alternate tunings on guitar

Chords, scales, harmony, melody, etc.
RELATED
PRODUCTS

Post

I have tried to start these threads about alternate tunings in the past but they dont seem to go to far but maybe here in the MT forum it will.

As I said in the F Maj thread that's the solution too the tricky chord. Also like I said when I started using alternate tunings it was huge for my growth. First it changed a lot of fundamentals for me, it got me from thinking chords, notes by name, and the same scales on the neck and started me really thinking in intervals. You can memorize scales in a tuning pretty easy and only be concerned with the root for what position you're playing it in. But when you switch up your tunings I find that if I think in intervals and concentrate on hearing the scale and not watching (for lack of a better word) the scale I can switch between tunings without a lot of 'relearning' the neck. (it stopped me from being a pentatonic addict)

Another thing about alternate tunings that I really like is how I use them with my guitars, my 24 fret guitars for the most part are tuned to tunings that start with a D instead of an E. I think with the extra range of the 24 fret neck you gain more tone by tuning lower and taking advantage of that little bit of extra range on the lower side and not on the higher notes gives some great tonal options.

Back to the F Maj thing, dont want to learn a whole lot of different tunings? Drop standard by a step, standard has some nice open chords, drop down a step and you have twice as many..literally an F is the same thing as G in standard and a nice full chord (my audio example was actually in the Am tuning) and of course the same holds true with the other open chords, that low D is pretty cool. Now I am talking all the strings one step down, not drop D tuning. I have one guitar tuned down F#m which is pretty low on a six string, but it's kind of cool and I can really get into it's gritty sound and it plays nicely with the baritone in some tunings.

My two favorite tunings are Am (EAEACE) and Gm one step lower, both are cross note tunings which means it's simple to jump to the major. What would be the B string in standard tuning is the only difference and of course all you need to do is use one finger, 1/2 step to go to the major. I find Open G to be a fairly bright tuning for example, but if I tune it to the minor it gets a little darker with an easy jump to major (on a hardtail it can be done on the fly with extreme ease). I have used many tunings though like DADGAD, modified that to DGDGAD for one little piece that I have never done anything with.

https://soundcloud.com/hink/accoustic

In another song of mine I had just recorded some acoustic parts in DADGAD and tried tuning the A to G and that just came out.

When I play my baritone or bass all bets are off when it comes to tunings, I am currently trying to learn to write my own type of string quartet (way outside of the norm for me so this will take a while but it's a great learning experience) Bass guitar, Baritone guitar, Acoustic guitar and Lead guitar. Of course that means at least three different tunings but I am going for 4. Bass is whatever tuning is easiest, bass tuning will often be the same as the key of the song.

IMVHO I think that alternate tunings are a great way to get out of a rut, sometimes picking around in unique tuning can be a lot of fun, D7 (DADF#CD) is a cool slide tuning and not as commonly used as Open G, A or E. Alternate can also change the feel of a song because of how the passage is played (like with hammer-ons and the open note in between the other notes).

I could write a lot more but what about others..alternate tunings...yay/nay? (some people have accused me of cheating using alternate tunings)

:)
The highest form of knowledge is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another's world. It requires profound, purpose‐larger‐than‐the‐self kind of understanding.

Post

I enjoy alternate tunings. I keep the Taylor in DADDAD, which gives it a shimmering twelve string sound.
The Strat is most recently in open G as I like it for slide.
Don't understand why someone would say using a different tuning is cheating? More challenging, is what I'd say.

Post

Gary, well I gotta admit there are some strange people here in Mass, present company included and leading the pack :hihi: Take open G seeing how you brought it up and works, it's the one finger chords that some people just assume that I can't really play guitar because I am playing one finger chords (of course I played in standard only for a couple of decades). But the truth is for me that gives me a better jumping off point to go into a fill or whatever. Who thinks that's cheating? The same ones that think a capo is cheating too :shrug:

Open G is THE slide tuning pretty much, the other day I found this interview with Gary Moore (RIP) and he talks of a cheap resonator national knock off (Ozark) he played on Sundown at yup that was open G

But I found this quote interesting about the song If the Devil Made Whiskey

[quote="Gary Moore]That track was done on a 1968 Telecaster tuned to an open E chord and then dropped down a whole step to D, but with the same intervals[/quote]

First I love the wording, he couldn't just say open D :hihi: But that is kinda how I think often. Instead of open it's open E dropped because that was how I got there and then I realize that it's just open D...sometimes I get there in convoluted ways by only changing the tuning of one or two strings...then I will play some, change a couple of more...then I play some more and think "gee this is just like "x" tuning and then :dog: because I realize it is :oops:

here's that interview if anyone is interested, it's pretty good

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/intervie ... alive.html
The highest form of knowledge is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another's world. It requires profound, purpose‐larger‐than‐the‐self kind of understanding.

