alternate tunings on guitar

Chords, scales, harmony, melody, etc.
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Even though I have been playing the guitar for a few years I only have just begun experimenting with different tunings as I learn "That Golden Rule" by Biffy Clyro for my Grade 7 Trinity Guitar exam. (Drop D tuning). Rather than cheating (as I thought naively before!) it just opens up a wide range of possibilities.

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Johni, that's how I was...I did not start with alternate tunings until the mid 90s and I started playing guitar in 1971. A new tuning can do wonders for writer's block and for new inspirations.

Meanwhile I got a new app for my Kindle called RR Guitar Interval Trainer
RR Guitar Fretboard Trainer is the highest rated fretboard trainer app in the google play store!
Help yourself to become a better guitar player by learning the fretboard while away from your instrument! RR Guitar Fretboard Trainer is a tool to assist in learning the guitar fretboard. It works by repeatedly prompting the user to find and identify notes on the guitar fretboard.

RR Guitar Fretboard Trainer includes the following features:

Customizable game profiles
Right and Left handed fretboard
Sound (optional)
Customizable alternate tunings
Fretboard explorer
Full screen or scrollable fretboard
Statistics tracking
Automatic game creation using your individual trouble spots
http://www.redrabbitsw.com/wabbit/scaleTrainer
It's great for learning a new tuning, just a few minutes of 'playing' this game as it were is quite helpful. It doesn't give you the answers in the normal mode, if you get it wrong you keep going until you find the right answer. There is also the fretboard explorer, which allows you to put in two notes and it will tell you the interval . You can put in any tuning you want of course, so as a quick guide to where you intervals are in a new tuning this is a different way of practicing and you do not need your guitar in your hands.

Naturally all this can be done by ear with the guitar and when you get use to alternate tunings you get pretty good at identifying intervals, chords and scales by ear. However the more tunings you use the more you might get confused, this is a cool way to burn it into your brain...it may not work for others but it was worth the 2 or 3 dollars I paid for it :)
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.

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I'm pretty boring with guitar tunings, I mainly just detune, drop D/drop C etc.

I have a 7 string in drop A though :wink:

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Those who say it's cheating, have to ask themselves: who is being
cheated here.
The only one's being cheated are those who stick to conventional
tuning.
I have my guitar like this: D/G/D/F/A/D
It is (for me) a lot easier to come up with interesting
sounding chords, using only 2 or 3 fingers with this D minor
tuning.

Bending strings easier when tuning down is another bonus.

Some great post's here: Thanks to you all :hyper:

Cheers :tu:
Sound C loud
Band C amp
Clicks and pops is all I get

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Dadgad on acoustic . Most of the time its tuned to dadgad on my acoustic 90% of the time. Drop D in both standard and half step down tuning mainly on electric . Oh , and then there's the Capo . Nice thread @Hink .

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^^^^thanx dude :)

about cheating, what people do not get is that you have to really have a good understanding to switch between tunings with any frequency. It's still the same guitar and it still has the same challenges, but it's a bit like speaking many languages. To become fluent in many languages is not easy nor is becoming fluent in many tunings, especially when you are use to the guitar being one way and know your positions on the neck. Once you mix up those positions there will be a learning curve to a new tuning, not to mention old habits are hard to break.

So when people suggest there is something wrong with alternate tunings or it's cheating I typically just read that as saying "I'm not comfortable with change so I will stick to standard tuning".

There is absolutely nothing wrong with feeling that way either, we are all different...look at the late Mark Sandman the founder and bass player from the band Morphine

Image

2 strings (and a slide), and none of their fans complained :hihi:

So those who use alternate tunings are only different than those who use standard tunings...nothing more, nothing less. :)
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.

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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...
you could try to re-learn everything; to try and achieve similar results OR you could just go with the idea of deconstructing the confines of that which has been learnt

i pretty much have no idea what chords i am using ever, even in standard tuning. with alternative tunings it makes it even more interesting not to look for recognizable patterns. a lot of folks are enjoying mobile/touch apps that break away from standard piano board layouts. if for no other reason than offering inspiration to break through creative blocks, such apps are well worth trying out

i have probably composed more in dadgad than standard tuning

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oh, and the idea of "cheating" is just ludicrous. :roll:

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sbj wrote:Those who say it's cheating, have to ask themselves: who is being
cheated here.
The only one's being cheated are those who stick to conventional
tuning.
I have my guitar like this: D/G/D/F/A/D
It is (for me) a lot easier to come up with interesting
sounding chords, using only 2 or 3 fingers with this D minor
tuning.
I got my guitar tuned to BAGDAD and do alot of divebombs. :hihi:

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el-bo (formerly ebow) wrote:
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...
you could try to re-learn everything; to try and achieve similar results OR you could just go with the idea of deconstructing the confines of that which has been learnt

i pretty much have no idea what chords i am using ever, even in standard tuning. with alternative tunings it makes it even more interesting not to look for recognizable patterns. a lot of folks are enjoying mobile/touch apps that break away from standard piano board layouts. if for no other reason than offering inspiration to break through creative blocks, such apps are well worth trying out

i have probably composed more in dadgad than standard tuning
You make some good points. I've really been enjoying playing melodic material with my Ableton Push, which presents an entirely new set of patterns. So yeah, I think I'll grab a guitar and detune it today! :)
Incomplete list of my gear: 1/8" audio input jack.

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deastman wrote:
el-bo (formerly ebow) wrote:
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...
you could try to re-learn everything; to try and achieve similar results OR you could just go with the idea of deconstructing the confines of that which has been learnt

i pretty much have no idea what chords i am using ever, even in standard tuning. with alternative tunings it makes it even more interesting not to look for recognizable patterns. a lot of folks are enjoying mobile/touch apps that break away from standard piano board layouts. if for no other reason than offering inspiration to break through creative blocks, such apps are well worth trying out

i have probably composed more in dadgad than standard tuning
You make some good points. I've really been enjoying playing melodic material with my Ableton Push, which presents an entirely new set of patterns. So yeah, I think I'll grab a guitar and detune it today! :)
That's the spirit.....have fun :tu:

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so I'm knee deep in a song that features my baritone and I decide that I want a little acoustic over some parts. I determined that DADEAD would work well and it has, it's also kinda fun to play in.
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.

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Open/drone tunings for vibe, yes indeed! However, they aren't the only options; try tuning to regular intervals, such as perfect fourths (EADGCF) or thirds (whether minor or major), and you'll find a whole new set of worlds to explore. Google Bill Sethares' tuning guides, or just start here.
Wait... loot _then_ burn? D'oh!

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minor thirds, 5ths and augmented fourths look like they would be cool on the baritone as for all fourths I think I might prefer sometimes to drop that down a whole step :)
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.

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I think experimenting with tuning is a great way to expand one's musical experience and skills. I've used all sorts of tunings on guitar for years/decades. Often not tuned at all to standard pitches eg I drew frets on my fretless bass using the width of my fingers and used those as notes. Here's a piece I made years ago where a friend who is a very good Irish musician played a traditional piece on a nylon guitar I prepared to change the pitch and sound of the strings. Goes on way too long but it's easy to stop it early
here is the score:
1.prepare your nylon string guitar.
2. Ask your Irish musician friend to play an Irish tune on it
either
3. fiddle about a bit with the recording in Sony Acid but lose the original files so you can't actually remember what you did
or
4. just accept the original performance

https://soundcloud.com/greghooper/a-friend-helps

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