Joker (Stairs Dance) Rock n Roll Part 2 Ostrich Guitar Tuning

Joker Stairs Dance - Rock 'n Roll Part 2 - Glitter - Ostrich Guitar Tuning:

In the film ‘Joker’ there is a scene where the Joker is dancing on a long staircase to the track Roll ’n Roll Part 2 in which ostrich guitar tuning is used.

Several people have added videos to YouTube which attempt to show how this unique guitar sound was played. However, as far as I can see, not one of these are actually correct.

The actual guitar tuning is a strange and rare guitar tuning which is called ‘ostrich tuning, which is a type of ‘trivial tuning’ which means that a list notes are duplicated in the guitar tuning, and in this particular case, this tuning is known as a ‘trivially repetitive tuning’ as all of the strings are tuned to the same note.

The term ostrich guitar tuning was initiated by the Velvet Underground’s Lou Reed after the pre-Velvet Underground song called ‘The Ostrich’ by Lou Reed and the Primitives, where the first recording of this tuning is thought to be.

This type of tuning creates an intense and chorused drone like sound which is very apparent in this particular example used in the film Joker, which as previously stated originates from a hit single in 1972 known as Rock ’n Roll Part Two by the ill-reputed Gary Glitter. Following this first hit single, a subsequent number of top ten hits ensued using this type of guitar tuning which became famously known as the ‘Glitter Sound’.

In Lou Reed’s case all the strings were tuned to D, in the case of the Glitter Sound, all strings were tuned to A.

In the ‘Glitter Sound’ the guitar is also played in coordination with a saxophone which is almost indistinguishably mirrored in pitch and tone.

Jerry Shepherd was the guitarist in the Glitter Band at the time and his silver or gold star shaped guitar as seen on the plethora of hits on Tops of the Pops at the time, became synonymous with this Ostrich Guitar Tuning sound.