Open tuning(s)

menamestom

Wondering if anybody uses open tunings for a significant portion of their playing, so that if somebody chucks you a chord sequence you can just play it like most people could in standard, or at least an approximation.  I'm thinking of picking a tuning and perhaps learning a set of songs using that tuning so I can incorporate more slide and have one guitar set up top that tuning exclusively.

Just after experiences really, I think open E might be the most obvious, I have dabbled in open E and it's variants (C, D) and also G, DADGAD and DADDAD.  Somehow I think E might transfer the easiest.  I can already play reasonable slide (example below), but want to learn non blues and more chords.  I guess the question is a bit like what language is good to learn, so just wondering if anybody has gone far beyond the usual Keef / Elmore stuff in open tuning so that you have a full arsenal of tools at your disposal.

drofluf

I only play in DADGAD. But I’m not the best person to ask; I’m came back to guitar a couple of months ago after a break of 30 years and I wasn’t much good then. But for what I want to do DADGAD is a very flattering tuning.

Doesn’t really answer your question though...

EricTheWeary

I've dabbled but only as far as some obvious stuff in open G. There are, however, some fairly pro players who use primarily open tunings. Derek Trucks, IIRC, uses only open E even when not sliding. Check out his solo albums to see that he's not all about 12 bar blues. Pierre Bensusan is all DADGAD I believe. Mike Rutherford is usually in drop D somewhat randomly. I'm sure there are lots of examples out there - ooh, Curtis Mayfield in F#–A#–C#–F#–A#–F# ; I don't remember him incorporating any slide though but he played everything in that tuning as far as I know. 

I guess the alternative is to explore slide in standard tuning a bit more. IIRC Mick Taylor of the Stones and Warren Haynes play primarily standard tuning slide as does Will Ray of The Hellecasters so it's not all blues. When I saw Greg Koch the other week he was talking about his forthcoming standard tuning slide book. 

blobb

Yes. Quite popular with folk guitarists.

You have to move away from the concept of chord shapes, which are inherently a function of the compromises of std tuning. That's not to say there aren't shapes in other tunings, but it's more to do with playing it for what it is: a tuned instrument.

I have a 12th fret parlour tuned to DADADF# which is open C but raised a whole tone to D. I never change the tuning of this guitar. Capo becomes more important to establish the 'feel' of the piece. 

Tony McManus did a good intro to fingerstyle video.

Lestratcaster

I recently arranged some metalcore full band songs into more chilled out acoustic versions. 

I used a variety of different tunings to utilise the open ringing thinnest 2 strings.

I used

B F# B E B E for 2 songs

B F# B E B D for 1 song (in minor key)

B F# B D# A# D# for 1 song (in major key to give a 7th chord impression)

It sounded very ringey and powerful, really nice.

Mark1960

When we gig I have two guitars, one standard tuning, and one open E which I use for slide, and I find personally that open E is easiest mentally to swap to for the slide numbers, but i guess it's just a matter of personal preference. Regarding chords, I don't really play full chords on the slide, 3 strings at any one time is probably the most.

Stuckfast

Being a fairly hardcore folkie these days I play almost entirely in open tunings, either open D, DADGAD or CADFAD plus a handful of other occasional ones.

If you threw a random chord sequence at me I could probably play it in open D or DADGAD easily enough as long as it didn't have extended or altered chords in it. A capo is certainly useful, but also it can be quite interesting and fun to play in keys that aren't closely related to the tuning, such as B flat.

Lewy

Yes I've spent quite a bit of time exploring beyond I IV V based stuff in open tunings. I started out by just picking songs and finding ways to play them in whatever tuning I was using, and seeing what the tuning could bring to the table in terms of offering nice chord voicings, textures etc. I found songs from the classic Americana canon were a good start because they've usually got more than the three chord trick but aren't too out there...it really started to click when I came up with an arrangement of Willin' in open G that mapped out some  nice suspended chord voicings.

Even if you're not into folk, I would strongly recommend you check out Martin Simpson's approach to open tunings. He has a video on Homespun just on the subject which is excellent.

Joey Landreth has come to prominence recently as someone who does amazing things in just one tuning (open C variant of Open E) but after a lot of study I conclude that what's special about him is what he chooses to play in his head before it comes out of his fingers. If someone wants to play like him they probably need to spend more time on their harmonic knowledge than anything....

stickyfiddle

I use Open G a fair bit. More for folky stuff than Keef-isms, but there's a bunch of other things in it that you wouldn't realise - Manic's This Is Yesterday and Kevin Carter, Ryan Adam's Winding Wheel (are we still allowed to like his music??)

robgilmo

I recently picked up an Epi 56 Goldtop specifically for open tunings, its in open G now  D-G-D-G-B-D and Im really liking it, Im using my Tele for standard tunings.

jonnyburgo

Thats some tasty slide playing @menamestom I often use open E for slide too, although I find myself repeating the same riffs. I'm having a go at some early John Lee Hooker boogie/shuffle stuff in open A with a capo on the 2nd fret, nails the original "Boogie Chillen" tone, unfortunately my technique isn't quite there, its a bit like learning to play all over again.

ToneControl

Is your objective to use some open tunings whilst performing and then play other material?
In that case I'd recommend buying a VG strat or a VG99 / VG88. You can switch to open tunings and back to normal whilst playing.

For permanently-tuned open and alternative tunings, I keep a guitar for each tuning
I believe that each tuning offers a mood, and a natural steer towards the modes that work around that tuning.
I've seen people play who can overcome this for a different scale during a set, but in reality it's second-best to having an instrument tuned for each set of pieces

Aside from the normal major-chord open tunings, Try E minor, check out some of David Gilmour's work

DADGAD is my favourite fingerstyle alternate tuning
Remember that Kashmir is played in this tuning

One interesting trick is to use the 3-string partial capo, so that the guitar plays in DADGAD with no frets touched (capo provides ADG at the second fret), but allowing some DADGAD and some conventional tuning playing, all without using a second guitar

But I also have a guitar permanently tuned in "Rainsong" tuning DGCGCD
This tuning allows some unusually wide range of moods - the light Rainsong sound all the way to some quite Arabic-sounding riffs