In my never-ending quest to figure out some way to do an interesting lead break while performing solo (I've tried both harp and looping pedal with moderate success), I'm now thinking about trying to fit my songs into alt tunings. This will allow me to drone bass notes and (hopefully) play tasty licks over the top.
But I've been looking through alt tuning chord charts, and I can't seem to find workable tunings. What I mean is this: Most of the tunings do not seem to offer all of the chords in a given key. For example, there may be lots of Em6, Em7, Em11, Em13, Emsus chords, but no simple Em. :shock: I don't use (at least not yet) such exotic extended chords in my songs (I'm pretty much a straight-ahead 3-chords-and-the-truth country/folk guy), and I'd need to have the basic plain vanilla chord palate to get started with alt tunings.
I know that alt tunings are usually limited to a certain key or two, but shouldn't they be able to offer all of the chords in that key? Can't I play simple D-Bm-G-A without adding in all sorts of 6ths, 11ths, etc? I mean, I just want to play "Hickory Wind" and other Gram Parsons-influenced stuff!!
Am I missing something?
They're there: http://www.looknohands.com/chordhouse/guitar/index_rb.html
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
Thanks, this is perfect! :P
But... a few of these common chords seem barely playable in some tunings! :shock:
That's true. Some chords are easier and some are harder in different tunings. Got to admit, standard's the most versatile all around. That's why it became "standard."
You don't always have to make a whole chord to get the feel of it, even playing solo. Fake it when necessary.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
You should tune to C standard because it's so metal!
