What alternate tunings do you play in ?

[ke3ee]

I keep my 12 string in dadgad and have been experimenting with open E both on acoustic and electric. What tunings do you use and why ? robb

[Taylor Player]

I love DADGAD and have several songs I play in that key.... I also love the simplicty of Drop D for many tunes. Open G (DGDGBD) is also a fun one that I do a couple Leo Kottke pieces as well as some Rolling Stones stuff (Keith also loved the simplicy of open G cause I hear he was kind of lazy! )

[drathbun]

My 12 string is in open C right now (I was playing Question by The Moody Blues and haven't tuned it back).

 

I drop D quite often and play a couple tunes in open D.

[grampa]

12 strings work quite nicely in DADGAD. That octaved G sounds cool in that tuning. I put my Gibson F-25 - a 6 stringer - in DADGAD this weekend and had a gas. I was getting a little tired of the same old stuff and the change was nice.

I also like DGDGAD and various open chord like open D or G.

Using these other tunings helps keep your playing fresh and fun.

[EdgarHF]

I use open D a bit. I would use it more except I tend to be lazy about switching tunings. I would rather stay in one tuning than spend one minute going back from open D to standard or standard to open D. I am saving for a second guitar at the moment (being a poor working stiff I cannot afford a herd). I would rather spend 2 to 3 thousand for a second guitar than constantly switch tunings.

 

I may be wrong but I believe open D puts less stress on the guitar than open E.

[zombywoof]

Open D, E, and G and Open DM (for those Skip James tunes). On rare occasions - Open F.

[Wayne]

I use drop D on several and I just started open G (Spanish Fandango) last week...would love to use DADGAD because I love the sound but havent found any easy songs in it yet...

[BigKahune]

open G and D among others.

 

Alt tunings is what the Gibson robot guitars are aimed at. Many dismiss this tech like its for people that can't tune a guitar, missing the idea that it's great to be able to switch tunings without spending several minutes at it. My SG robot has one bank of stored tunings and switches tunings very quickly (in seconds, not minutes).

 

Gibson is coming out with an acoustic robot sometime this year with three banks of stored tunings. The intial model will be a robot Epiphone John Lennon J160E with Powertune II tuning system.

 

Here's a video at the Tronical website (robot tuner manufacturer). Here's another video.

[rustystrings]

I'm fond of a double dropped-D, i.e., DADGBD, and some sliding chord forms. Very modal, and a kissing cousin to DADGAD. I think if I played Hawaiian slack key style, it would be called taro patch ...

[ke3ee]

Just watched the video on the Robot Acoustic... wow

[Fenno]

I've been learning old country blues tunes for the past year. So far I've got tunes in my repertoire in Open G (DADGBD) and E minor ("Crossnote tuning", EBEGBE). There's also a tuning that Dave Rubin claims Bob Johnson used on "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom" that he calls Abadd9, which is like a combination of Spanish and Vestapol tunings, Eb Bb Eb Ab C Eb. I'll be tackling some Open D (DADF#BE) soon.

 

All of these tunings have their little tricks, and as with standard tuning, the best way to get comfortable with them is to learn some tunes using them.

 

On the retuning issue... Since my repertoire tends to be solo guitar/vocal arrangements, I only care about relative tuning. Starting from standard, I can get into any of these in under 20 seconds. (Like everything guitar-orientated, it takes practice.) The problem, though, is that few minutes of "pitch drift" as the guitar gets acclimated. Maybe I should practice tuning mid-song... :-)

[BigKahune]

... On the retuning issue... ... The problem' date=' though, is that few minutes of "pitch drift" as the guitar gets acclimated. Maybe I should practice tuning mid-song... :-)[/quote']

 

Have you tried nut sauce? Check it out - a little on the nut and bridge might help. It targets trem users and big benders, but I like it as it smooths out the tuning on acoustics.

[Todd Wilson]

I'm partial to Open G and/or A.

 

I play a good bit of blues, a good bit of slide and am partial to how Keith Richards and Jimmy Page used Open G for rhythm. Trying to learn That's the way by Zep currently.

 

 

I play around in DADGAD a little...... but unlike Open G which I almost exclusively finger pick except for a few strumming type songs, I don't finger pick in DADGAD, I strum..... there's some neat big open chords in DADGAD.