Post

I keep one of my electrics in open D. Right now I have the other electric and both acoustics in open C. I've found I really like Gm too.

One I like that I got from a FAWM guy: Eb G D G Bb D.
No longer a moderator.

Post

I've never tried dabbling with alternate tunings. I mean, unless you keep the tuning relationships the same, wouldn't you pretty much have to relearn the whole instrument? Particularly in terms of fretting chords? I can see that for melodic lines it wouldn't be that big of a deal, but still...
Incomplete list of my gear: 1/8" audio input jack.

Post

I played with it a little in order to get harmonies I can't get in standard. When I first started trying to sound Indian I dropped the low E to D. I played most of the time like that when I was 15, 16. I'll still do that, D A D is sufficient and perfectly appropriate for the drone.

I appreciate switching it up to screw with your idea of where the map is and it forces you to consider more the interval but I found other strategies for that. ultimately guitar is for me a way to be a horn player without resort to blowing so I like the map to be one map. and I'm easily confused.
if I was interested in it as a harmony or chordal thing I would probably do it. but I found a guitar doesn't like all that retuning so I would have a guitar for each tuning ideally.

Post

bluedad wrote:Don't understand why someone would say using a different tuning is cheating?
I do. I use tuning and capo to make it easy to get the chords I want. This way I can have some simple guitar tracks, without really learning to play the guitar, which suits me.

Post

Zombie Queen wrote:
bluedad wrote:Don't understand why someone would say using a different tuning is cheating?
I do. I use tuning and capo to make it easy to get the chords I want. This way I can have some simple guitar tracks, without really learning to play the guitar, which suits me.
That ain't cheating, that's being efficient :D
Sei wachsam

Post

dueto increasing pain and worse the losing the deterity and even actual use of my fingers, i have settled on ostrich tuning (all strings tuned to d) with the guitar laid across my lap but as a left handed player might, but with the lower strings furtger from me.
i then use an ebow ad slide.
luckily i have a guitarist ow who can fill in the gaps in my sonic pallete.
costs me a fortune in skunk though :o bloody session musos!

Post

deastman wrote:I've never tried dabbling with alternate tunings. I mean, unless you keep the tuning relationships the same, wouldn't you pretty much have to relearn the whole instrument? Particularly in terms of fretting chords? I can see that for melodic lines it wouldn't be that big of a deal, but still...
I hear yah, I played in standard only for many, many years and I get what you are saying...you're right up until you think it isn't that big a deal. If you take a guitar and drop it down a step the tone changes, if you change the tuning to a different tuning and not just dropping one tuning the tone still changes but now the relationship between the strings is different so you are able to go far beyond a few melodic lines. Yup you are learning a new instrument but you're not...you're just going deeper into your understanding of the instrument. Harmonics change as well (I'm talking guitar techniques of getting harmonics like pinching, natural, not the entire harmonic structure of a note). I use a ton of squeals, it's my way of showing elatement through my music, strings at different tensions have different sounding squeals. Gm has two strings that are close together (G and Bb which in standard would be the G and B), it's only half a step but boy they can sound wicked (shut up robo :hihi: )when bent together. Then there are unison tunings like Bluedad was talking about, alternate tunings also change the entire feel.

I'm not a huge Zep fan, I have my favorite songs but I wouldn't go as far as say I am a fan...but Jimmy Page is well known for all the alternate tunings he used. I have seen the tuning debated over and over for The Rain Song. Of course the stones are big on different tunings but mostly open G...however Kieth has had custom 5 string guitars made for him because he doesn't want the low string, that's what I call an alternate tuning. :hihi:

If you're going to play slide or should I say if you have tried to play slide in standard and do not like it...go to open G or open E.

