. If you’re an open-tunings newbie, don’t panic. Open-G is a relatively easy one to get comfortable with, as the three middle strings—D, G, and B—remain unchanged. To nail the funky feel of the original, put your pick down and play with your bare fingers.
Video Guitar Lesson
A longtime friend of the ‘Fire, Adam Levy has been unlocking the