Alternate Tunings For the Guitar

Ever wonder how your favorite acoustic guitarist gets that full rich sound? It could be he or she is using an alternate tuning. Which is anything from one string being changed in pitch, such as dropped D, to the entire guitar tuned to a chord.




My favorite tuning is open G because the second, third, and fourth strings are the same as standard pitch. You can still form familiar partial cord shapes as if you were still in standard tuning. Just drop the high and low E strings down a whole step to G and the A string down to G. Led Zeppelin's 'Bron-y-aur Stomp is in this tuning. Eric Clapton uses it on many of his songs as well. A related tuning is open A. Just change the pitch of every string a whole step higher.



Another favorite is open D tuning, sometimes called Sebastopol, for the song Sebastopol Blues. This is a very popular tuning for playing the blues. The related tuning would be open E with every string one step higher. Robert Johnson, the famous delta blues musician from the 1930's frequently used this tuning.



Notice that the above tunings all sound a chord when played open. Another type of alternate tuning is called modal tuning. DAGGAD tuning, popularized by Lawrence Juber of Paul McCartney and Wings fame is probably the most popular.



Alternate tunings can open up a whole new world on the guitar for you. With a decent tuner and a few twists on the tuning pegs you'll be amazed with what you can do. Just use your imagination and see what you can come up with.