Song Rig
Rambling on My Mind
Robert Johnson · Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings · 1936
Tone Overview
What Makes This Sound Unique
One of Johnson's two slide guitar recordings from the 1936 session — the open tuning and slide produce the wailing quality that defined the Delta blues sound and influenced every blues slide guitarist after. The tone is raw, expressive, and unlike any other instrument sound from the period.
Signal Chain
- 1Kalamazoo acoustic (open A or E tuning)
- 2Brass or glass slide (homemade from a medicine bottle)
Amp Settings
Acoustic slide in open tuning — the slide allows Johnson to play in pitches between standard semitones, creating the blue notes and portamento that characterise Delta slide blues.
Technique
How to Play It
Open-tuning slide with vocal-like pitch bends — Johnson uses the slide to create pitches unavailable in standard tuning, particularly the micro-tonal bends between minor and major thirds that define the blues sound. The slide is used with both ascending and descending phrases.
Budget Alternative
Achievable With
Steel-string acoustic in open A (EAEAC#E) or open E → glass or brass slide on ring finger → play near the soundhole for warmth rather than near the bridge for brightness. This is the foundation of all subsequent slide guitar.
Your Gear
Adapt to My Amp
More from Robert Johnson
Other Song Rigs
Cross Road Blues
The Complete Recordings · 1936
The mythological foundation of the blues — recorded on acoustic guitar in a hote…
View rig →Sweet Home Chicago
The Complete Recordings · 1936
The most frequently covered blues song in history — a 12-bar blues in E with a d…
View rig →Me and the Devil Blues
The Complete Recordings · 1937
Dark, modal, and hypnotic — Me and the Devil Blues is in E with a slow, grinding…
View rig →Love in Vain
Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings · 1937
The most emotionally direct Johnson recording — a slow, spare performance that s…
View rig →Terraplane Blues
Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings · 1936
Johnson's first recorded session and his most commercially successful 78 — Terra…
View rig →