![Play the Blues Like...: Skip James](http://store.acousticguitar.com/cdn/shop/products/2-18-004-09-0-05_{width}x.jpg?v=1540328773)
Play the Blues Like...: Skip James
Skip James’ work is characterized by haunting themes, due in no small part to the use of open-D-minor tuning (low to high: D A D F A D). The guitarist picked up this tuning from a fellow Mississippi musician, Henry Stuckey, who had learned it from Caribbean soldiers while serving in France during World War I. James used open D minor to create insistently repeating musical motifs, often based on just one or two chords, for hypnotic effect.