- 18
- Jul
Fans of alternate tunings and/or Lou Reed & John Cale's magical relationship should be hip to the Ostrich, but WFMU's Beware Of Blog sketches out the tale of the avian-named tuning for a lesson in VU 101:
One of the secret weapons of the Velvet Underground was Lou Reed's Ostrich Guitar Tuning, where all the strings were tuned to D. It got its name from the 1964 novelty single "The Ostrich" by The Primitives, a pre-Velvet Underground band fronted by Lou Reed. Originally only a studio project, the song about a fake novelty dance generated enough interest to put together a band for a few live gigs. And amazingly enough, that touring version of The Primitives featured John Cale, Tony Conrad, and Walter DeMaria.All Music expands: