Definitely.

Thanks!

I know the acoustic sets of the 90's had him in open tunings.

Found this: http://www.learningguitarnow.com/blog/slide-guitar/learn-to-play-slide-guitar-like-dickey-betts/

Blooby

The simplicity and structure of the riffs he plays are the first clue and on the Winterland '73 recording, you hear Gregg tell the audience right after "Wasted words" & "Done somebody wrong"...."We got a little tightening up to do"....as you hear Dickey change the tuning back to standard for OWO.

Dickey played slide in open E on most of the 70's stuff ("Aint' Wasting Time", "Wasted Words", "Sweet Mama", "Crazy Love", etc.). There's a lick he repeatedly opened tunes with during the 1970s Great Southern and Arista-eras which is a pretty stand open E lick.

If memory serves, "Pony Boy" is in open D, which is the same as E, but two steps lower, which is pretty common for acoustic players wanting to get rich bass end and relieve string pressure on the neck. plus D can be a little sweeter ("Little Martha" is in open D).

"Midnight Blues" and "Come on in my Kitchen" were in open G.

I've always really liked Dickey's slide playing, both acoustic and electric. It doesn't have the grace or Duane or the experimentation of Derek, but it was nice and swampy - really underrated.

The simplicity and structure of the riffs he plays are the first clue and on the Winterland '73 recording, you hear Gregg tell the audience right after "Wasted words" & "Done somebody wrong"...."We got a little tightening up to do"....as you hear Dickey change the tuning back to standard for OWO.

Yeah, it looks from photos and the tone that Dickey kept using his Les Paul from 72-76, but took a page from Duane and used an SG for slide tunes by the time of Enlightened Rogues and Arista tours.

Dickey played slide in open E on most of the 70's stuff ("Aint' Wasting Time", "Wasted Words", "Sweet Mama", "Crazy Love", etc.). There's a lick he repeatedly opened tunes with during the 1970s Great Southern and Arista-eras which is a pretty stand open E lick.

If memory serves, "Pony Boy" is in open D, which is the same as E, but two steps lower, which is pretty common for acoustic players wanting to get rich bass end and relieve string pressure on the neck. plus D can be a little sweeter ("Little Martha" is in open D).

"Midnight Blues" and "Come on in my Kitchen" were in open G.

I've always really liked Dickey's slide playing, both acoustic and electric. It doesn't have the grace or Duane or the experimentation of Derek, but it was nice and swampy - really underrated.

Is little Martha in open d? I always thought it was open e.. That's how I play it anyway...

I always thought it was in open E.

Little Martha is in open E, and open D is one whole step lower than E, not two.

Little Martha is in open E, and open D is one whole step lower than E, not two.

Ah, I stand corrected, was trying to remember off of the top of my head - it's in E. Actually, the original recording sounds like it was slightly sped up, because it's between E and E#. And yes, one step, for some reason I started to type two frets, and wrote steps.

because it's between E and E#.

which is not to be confused with F. 😉

Both little Martha and Blue Sky are tuned to a relative A444 if you set your electric tuner to A444 and tune your guitar either standard for Blue Sky or open E you'll be in tune with those tunes.

We usually tune to A440 but they speed the tape up to make both songs sound a little more upbeat and it raised the tuning to A444

Try it

because it's between E and E#.

which is not to be confused with F. 😉

Ha, indeed, apparently it is. 😉

Dickey's slide playing back 72-73 etc had a raw edginess that I love hearing. In the context of soldiering on less Duane, and mustering a playing he never did in concert, it is heroic in nature and humbles me to hear. I don't put it in any frame of context other than that (rather than compare slide genius among the greats) and it is always inspiring to hear, thinking of that empty mic stand next to GA.....

Generally I think Dickey is much better on acoustic slide than electric. In studio settings his electric work easily finds its mark, but live it always feels to me that on the songs where Duane played slide his playing leaves something to be desired. Maybe its my weird way of looking at it but it almost sounds like he's playing in the spaces Duane left silent.

Both little Martha and Blue Sky are tuned to a relative A444 if you set your electric tuner to A444 and tune your guitar either standard for Blue Sky or open E you'll be in tune with those tunes.

We usually tune to A440 but they speed the tape up to make both songs sound a little more upbeat and it raised the tuning to A444

Try it

If you don't mind, could you explain what you're talking about with A444?

Both little Martha and Blue Sky are tuned to a relative A444 if you set your electric tuner to A444 and tune your guitar either standard for Blue Sky or open E you'll be in tune with those tunes.

We usually tune to A440 but they speed the tape up to make both songs sound a little more upbeat and it raised the tuning to A444

Try it

If you don't mind, could you explain what you're talking about with A444?

I'll try....We tune to A440 and all the strings on your guitar are tuned relative to that hertz level. If you can set your tuner to A444 and tune your guitar you will be relative to that hertz level....and both those songs are at A444 because of the tape speed change. Now with digital we can change the tempo of a song without affecting the pitch level. With a tape you can't if you speed it up the hertz level goes up relative to the speed

All notes have a 100 cent range we collectively decided A should be at 440HZ....before 1935 or so it was at 435HZ....European symphonies tune to A444.....they are all within the range of A but yet have different qualities due to how harmonics line up based on string mass and length

all these numbers mean how fast a instrument makes the air vibrate 440 = 440 vibrations per second that creates the note A as we know it

As GT said...^
These may help.

Interesting. Thanks guys.