A Crash Course in Alternate Tunings
Mike Olekshy
Is your playing in a rut? Are you looking for something to spark your creativity and experimentation? The solution may lie in a few twists of your machine heads. Dive in as we journey to the land of alternate tunings!
DROP D (low to high: D A D G B E)
First up is a simple one - Drop D tuning. Take your standard tuned guitar (low to high: E A D G B E) and drop the low string one whole step from E to D. Now fret an open D chord and strum all six strings. It sounds full and thick since we’ve added a lower D note to the chord. Moving chord shapes around the neck with that low string droning out makes for some cool sounds.
Another benefit of this tuning is the ability to play root-6 power chords with one finger. This facilitates some quick riffing, as was popularized in the early 90s by heavy rock bands such as Alice In Chains for its thick sound and easy power chord shapes.
The traditional power chord shape results in a suspended chord sound that also became popular in the 90s. Examples of Drop D tuning include the Beatles’ “Dear Prudence,” Led Zeppelin’s “Moby Dick” and “Going to California,” Nirvana’s “All Apologies,” the Foo Fighters’ “Everlong,” Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun,” Blind Faith’s “Can’t Find My Way Home,” and The Who’s “Going Mobile.”
DOUBLE DROP D (low to high: D A D G B D)
Next, take your high string and tune it down one whole step from E to D. The result is called Double Drop D tuning. Now you can add a droning high D note with your chord shapes as you move across the neck, resulting in a richer sound.
OPEN D (low to high: D A D F# A D)
Now, let’s take our double-dropped D guitar and detune a few more strings. This time, drop the 2nd string (B string) down one whole step to A and the 3rd string (G string) down a half step to F#. Remember to re-check the tuning of all strings, as some strings may have drifted slightly.
The result is that now a strum of all six open strings sound out a D major chord. This tuning is called Open D. An open tuning gives you a full chord with open strings and allows you to play that same type of chord (in this case, a major chord) all over the neck with one finger. This is especially useful for slide players to be able to slide in and out of full chords.
Open D offers shapes for major and minor chords without too much adjustment and definitely will bust you out of a rut with interesting sounds!
Examples of Open D tuning can be heard on “She Talks to Angels” by the Black Crowes as well as much of Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks. Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard uses this tuning when playing rhythm on “Even Flow” and “Oceans” from the band’s Ten album. Mumford & Sons also use the Open D tuning on their tracks “The Cave,” “Awake My Soul,” and “Roll Away Your Stone” from their album Sigh No More. Neil Young, Richie Havens, Joni Mitchell, Elmore James, Bruce Cockburn, Barry Gibb, and Jason Swain have also used Open D.
DAD-GAD Tuning (low to high: D A D G A D)
With your guitar in Open D, raise the 3rd string up a half step to G, and you arrive at DADGAD. This popular tuning sounds out a Dsus4 chord when you strum the open strings. Inspired by Celtic music and the folk music from overseas, this tuning is neither major nor minor, which opens up plenty of richness and avenues for exploration, particularly while using open strings as drones as you use movable chord shapes up and down the neck. The tuning is a staple of folk or rock guitarists such as Roy Harper, Neil Young, and Jimmy Page.
Jimmy Page explains DADGAD / Kashmir Chords.
OPEN E (low to high: E B E G# B E)
Raising each string up a whole step on a guitar tuned to open D yields Open E tuning. This tuning uses the same shapes as Open D, so you can instantly transfer your vocabulary to it. It is also a favorite tuning for slide players, and has been used extensively on recordings by The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan.
A word of warning: since you are tuning up a few of the lower strings one full step, lighter gauge strings are recommended.
OPEN G (low to high: D G D G B D)
On a standard tuned guitar, dropping the 6th, 5th, and 1st strings down one full step leads to Open G tuning. This is another example of an open tuning, where strumming all the open strings sound a chord - in this case - G major. Like other open tunings, you can use a single finger to play full major chords.
It is also easy to transfer your standard tuning vocabulary using the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd strings directly to this tuning and combine accordingly with the detuned strings. This open tuning is very popular and was used frequently by Keith Richards, Led Zeppelin, The Black Crowes, and plenty of Mississippi Blues artists such as Robert Johnson.
Open G tuning could be renamed the Keith Richards’ tuning as it’s heard on a number of Stones’ songs, including “Honky Tonk Women,” “Brown Sugar,” “Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’,” “All Down the Line,” “Tumbling Dice,” “Gimme Shelter,” “Beast of Burden,” and “Start Me Up,” among others. Zeppelin made good use of it too, with songs like “In My Time of Dying,” “That’s the Way,” “Dancing Days,” “Bron-y-Aur Stomp,” and “Black Country Woman.” Joni Mitchell used Open G on “Little Green.” Muddy Waters used it for “Can’t Be Satisfied” and “Rollin’ and Tumblin’.” George Thorogood’s “Move It On Over” and “Bad to the Bone” are in Open G tuning, as is “Easy to Slip” by Little Feat, “Squeezebox” by The Who, and “Fearless” by Pink Floyd.
Let Your Creative Juices Flow
Pick one of these alternate tunings, tune your strings accordingly, and experiment. A good place to start is with your usual chord shapes. See how they sound in the new tuning. Alternate tunings are especially fun to combine movable chord shapes with open droning strings. See what kind of sounds you can come up with.
Learn how to adjust your familiar shapes to figure out new shapes for major, minor, seventh, and suspended chords by applying your knowledge of theory to the changed intervals between strings. Once you figure out a few basic moveable chords, you’ll find a wealth of creativity just waiting to be unleashed! Most of all, have fun with it!
Mike Olekshy is an instructor and writer for Guitar Tricks.
Photo by Nicholas Lazarine on Unsplash.
