This could be a stupid question but hey....

[daveinspain]

That's why I came here in the first place... To learn...

 

Here goes, when you use an alternate tuning, like recently discussed in AXE®'s Owl thread, do you use the same chords shapes as in regular tunings?

[Shnate McDuanus]

If I may be slightly less crass than Neo ( )*:

 

If you're tuning to something like DGCFAD or CFBbEbGC, then yes, you can use the standard chord shapes.

 

If you're tuning to an open tuning, or to something weird like DADGAD or Admiral tuning (CGDGBC,) then no--or rather, you can, but it'll sound all wrong.

 

My two cents: alternate tunings don't really have a lot of practicality in my case, unless I'm doing slide or something of that sort. I've never seen a reason to tune to Drop D (it's not so hard to make a 5th dyad in E Standard tuning,) or DADGAD (unless I'm going to play "Kashmir", I guess,) and actually I've always felt that alternate tunings have kind of limited my playing--probably because I hadn't given them enough time, but "enough time" really pretty much means enough time to essentially learn a whole new instrument, and I'm not so hot with a Standard tuned guitar as it is. If you can figure out how to make them work for you, though, that's what's important.

 

*Yes Neo, I know, I'm a little fxcker...

[NeoConMan]

*Yes Neo' date=' I know, I'm a little fxcker...[/size']

Indeed you are... :-)

 

[biggrin]/

[Dub-T-123]

I use an alternate tuning for one of my bands songs.

 

It's DADFAD. We play chord shapes, bar, and do natural harmonics. And of course single note action.

[Blackie]

........I don't believe in no alt tunin......A 440 ..............but I am open to check it out......loan me one dem robot gee-tars .