Open Tunings

Changing the tuning every time you switch songs. I think some argue that open tunings when it's not set up for it can cause different neck tensions than the guitar is set up for.

at first I thought opentunings had limitations. after playing them for some time now I dont see too much of a drawback. Ive learned the triad postions for all the chords I need. E minor is hard tho.
the tonal quality of those strings in pen tunings are excellent. playing slide is easier, although standard tuning slide sounds as good, open tuning slide work is faster and tonally closer to what I want to hear.

some songs sound better with open tunings and some standard old blues tunes were created in open tuning so it should be played that way to get the right feel.

there is a simple trick that is effective . in standard tuning drop both E strings to D.
the three high strings will be D B G which is a partial open G tuning; great for blues, bluegrass.
the low string E to D makes for a nice sonic depth D A D sounds good and works with several keys.

I play with several open tunings. each one has its own guitar so I dont have to mess with retuning much; Im lucky.

For years I experimented with open tunings. I do not really use them anymore. There are advantages and disadvantages to open tunings IMHO.

Yeah, it's really easy to tune to an open chord and then just play songs with a barre across the strings. And it's easy to play slide guitar as well because you have a chord at every fret. And open tunings just sound different from the stardard tuning. You can play a song like Jumpin' Jack Flash by the Stones with standard tuning and it works just fine, but it does not sound like the open G tuning Keith Richards used on this recording.

One disadvantage is that you have to learn to fret chords differently. Some chords that are easy in standard tuning are difficult to fret in open tunings. It also changes your scale forms so playing lead guitar can be more difficult. But these problems can be overcome.

One thing that is both good and bad about open tunings is they tend to have a "drone" sound to them. This can be good. You can play little leads and hit open strings for a rhythm background. A great example of this is Suite Judy Blue Eyes by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. Stephen Stills was very skillful at using open tunings and this is probably his best.

But this drone sound can also be bad. If you play ten songs in one tuning they tend to sound all the same.

You hear this in modern Rock today. Everybody is tuning a half or whole step down, and then tuning their E string down an additional whole step. This is great for playing heavy chords with distortion on the bass strings with one finger. Super easy.

But at the same time, every song starts to sound the same. And, most players reach a point where they want to play something a little more skillful than these super simple power chords.

So, open tunings are both good and bad. My 2 cents. 8)

But at the same time, every song starts to sound the same. And, most players reach a point where they want to play something a little more skillful than these super simple power chords.

Wouldn't that mean that every song played in standard tuning would start to sound the same too? And how do you avoid sounding the same, regardless of what tuning you're in?

OneWingedAngel

No, standard tuning does not sound the same, because people are not hitting open strings on every chord.

But with open tunings, you tend to hit all strings open, or hold a barre across all 6 strings and then hit them open. So you still get that drone sound. I can recognize an open tuning the second I hear it. And I bet you can too.

Hey, play what you like. Some people always play in open tunings. But really, learn to play in standard tuning as well. Variety is the spice of life.

Ahhh, I'm still lost. lol.

I checked a chord dictionary for the C chord in Open C and it came up with over 200 voicings at the open position. And over 800 voicings at the 12th fret. So there are lots to chose from. Though that's from C chords that look like this:

E|-12-|
C|-12-|
G|-0--|
C|-12-|
G|-12-|
C|-0--|


Is that what you mean by the drone sound?

Just from looking at that, it seems variety comes from the person playing in the tuning rather than the tuning itself.

Edit:This thread gave me an idea. Could you change chords by sliding? I mean, play the strings open, let them ring then slide to another fret on a couple strings to change notes and have it still be a chord?

For example:

E|-0-0/1-5-5-----0-0-|
C|-0-0---5-54-0-0-|
G|-0-0---5-5-----0-0-|
C|-0-0---5-54-0-0-|
G|-0-0---5-5-----0-0-|
C|-0-0---5-54-0-0-|

OneWingedAngel

Yes. That last tab with the open C tuning is playing an open C chord, sliding up to a F Major chord at the 5th fret, sliding down to an E chord at the 4th fret, and then sliding back down to the open C again.

Open tunings have always been popular with a slide. But that is because a slide is straight like a barre and is not flexible (actually, there are some tricks to play at different frets by holding a slide at an angle, but that is a very difficult technique to master). Generally, slide players play directly over the frets with the slide perpendicular to the strings.

Many Blues players have played with open tunings. For slide guitar, open E and A are very popular. For Country slide guitar, open G and D are very popular.

That first tab is just an C chord. Any note at the 12th fret is just one octave above the open string. You would hear the higher tones from the fretted notes, but that is the exact same chord as hitting all strings open.

What I was trying to explain to you is shown in these examples perfectly. See how everything is just a bar, with all strings ringing out. This is the drone sound I was speaking of.

With standard tuning, strings that are fretted do not ring out and sustain as long as open strings. So when you play a normal C chord, 3 strings are fretted and 2 ring open. But with your open tuning shown, all 6 strings ring open. Open strings sustain longer. This is good, but it also tends to have one long continuous ring. This is what I call a drone sound.

Play your C chord with the open tuning. Even better, record it. Now, tune your guitar standard and play a normal C chord. You will hear quite a difference.

onewing. yes, with open tunings your still have all the chords as in standard tuning.

in open C you have the C chord at the nut and at the 12 fret.
as in the same scale of standard...two frets up from C you have D. so 2nd fret will be D.
E will be at your fourth fret.
and etc.

the open tunings weve been discussing are all major chords.
you can tune to an open minor tuning. but then alot of things sound very different...sometimes Hawaiian , sometimes country.

if you look at the note on each string up and down the fret board you will recognize triads. a triad is the basic chord.

