Sunday, November 7, 2010

Happy Birthday, Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell was born on 7 November, 1943, which makes her 67 today. Here she is in Japan playing “Hejira” from her 1976 album of the same name.


This performance doesn’t have Jaco Pastorius on bass, as on the album, but it does have jazz great Wayne Shorter on saxophone. The vid may not have the highest production values, but the music is exceptional.

Joni Mitchell sure has a unique guitar style – it’s not just the array of tunings, it’s also that she always uses an upstroke for the chord. From memory it’s because of a weak wrist since childhood, which explains why open tunings have been so important to her.

If you want to try this at home, the tuning is CGDFGC, and here are some chords: Dm11, Eb6/9, C6/9, Fsus2+4, F, C, F+9, G+9+4, G9+4. Good luck with that.

Monitor: Home Paddock

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