About This Piece
Vaseline Machine Gun is Leo Kottke's signature piece — a ferocious fingerpicking workout in Open G tuning that established his reputation as one of the most technically formidable guitarists of his generation. First recorded on his debut album 6- and 12-String Guitar (1969), it remains one of the essential fingerstyle guitar recordings.
The title is pure Kottke: surreal, humorous, and impossible to forget. The music matches — relentless, propulsive, and explosive.
Technical Overview
Kottke plays this primarily on 12-string guitar, giving it an unusually full, dense sound. On 6-string, you can approximate the effect but the doubled strings of the 12-string are central to the piece's character.
- Open G tuning: D-G-D-G-B-D (low to high) — gives the open strings a rich, resonant quality
- Travis picking at speed: The alternating bass thumb must be rock-solid and fast to drive this piece
- Right-hand strength: The piece demands sustained picking intensity for over three minutes
Learning Path
This is a genuinely hard piece. Start by mastering a slow, clean Travis-style pattern in Open G before approaching the piece itself. Building right-hand stamina is as important as learning the notes.