Rant on the closed minded

Do whatever you want -
don't let any person tell you what to do with your guitar.
Alternate tuning is a fascinating thing to learn on guitar. it's one of the big advantages guitars have over pianos

itzik

Some people want things to sound hard to discourage others from trying them... it makes them seem 'better' because they can do this 'hard' stuff.

Some folks don't understand things, but their ego jumps in and says 'if you don't understand it must be really hard', so they'll tell you it's hard. That's not because it's hard, it's because they're scared of it.

A guitar's got six strings. In standard tuning, they're set to five different notes - so learning any tuning can't be much harder than standard; the most you can have is one more string to learn. In fact, a lot of altered tunings set the strings to just three or four different notes, so in terms of learning the fretboard they're easier than standard tuning.

The 'hard' part is being able to play well in more than one tuning. If you find a favorite and stick with it, you can probably master a slide tuning or DADGAD in a lot less time than you can master standard.... if you want to play both, you're adding extra stuff, so it's harder.

Besides, if we only tried to do 'easy' things in music, they'd sell a lot more kazoos :)

I never could get the hang of the kazoo. Now I feel bad. :lol:

I never could get the hang of the kazoo. Now I feel bad. :lol:

I bet you tried those alternate kazoo tunings people told you to stay away from. :wink:

I never tried alternate tunings with the exception of drop D but right from the very beginning I worked on difficult songs.
Yes they where and are a challenge but what better way to learn.
I find that now when I see a fairly easy song I can play it pretty much first time around.
Let me see someone that only worked easy songs say that.

My number 2 classical is constantly in Drop D, so that I don't have to retune if I need that tuning - just grab the other axe. You soon get used to it being like that.

Best,

A :-)

Just a rant.....
I've found a new obsession in open and alternate tunings and figuring out the guitar all over again. I'm learning more theory and more about the fretboard than I have ever known before. And I was feeling pretty durn good about myself, and then I had a guy tell me that I shouldnt be fooling around with alternate tunings because dont know many songs or much theory and that they are best left to the more "experienced" guitarist and A "newbie" like me should stick to Smoke on the water and Kumbaya . I'll admit its difficult at times but I think thats one of the most closed minding things Ive Ever heard. If im supposed to stick to simple songs how am I ever going evolve as a guitarist creatively? Ive always tried to stay me when playing guitar...its the whole reason I picked it up. and That guy just kinda made me mad...thought Id might share it.

Micheal

:)

That's total BS, anything that interests "YOU" leads you down "YOUR" path, people have no business telling you what should interest you.

personally my first experiances with alterate tunings led me to play Neil Young, and Jimmy Page songs that prior to discovering the alternate tunings sounded too difficult and out of my understanding.

That was over 20 years ago.

I love open tunings because they are so easy to play and bring a unique sound to the song you just can't match by playing the chords any other way.

She Talks to Angels - open E

Time for Me to Fly - open D

Long Haired Country Boy - open D

Some alternate tunings will stretch your brain once in a while but you'll learn more too.

BTW Nirvana is relitivly easy to play, and alot of their song are is Db tuning, which btw is by favorite tuning besides Eb. 8)

Now what would be the fun in playing guitar if you didn't try new things (alternate tuning). I haven't even tried alternate tuning yet, and a lot of bands I like use(d) alternate tuning. My friend is also just starting to play guitar and has played around with alternate tuning. Just keep with what your doing and laugh at people like that....er....ignorant guy. :roll:

My Guitar Teacher was the same, he would experiment with almost everything on his effects pedal but would'nt try alternate tuning. :?

i just never got it and i still don't

Minus Human

To give a different viewpoint . . .

First, I want to emphasise that I'm commenting from my point of view and that I find no fault what-so-ever with people who find a different path. The following comments are for me alone.

I have yet to master standard tuning. I have the goal of being able to sight read anything in any position, knowing at least 12 voicings for every chord (accept those that legitimately don't have that many playable voicings, of course), and being able to play in any mode on any string in any position and know what notes I'm playing. I don't want to just be playing a within a pattern, I want to know "oh, I'm in G#-Lydian, and I'm playing an F# on this fret and that's a 2nd, which is exactly what I want 'cause the harmony here is a G#major add9." Add in picking techniques, and a host of other things I'm working on and it's quite a bit.

On top of that I'm working on theory and composing.

I don't care to play around with alternate tunings because my goal is to master the instrument, and in my view, alternate tunings are a minor sideline of guitar knowledge. It's something I will someday play with but I have so much else to work on that I just don't see where it can fit into my practice schedule.

I also don't personally see the return of investment on alternate tunings. The music I most like to play doesn't rely on alternate tunings, and the knowledge I'd gain from playing with them doesn't seem to me to be very transferable to other areas.

So for me, alternate tunings are something I don't see the value in. Where I an instructor and had significant knowledge of alternate tunings, I'd still encourage my students away from that arena until they had mastered quite a bit of other detail that to me is far more important to being a well-rounded musician. I wouldn't tell them not to play with whatever they wanted to play with, but I'd not be putting that material into their lessons until they mastered more important things.

King,

I kind of agree with you. I have the same type of goals/attitude and I don't see the value FOR ME anyway to spend time with alternate tunings when I have so much to learn yet with standard tunings. I have tried some and play a few songs in alternate tunings, but don't see the need or have the time for them yet.

I also agree with Note that in theory it shouldn't be any harder than anything else other than it's just one more thing to deal with.

But with that said no matter what level your at, you should experiment with everything and anything you want to. I don't reallyt believe there is a correct order of what to learn although I do believe in learning the basics first. After that go whereever you want to.

How often alternate tunings are used depends solely on the artist. Some use them constantly. And while it is difficult to learn well, it may just give you a whole new way of playing. Here are three reasons why I use alternate tunings:

1) the guitar comes from one culture. Other cultures play music differently and sometimes it's easier to play ethnic music in another tunings. Some even use a different system of measuring music, making alternate tunings necessary.

2) Jimmy Page uses alternate tunings a lot

3) Some artists, especially heavy metal bands, are notorious for not tuning their instruments, and to replicate their sound often requires some strings to be lowered whole, half, and/or quarter steps.

Of course, those of us who can't tune by ear have a real hard time tuning alternately. But, hopefully, that will be ammended with time, practice, and patience.