Black Crowes Jealous Again Guitar Lesson
xi alternating tunings every guitarist should know
Standard guitar tuning, in which the strings are tuned, low to loftier, to E A D G B E, has been extensively explored and mined for riffs, licks and chord voicings by generations of guitarists.
While its familiarity is beneficial, in terms of the numerous fretboard shapes and patterns you've invested and then much fourth dimension in learning, that tin can sometimes work against you, as it tin be a artistic challenge to not go along playing all those aforementioned ingrained chords and licks from habit.
In this lesson, I'll present a broad overview of 11 alternate tunings that famous guitarists accept employed to smashing effect in some of their virtually well-known and celebrated recordings, which can serve as inspiration for your own playing and songwriting endeavors.
Guitar tuning essentials
A few words about tuning in general: always employ an electronic guitar tuner for whatever foray into an alternate tuning (and for getting back to standard tuning), merely first make an endeavour to tune by ear, tuning the strings to each other using reference pitches, which may be fretted notes, open up strings or any available natural harmonics at the 12th, seventh or fifth frets. (Don't employ 4th-fret harmonics, as they're slightly apartment.)
Try to do this quickly and efficiently and zero-in on the precise target pitch before both notes die out. (Call back of tuning past ear equally playing golf and always attempt to get a "hole in one.")
After y'all've made your all-time endeavour at tuning your strings by ear, use your electronic tuner to verify the accuracy of the results and to fine-melody as needed. Often, strings yous oasis't even touched 'drift' slightly sharp or apartment, due to the changing overall tension and pull on the neck that results from other strings being tightened or loosened. This event is more common and astute with an electrical guitar, with its less massive and thus more flexible neck joint, compared to that of an audio-visual.
A unison - a note doubled in the same octave - is the easiest reference pitch to tune to by ear, but an octave, perfect fifth or perfect quaternary may also serve this purpose, if you're experienced enough to know what to listen for.
Being able to tune by ear is a critical listening skill and an important part of your development as a guitarist and musician, and making an effort to do this on a daily basis is a very beneficial, ongoing practice in ear preparation. But, again, like an accountant using a computer, always cease the chore with an electronic tuner, as playing out of tune is completely unacceptable to a listener in any situation, no affair how casual!
one. Drop D
This is the nigh widely used alternate tuning in many styles of popular music, especially rock and metal, and it'south certainly the almost convenient to get into from standard tuning. Simply tune your low East string down ane whole step (the equivalent of ii frets) to D, and then that it matches the pitch of your open up quaternary string, or 'eye D', 1 octave lower (Effigy 1).
I find that the fastest and easiest way to tune to drib D is to sound the natural harmonic at the sixth string'southward 12th-fret and tune it down to match the pitch of the open up 4th string in unison. Zero-in on the pitch friction match past advisedly listening for a gradual slowing of the "beating," or pulsating, audio until it stops, or becomes imperceptibly slow.
Drib-D tuning offers a deep, pleasingly resonant sound for riffs built around a outset-position D chord, using all half-dozen strings, and also makes for a compact, movable root-5th-octave power chord shape, formed with a single finger, typically the alphabetize, barred across the bottom three strings, which provides a perfect foundation for 'stacking' a variety of 'taller' and more than harmonically sophisticated chord voicings upon the bones power chord, a few of which are illustrated in Effigy 2.
Well-known examples of songs that brand nifty use of drop-D tuning include Everlong past the Foo Fighters, the Beatles' Beloved Prudence, Spoonman and Black Hole Sun past Soundgarden, Tool's Aenima, Them Bones and Dam that River past Alice in Chains and Nirvana'south All Apologies, the latter three songs all being in drop-D tuning transposed downward ane one-half step (low to high, Db Ab Db Gb Bb Eb).
2. Double drop D
Used famously by Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page in Going to California, Neil Immature in Cinnamon Girl, Robbie Krieger in the Doors archetype, The End (pitch-shifted approximately 50 cents, or a quarter-tone, flat) and Pool of Mudd's Wes Scantlin in Drift and Die, double drop-D tuning is, as its proper noun suggests, like regular drop D, but additionally has the high E string tuned downwards to D (see FIGURE 3).