As for learning the chords I have great software that I can put any custom tuning in and get the chords (over 9000), the scales/modes and even a matrix that tells me what scales/modes go with what chords but I know there similar sites online where you can find this for free.

You should give it try, when you have one of those "that's how he/she did that" moments you'll be hooked. Just like a scale played on just one string sounds different than that same scale played across all the strings so does changing the tuning :)
The highest form of knowledge is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another's world. It requires profound, purpose‐larger‐than‐the‐self kind of understanding.

Post

Zombie Queen wrote:
bluedad wrote:Don't understand why someone would say using a different tuning is cheating?
I do. I use tuning and capo to make it easy to get the chords I want. This way I can have some simple guitar tracks, without really learning to play the guitar, which suits me.
I try to tune my bass for as many open notes as I can that are in the song :shrug:
The highest form of knowledge is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another's world. It requires profound, purpose‐larger‐than‐the‐self kind of understanding.

Post

For the most part. When I've ever done an altered tuning in the past it was for the sake of a song and nothing more. Although I do use a capo regulary.


Every-once-in-awhile. I'll pull up perfect fourths and while I've got no problem locking down scales, chords drive me nuts. Recently I've decided to add to my misery by tuning to 6 string bass (BEADGC) on my ztar. It drives me even crazier. I love big chords 11ths and 13ths and I like reharmonizing melodies thru various methods including shearing block chords and other methods. What should be easy is now confusing and with too many options.

As some may know. Because ztars use keys not frets one can play more then one note at a time on one string. (if one sets it to poly mode as opposed to guitar mode) Which means I have to avoid barre chords like the plague. Another thing I've done to add to my frustration is to lay the neck in my lap and play both hands over. Like a zboard. Great ten fingers to play on a neck. Not great trying to figure out how to play when everything my left hand did previously is now backwards. I spend more time figuring out where I am on the fretboard then getting things done. I'm about to open some graphics program and chart out my scales and chords like a guitar grimore. It's also something I can't tab out because....More then one note per string at a time. While this type of playing opens lots of options as now I have ten fingers on deck it also means I have no built in muscle memory to carry me through and I have to think about everything. Then try to burn something in.

This is not to say exploring new approaches doesn't have it's benefits. We all have to re invent ourselves over time or we'll get bored to the point of not wanting to play. I can say that I've actually done some writing. But the caveat is that I get lost too easily and don't know where to go from where I am which never happened with standard tuning and standard playing where I could always connect the dots.

Post

I think it is a great idea to play around with different tunings. It is very easy to think of the guitar in geometrical terms rather than in musical terms - as a bunch of shapes that the fingers find easy to move across. That leads to cliches and no progress as a musician (as against progress as some sort of motor skills machine).

I have used lots of different tunings over the years- from having all strings the same to the same type but tuned slightly apart (six strings spanning a tone say) to utterly random tunings that don't fit the conventional tempered pitches at all. this piece uses a random scale so the intervals are not at all traditional https://soundcloud.com/greghooper/three ... wo-tunings

like vurt i have trouble playing now (arthritis) but was starting to base intervals (ie fret distance) on physical measures like the width of my fingers rather than mathematical ratios. bring back the cubit I say :)

Post

D.H. Miltz wrote:I keep one of my electrics in open D
Major or minor? I have thought that my next guitar will be a Dm tuning. I thought about DMaj, but then things like minor open chords and playing slide might have a few more difficulties in DMaj.

Did you find those problems (assuming you tuned Maj)?

Post

robojam wrote:
D.H. Miltz wrote:I keep one of my electrics in open D
Major or minor? I have thought that my next guitar will be a Dm tuning. I thought about DMaj, but then things like minor open chords and playing slide might have a few more difficulties in DMaj.

Did you find those problems (assuming you tuned Maj)?
Mike, that song of mine The Whisper that's on the KvR Katrina relief cd was done in the Dm tuning. My Daion was there but some guy who played that lives nearby came over so I tuned it to standard for him. The baritone Dm tuning is one of my favorites :tu:

BTW I was waiting for a comment on me using "wicked" in a post :hihi:
The highest form of knowledge is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another's world. It requires profound, purpose‐larger‐than‐the‐self kind of understanding.

Post Reply

Return to “Music Theory”