Frequently Asked Questions
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Different transcribers use different ways to write down chord shapes. You might see the chord:

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555400
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This would mean play the lowest three strings at the 5th fret, play the third string at the 4th fret, and play the top two strings open. Another transcriber might write the same chord shape as:

555400

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***||| 5

Most of the transcriptions in the JMDL database will not have any information about how to finger the chords. There is no definitive way to play any of the chords and it's often a matter of personal choice, finding the most comfortable way to fret the notes.

Joni often uses her thumb to fret notes on the bottom string. For example, for the chord:

555400

Not everyone finds Joni's use of the thumb on the bottom string convenient, and others play the chord above with the middle finger on the bottom string, ring finger on the next 5th fret note, pinky on the third 5th fret note and the index finger on the 4th fret note.

You could also try other ways of playing the chord, for example playing all 5's with your middle finger (last joint would cover all 3 strings) and index finger on the 4th fret note.

Joni plays them as index on the 5th string, middle on the 4th string, ring on the 3rd string, and pinky on the 2nd string. This shape is very difficult to play if you have big fingers! Having a wide neck guitar makes things easier.

Transcribers use letters in the chords for representing notes above the 9th fret. For instance, if you see the chord 0CCCC0 this is actually equivalent to:

0 12 12 12 12 12 0

A is the 10th fret, B is the 11th fret, C is the 12th fret, and so on. Why is it done that way? For one thing, it keeps everything aligned. Also, it would be confusing to see "0121212120."

This is a way of describing a guitar tuning using one letter and 5 numbers, for example C77235. The letter (C) gives you the note name for the pitch of the lowest string, and the numbers describe the relative tunings of the other strings. Each number represents the number of frets (i.e semitones or half steps) separating the pitch of adjacent strings.

So how does it work?

Using the tuning C77235 as an example, you would first tune the bottom (sixth) string to a C using a piano or other pitch reference. The first number is 7, so fret the bottom string at the 7th fret and tune the next (fifth) string to the note this gives you. The next number is also 7, so fret the fifth string at the 7th fret and tune the next string. Repeat this process until all strings are tuned.

More information on Joni tunings notation ...

A generic tuning pattern is a way of describing tunings that makes comparisons of different tunings easier. Similar tunings can also be sorted into groups based on generic tuning patterns. The tuning patterns describe the relative tunings of the strings, without specifying any note names for the strings. This means that for any tuning, if you add a capo or change the pitch of all strings by the same amount (e.g tune all strings down one tone), you will end up with the same generic tuning pattern.

The generic tuning pattern is written by simply replacing the letter in the "Joni notation" tuning with an x. For example, the tunings C77235, D77235, B77235 all have the same tuning pattern: x77235.

More information on generic tuning patterns ...

From the August 1996 issue of Acoustic Guitar:

Joni Mitchell has never quite gotten over the first guitar she loved and lost: a '56 Martin D-28 she got circa 1966 from a marine captain stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The guitar had accompanied him to Vietnam and was in the tent when it was hit with shrapnel. "There were two instruments and all this captain's stuff in there," Mitchell says. "When they cleared the wreckage, all that survived was this guitar. I don't know whether the explosion did something to the modules in the wood, but that guitar was a trooper, man." Mitchell played that D-28 on all her early albums. Before she recorded Court and Spark, it was damaged on an airline, and soon after it was stolen off a luggage carousel in Maui. Wistfully, she adds, "I've never found an acoustic that could compare with it."

As Mitchell explored jazzier sounds in the late '70s, she turned to electric guitars. From 1979 until the mid-'80s, she performed with five George Benson model Ibanez guitars, which were set up by Joel Bernstein and Larry Cragg with a range of string gauges to accommodate her tunings. At that time, the Roland Jazz Chorus amp - which was invented, Mitchell says, so she could replicate her Hejira sound in performance- was an important component of her live sound.

These days, Mitchell's main acoustics are a Martin D-45, a Martin D-28, and two Collings- a D-2H dreadnought and the 3/4-size Baby seen in the cover photo- that she calls "the best acoustic guitars I've found since I lost my dear one." She says, "I need really good intonation, and one of the signs of really good intonation is how flashy the harmonics are with a light touch. You should be able to get them to bloom lie jewels. Both those guitars have that capacity. Of the two, the big one [which was the primary guitar for Turbulent Indigo] records better, but the little one is so sweet to cradle. It's just the right size for sitting. I write a lot on it and I travel with it, which is kind of scary. I carry it on board with me, because I won't take a chance with it. I won't let it go into the the hold and get mushed like my beloved." For performance, her acoustics are equipped with Highlander pickups, which she uses in combination with an external microphone.

In the last year, Mitchell has almost exclusively played an electric guitar made by Fred Walecki of Westwood Music in Los Angeles, which she uses with the Roland VG-8 processor to electronically create her alternate tunings (see "My Secret Place," page 40). The guitar is made with a very lightweight German spruce body and a neck that's somewhere between that of a Martin and a Stratocaster.

For some reason this issue is not available among Acoustic Guitar's back issues. During her tour supporting The Hissing Of Summer Lawns, she used an amplified acoustic guitar. I have heard that she played a Rickenbacher.

Recently she has been playing a Parker Fly guitar with the same hookups as the Stratocaster guitar. Who knows if she'll ever get back on the acoustic?

This depends on which note you tune to. For instance, if you were to tune the 2nd string to C from B you would tune UP. It is helpful to remember the musical scale:

A Bb B C Db D Eb E F Gb G Ab A Bb B C Db D Eb E F Gb G...

If your 2nd string was at B it would make sense to tune to the nearest C. You would not tune it all the way below.

In most cases, when looking at the Joni notation, it is noted if you tune up or down. For instance, in the tuning G G D G B D, the 6th and 5th strings are tuned to the same note (G). You would not tune your 6th string up to G. You would tune it DOWN to G. Once you tune your 5th string to G the 2 strings together will sound similar but not the same. Each string will be tuned to the same letter just on a different part of the scale. The same goes for the tunings F F C G A C, Bb Bb Db F Ab Bb, and so on.

This may change sometimes, however. In the tuning B F# D# D# F# B, the 3rd and 4th strings are tuned to the same note on the scale. The 4th is tuned from D (if you were in standard tuning) up to D#. Your 3rd string would be tuned DOWN to D# (from G). When played together they are the same note.

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