A convenient way to get a reference D pitch to tune your high E string downwards is to sound the D natural harmonic on your fourth string'southward twelfth fret. But if you lot observe that tuning a regular annotation to a harmonic like this is besides difficult to hear and judge due to the deviation in tone, yous can instead employ the D notation on your B string's 3rd fret as a reference pitch. You lot'll but need to pick and agree both that note and the open high Due east notation, then accomplish over to melody the latter down to D with your pick hand.
With three open D strings - low, middle and loftier - this tuning is great for crafting drone-y riffs and accompaniments in D major or D small-scale and presents opportunities to hands finger lush-sounding chord voicings, like those shown in Figure 4.
And having your middle four strings nevertheless tuned normally tin can be a big plus too when it comes to embellishing a chord shape with "extensions" or playing melodic riffs using familiar shapes.
3. DADGAD
A widely used tuning among masters of fingerstyle acoustic guitar, such equally Pierre Bensusan, Phil Keaggy, Martin Simpson and Mike Dawes, DADGAD takes double drib-D a step further, past additionally lowering the guitar'south B string a whole step, to A (come across FIGURE 5).
The result is an ethereal and unresolved-sounding Dsus4 chord, with three open D notes in different octaves, two As and a Thousand, the latter of which guitarists oft use as their main melody-playing string in this tuning, with the other strings oft serving as open-string drones and convenient aforementioned-fret octave shapes.
Probably the most celebrated example of a vocal in DADGAD tuning is the Led Zeppelin classic Kashmir, in which Jimmy Page made brilliant utilize of open strings in conjunction with shifting 2-note fretted shapes, especially during the vocal's signature descending sus4-three chord riff heard betwixt the verses, for which he merely moved alternating two-finger shapes downwardly the fretboard to lower positions while incorporating ringing open strings every bit common tones in each voicing, as shown in FIGURE vi.
Page had previously used DADGAD tuning for White Summer (with the Yardbirds) and Black Mount Side, the latter transposed down a one-half step (low to loftier, Db Ab Db Gb Ab Db).
Another well-known song performed in DADGAD tuning, in this case with a capo at the tertiary fret, is the Soggy Lesser Boys' arrangement of I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow, which was featured prominently in the 2000 film O Blood brother, Where Art Thou? And fans of the television series Sons of Anarchy are well familiar with the prove's opening theme song, This Life, which features swampy guitar parts crafted by Velvet Revolver guitarist Dave Kushner and performed by Curtis Stigers & the Forest Rangers in DADGAD tuning, with a capo at the quaternary fret.
4. Open up D
Lowering the open Grand string, the sus4, from DADGAD tuning, by a half step, to F#, results in a deep-and warm-sounding open D major chord and tuning, voiced, depression to high, D A D F# A D, or root, 5th, root, major third, 5th, root (run into FIGURE 7).
Due to the strings' relaxed tension and signature interval stack - a root-5th-octave power chord on the bottom three strings and a get-go-inversion major triad (iii-five-one) on the top 3 - open-D tuning is ideal for playing slide on acoustic guitar, with its thick, tight strings. This was one of blues fable Elmore James' favorite tunings, which he used famously on Dust My Broom and other songs.
The Rolling Stones' Keith Richards employed open D tuning in a non-slide context on the original studio version of Street Fighting Man, barring his index finger across all 6 strings to create a movable major barre chord shape, which he then embellished harmonically and melodically with two-finger 'extensions' to create rich-sounding major add9 and sus2-4 voicings, like those illustrated in FIGURE 8.
Nearly 3 decades later, Jerry Cantrell employed open D tuning, transposed down a half pace (low to high, Db Ab Db F Ab Db) rather resourcefully in the Alice in Bondage song Over Now, similarly employing his fret-hand index finger to form shifting full major barre chords beyond all six strings, to which he and so added single-note embellishments, on i string at a fourth dimension, with his other available fingers.
5. Open E
Once solidbody electric guitars, with their slinkier strings, became popular in the mid twentieth century, many keen slide players, such as Duane Allman and Derek Trucks, adopted open East tuning - depression to high, Due east B E G# B Eastward - as their chief tuning for slide playing. (Trucks plays in open E pretty much exclusively, even when not using a slide.)
Open up E tuning has the aforementioned signature interval stack as open D, simply a whole step higher, equally if you placed a capo at the second fret in open D tuning, and its open strings requite you what would normally be a first-position E chord in standard tuning, every bit shown in Figure ix.