 

There's a guy on youtube that plays No Quarter in Dadgad acoustic that's awesome.

 

As a slide player I of course tune to open D and E some..... But it's usually trying to learn a specific lick or something, rarely spend time there experimenting, which I need to. I play some Black Crowes in open E every now and then.

 

And I've been gravitating more and more to drop D. Don't ask why.

 

 

But my favorite tuning is by far Open G.

 

I wish someone would have told me when I first bought a guitar, "Tune to Open G, and never pick up a pick!" I wish that's what I would have done!

[Fenno]

Have you tried nut sauce?

 

Thanks for the tip, BK.

[ballcorner]

D A D F# A D

 

D A D G A D

 

D A D A B E

[Fred_Engr]

Open G - But I keep the 6th low E string on

Open C

Open E

Open A

Dropped D

All strings tuned down 1 whole note for CCR Midnight Express

All strings tuned down 1/2 note for Neil Diamond's Cherry Cherry

 

Fred

[hlarry14]

I'm lucky enough to have a few (relatively) inexpensive guitars that I keep in alternate tunings so I can keep my Gibson in standard! I have a mahogany Greg Bennett acoustic that I keep in open G (for some John Martyn, Neal Young, Stones, etc.), and a "Little Martin" acoustic that I keep in open E (Black Crowes, Stones, etc)- the Little Martin has a "stratabond" neck that if nothing else is very strong, so the extra tension of the open E tuning doesn't worry me on that one.

[larryp58]

I love the Drop D in bluegrass pickin'. Gives it a cool "thunderous" sound! (Man of Constant Sorrow)

[Rambler]

Another one to look into is G 6th (dgdgbe). Think of it as std tuning with the lower 2 strings down a step, or open G with an e on top. You can play all the std tuning partial chord voiceings while keeping a drone bass going. Used by Bo Carter of the Miss Sheiks (Arrangement for me, Who's Been Here), Blind Lemon (Stocking Foot Blues) and Paul Geremia (Little Silver Airplane).

[anthonyc007]

I usually play in Open D & Open G, but recently have been messing around in DADGAD for a few songs.

[Jayla]

Have any of you guys used a "partial capo" that effectively puts the guitar into an alternate tuning? If so, would you care to share you experiences?

[ballcorner]

 

Have any of you guys used a "partial capo" that effectively puts the guitar into an alternate tuning? If so' date=' would you care to share you experiences?[/quote']

 

I have a shubb that does this. It works just fine and it helped me learn to play lead in alternate tunings without going through all that tune/detune malarchy.

[Gilliangirl]

Is a slack tuning considered an alternate tuning? I have my Seagull tuned down 2 FULL steps all the time, which puts it at C F Bb Eb G C. I also play in Open D, but haven't learned Open G yet. I'm going to learn it soon tho' as I tried playing Love At The Five And Dime in standard tuning and it's just not the same.

[NevadaPic]

My J-150 is dedicated to open D. Being a fan of Ry Cooder and his own early influences I appreciate this tuning more and more. Open G used to be a favorite of mine, but open D has that particular sound that really appeals to me.

 

Lightnin' Hopkins seemed to tune his guitar (relatively) as standard tuning a half step lower (more-or-less) or higher as the case might be and it gave him a particular voicing that is impossible with concert pitch. FWIW, Jimi Hendrix routinely played with his guitar tuned a half-step lower which really contributed to his distinctive sound. For this reason and others, I like to think that he spent a lot of time listening to Lightnin' in his formative years...

[Jayla]

I have a shubb that does this. It works just fine and it helped me learn to play lead in alternate tunings without going through all that tune/detune malarchy

 

Yes, but did you approach it as a new thing unto itself, virtually a new tuning so to speak, or were you already familiar with the alt tuning in question and then adapt to the capo?

 

Sorry if the question seems obtuse, but I'm asking because when I first saw one of these things, I thought it basically put the guitar in the alternate tuning. When I went to the Shubb site and read up on theirs, they say that it "emulates" the tuning, but that if one uses barre chords, one "returns" to standard tuning, so to speak. (I hope this makes sense, because I'm not sure how to rephrase it.)

 

I'm wondering about getting one myself, but am wary of having "one more thing to learn." I realize that tuning and retuning is a PITA, but I'm not sure it's not better than messing with the partial capos.