Episode 163: “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay” by Otis Redding
A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs
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Cropper and Reading's Open Tunings
Cropper and Reading soon settled into a fruitful writing partnership. Cropper even kept the guitar permanently tuned to an open chord so that Reading could use it. With one of these open tunings, you can play chords with just a single finger barring a fret. Mr Pitiful went to number 10 on the R&B chart and peaked at number 41 on the Hot 100. Even ballads would often have only major chords.
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