I tune to open G yet I can jam with anyone in any key. usually I jam with players playing in standard.

one does not have to hit all the strings in open tuning. just playing the triads is one alternative.
and then there are forward and reverse slants. and those are interesting.
for example. I could be in a straight across all strings barred postion and with a slant playing two or three strings I can play the V, IV, or VII just a few frets away.

open tunings are versitile. it takes time to understand them. I have alot to learn yet.

Open tunings are a lot more versatile than Wes suggests. Most players use them to play basic stuff that doesn't involve a lot of chording, though. As for the "droning," that's a matter of learning muting techniques. It can be turned on and off. It sure sounds better in an open tuning than leaving dissonant strings ringing in standard! One can easily play in keys other than the root key of the open chord, but certainly that's the easiest one. And with straight barring in bottleneck sliding, it's easy to modify chords by fretting strings in front of or behind the slide. Bottleneck players don't just slide, they fret a lot of stuff, too. That's why you don't want one of those silly nut extenders.

No doubt standard tuning is the most versatile for playing in any key. There are songs and musical styles that will be a lot easier to play and will sound better in one tuning than another. It shouldn't be thought of as one vs. the other. A versatile guitarist won't limit himself to one tuning, but will learn to use different ones when they're best for the job. Your guitar's a new instrument when it's put into a new tuning!
:D

Ricochet

I am not saying open tunings aren't versatile. I was a big Jimmy Page fan. I realized early on that he was using different tunings. And that is who got me into these tunings. And I spent years tuning my guitar to many various tunings. Not just learning covers, but I used to write a lot of music of my own with open tunings. So I know you can play them anyway you choose.

But that said, I believe most people tend to play open tunings in the open key. So if you tune to open C, most of your songs will be in C. And they will tend to sound the same.

It is like slide guitar. Many blues players use an open E tuning for slide. It is easy to recognize. That is because it sounds the same. You can play all different riffs on it, and all different notes in a solo, but you can still hear that it is an open E tuning. That is what I mean.

Well, at least I think I can tell most of the time. :D

And I am not trying to discourage One Winged Angel from using open tunings. I think she should play guitar anyway she feels like. There is no right or wrong to how you play guitar.

But her original post asked if there were any disadvantages to open tunings. So I just threw in my own personal opinions. I'm sure others might disagree.

Ricochet

I am not saying open tunings aren't versatile. I was a big Jimmy Page fan. I realized early on that he was using different tunings. And that is who got me into these tunings. And I spent years tuning my guitar to many various tunings. Not just learning covers, but I used to write a lot of music of my own with open tunings. So I know you can play them anyway you choose.

But that said, I believe most people tend to play open tunings in the open key. So if you tune to open C, most of your songs will be in C. And they will tend to sound the same.

It is like slide guitar. Many blues players use an open E tuning for slide. It is easy to recognize. That is because it sounds the same. You can play all different riffs on it, and all different notes in a solo, but you can still hear that it is an open E tuning. That is what I mean.

Well, at least I think I can tell most of the time. :D

And I am not trying to discourage One Winged Angel from using open tunings. I think she should play guitar anyway she feels like. There is no right or wrong to how you play guitar.

But her original post asked if there were any disadvantages to open tunings. So I just threw in my own personal opinions. I'm sure others might disagree.
I agree in a way. of course onewingangel and anyone can play any way they want. Joni Mitchell is a good example. she tuned her guitar not to any standard open tuning. she made most of them up.

I disagree a bit with 'if the tuned to open C ( or any other key) the song tends to be in theat tuning.
I find a great advantage n open tunings is that one can play in any key. some better than othrs.
but my great like of open tuning is single note licks. the notes I want to play are closer together and the jump form one string to another is incredibly fast and interesting .

I mostly play 'em in the root key, with lots of "droning" and stereotyped licks like Wes said. That's how the bluesmen I admire did it, and most of that stuff's musically simple and is not enhanced by fancying it up. I don't disagree with Wes' points. I was just pointing out that someone who knows what they're doing can get pretty sophisticated stuff out of 'em.
:D

Think I see the advantages and disadvantages to them. Lost on how playing out of the root key is hard though. I had my guitar in Open C but was playing in the key of G. Mind you, I didn't know it at the time.

These disadvantages and advantages apply to open tunings for power chords too right?

Well, the usual open tunings work fine for power chords. In Open D (DADF#AD), you hit the three lower strings at any fret and you've got a power chord. Don't really need all six strings tuned to it, but you can if you want to. That's also true of Drop D (DADGBE), too. In the other main open tunings you also have that. In Open G (DGDGBD) you play the GDG on the third through fifth strings, and if you hit the sixth string it's still a power chord, though it sounds even more ambiguous with a fifth in the root.

Open C (CGCGCE) is one I haven't played in much. If you notice the pattern, going from the Open D pattern to the Open G pattern to the Open C pattern we're moving all the strings over one toward the treble side, with the one that "dropped off" going back on the bass side. In Open D the string tuned to the third is the third string. In Open G it's the second. In Open C it's the first string. In Open C everything but the first string is a power chord. As is true for the others, only one string's tuned to the third, eveything else is a root or a fifth.

There are lots of tunings that don't fit this pattern, of course.