Different tunings

[pes_laul]

im in the mood to experiment if you could please leave a type of tuning and a brief description on what its used for or genre
thanks

 

[Guitar-Chris]

im in the mood to experiment if you could please leave a type of tuning and a brief description on what its used for or genre
thanks

First step: tune in an Open G Tuning:

DGDGBD from low to high string.

And then play all this Roling Stones songs R

Perhaps you start with: Start it up!

 

[Tone2TheBone]

Then you take your brass or bottle slide and play anything from Muddy Waters to Led Zeppelin in the same open G tuning. Get a Kyser capo and clamp on the neck for open A and D tunings. Bam!

 

[navvid]

I don't know what you have tried, but if you feel like experimenting, drop D is a good start. Just tune your low e down a whole step. It is a very common tuning.

I normally frown on this tuning because it is used by a lot of no talent rock and metal groups whose music consists of nothing but power chords, and as if a power chords is too hard to play, they tune in this way so that to play a bar chord you just bar the 4th, 5th and 6th at the same fret. This is just half assed and lazy, and borders on cheating to play guitar in my opinion. Also, I am big on use of the low e in solos and in place of playing the same note a on a lighter string. It gives you a much fatter, more robust sound. Note SRV... When you drop the e, the low side of your penatonic scale solos goes out the door.

Now I should say that I have recently used drop d quite a bit, but for a very different reason than most. I have been learning "Fixin to Die" from Bob Dylan's self titled first album, but this song uses drop d for the low d in the main riff, NOT to make power chords easier.

You can also think of any number of tunings by just tuning your fiddle to any chord you like when strummed open. This is how slide guitars are tuned.

 

[Ro3b]

I play a lot in DADGAD. Very common in Irish traditional music, mainly because it gives you a ton of rich chord voicings in the keys Irish players mostly use. Good players to listen to are Daithi Sproule, Zan McLeod, Davy Graham, and Pierre Bensusan.

Open C is a real kick as well: CGCGCE. This was the favorite tuning of the Scottish guitarist Tony Cuffe. It's great for fingerstyle stuff.

 

[R_of_G]

"Harmolodic Tuning"

Here's one exceptionally experimental tuning for you. I got from reading an interview with James "Blood" Ulmer who played a lot with Ornette Coleman. He would tune all of his strings to the same note {I find D works exceptionally well for this}. At that point with all of your strings tuned to D, the fretboard becomes a completely different place, and overtones and drones are everywhere to be found. It def helped break me of a lot of habits I had in soloing as all of the scales go out the window.

 

[Tim]

When using the different tunings mentioned here can you still play the guitar with music in the regular key?

i.e.

DADGAD = in the key of “D”
CGCGCE = in the key of “C”
DGDGBD = in the key of “D”

Or using the capo to change the key as mention by Tone?

Does this question make sense?

 

[Tone2TheBone]

Tim - you can still play in whatever key you want just like you would regular tuning. The capo is useful for moving the open tuning strings up to the position in the key that you'd like them to "ring out" as being the root of the particular key you'd like to play or sing in. It also is a way to play the same slide lick patterns in other higher keys. In slide playing this is usually the case as you'd do a slide up to the 3rd and 5th frets to play some tasty slide licks while you slide off those positions to the open root. Having the key you're playing in as the root with no contact on the strings makes for a typical "home base" so to speak when playing slide. Try to make sense out of that.

But yes you can still play in whatever key you want with open tunings.

 

[R_of_G]

Tim - you can still play in whatever key you want just like you would regular tuning. The capo is useful for moving the open tuning strings up to the position in the key that you'd like them to "ring out" as being the root of the particular key you'd like to play or sing in. It also is a way to play the same slide lick patterns in other higher keys. In slide playing this is usually the case as you'd do a slide up to the 3rd and 5th frets to play some tasty slide licks while you slide off those positions to the open root. Having the key you're playing in as the root with no contact on the strings makes for a typical "home base" so to speak when playing slide. Try to make sense out of that.

But yes you can still play in whatever key you want with open tunings.

That was a great explanation, that contained some good insight as to why open tunings work so well for slide. Another way of putting it would be that in alt tunings you can play in any key you choose, but you will find the notes in different places to make up those scales. What I like about changing tunings is just that, it forces you to explore the fretboard in a different way, rather than letting muscle memory take over. A good way to get to know your new tuning is to figure out "where the scales are now." Work out some of the same licks you've played in standard tuning and transpose them to your new tuning. This will be a good way to learn your way around your new tuning. Thanks for the slide tip Tone2TheBone!

 

[Tone2TheBone]

That was a great explanation, that contained some good insight as to why open tunings work so well for slide. Another way of putting it would be that in alt tunings you can play in any key you choose, but you will find the notes in different places to make up those scales. What I like about changing tunings is just that, it forces you to explore the fretboard in a different way, rather than letting muscle memory take over. A good way to get to know your new tuning is to figure out "where the scales are now." Work out some of the same licks you've played in standard tuning and transpose them to your new tuning. This will be a good way to learn your way around your new tuning. Thanks for the slide tip Tone2TheBone!

Sure you bet! I'm just glad someone made sense out of what I was trying to explain.