Open up E tuning feels tighter than open D, which increases the pull on the neck, causing it to bow more than it would in open D tuning, or even standard tuning, and you run a higher gamble of breaking a string in open up Due east tuning, especially on an acoustic guitar.
Despite these potentially problematical problems, open up E tuning has also been explored and exploited by acoustic players in such folk and rock classics as Footling Martha by the Allman Brothers Band (both Duane Allman'due south and Dickey Betts' guitars were tuned to open East for this acoustic duet), Jumpin' Jack Flash by the Rolling Stones and She Talks to Angels by the Black Crowes.
And singer David Lee Roth wrote and played the acoustic guitar intro to the Van Halen vocal Ice Foam Human being in open up E tuning, transposed down a one-half-footstep (low to high, Eb Ab Eb Chiliad Bb Eb).
Figure 10 shows a few particularly squeamish chord voicings in open Eastward.
6. Open G
Another popular altered tuning amidst acoustic and electric guitarists, for both its appealing sound and relaxed feel, in terms of string tension, is open up Thousand: low to high, D Grand D Thou B D (see FIGURE 11).
Keith Richards wrote the riffs to some of the Rolling Stones' almost beloved and indelible songs in this tuning, such as Honky Tonk Women, Brown Saccharide, Tin't Y'all Hear Me Knockin', Starting time Me Upwardly and Tumbling Die, the latter performed with a capo at the fourth fret.
Jimmy Page put open up M tuning to great use in Dancing Days, That'due south the Way and Bron-Y-Aur Stomp, the latter two on acoustic guitar, transposed, respectively, downward a half-pace - low to high, Db Gb Db Gb Bb Db - and a whole stride, to what may alternatively be thought of equally open up F (depression to high, C F C F A C). The Black Crowes' Rich Robinson employed open G tuning, downwardly a half step, on Jealous Over again to arts and crafts the vocal's catchy, rocking and very Stones-like electrical guitar riffs.
Similar open D and open Due east tuning, open up K offers a pleasing major-chord note stack beyond all half-dozen strings at any given fret, with a triad on the elevation three strings that also makes it great for both slide playing and chord riffing with notes added to the index-finger barre by the other fingers.
Simply open Thousand has a distinctly different grapheme than open D or E, due to its different voicing structure, with a low-to-high intervallic spelling of fifth, root, fifth, root, third, fifth. This gives you a root-position major triad - one-3-5 - across the top iii strings and the fifth of the chord on the lesser, below the fifth-string root note.
Interestingly, Richards opted long agone to remove the sixth string from his open G-tuned Fender Telecaster and play his riffs on only five strings, with the everyman one, now the 5th string, tuned to G, always giving him the root note of the chord he's playing, which allows him to strut and trip the light fantastic around on stage and perform his riffs live with almost reckless abandon, without always having to worry about inadvertently sounding any unwanted sub-root notes.
FIGURE 12 illustrates a few squeamish chord moves in open K tuning.
7. Open A
Open up A tuning (low to high, E A E A C# Eastward) is to open G what open up E tuning is to open up D - the same affair a whole step higher and, similarly, for many players, its electric-guitar counterpart (Effigy 13).
With the strings unfretted, open A tuning gives you a voicing identical to a kickoff-position A chord in standard tuning, with the D, 1000 and B strings all raised a whole pace to Eastward, A and C#, respectively.
Delta blues fable Robert Johnson played in open A tuning frequently, on songs like Cross Road Blues, Traveling Riverside Blues and Come on in My Kitchen, although, since some of his recordings were sped up in the mastering process (intentionally or not), his guitar may have actually been tuned down a half step on some of these songs, to open A flat (depression to high, Eb Ab Eb Ab C Eb) or a whole step, to open Grand.
Many other dejection masters have made great utilize of open A tuning on electric guitar in several of their songs, for both their slide playing and non-slide fingerpicked riffs. Well-known examples include John Lee Hooker's Boogie Chillen and Johnny Winter'southward Mean Town Dejection.
Jimmy Page employed open up A (in this instance, with a slow phase-shifting effect) for his swampy slide-guitar tour de force, Led Zeppelin's In My Time of Dying, as did Jack White on the White Stripes hit Seven Nation Army, which, interestingly, is in the key of E minor, non A major.
eight. DGC-GCD (The Rain Song tuning)
Like DADGAD, this is an enigmatic-sounding tuning that has an unresolved quality to information technology, in this case giving you lot what may be thought of as a Csus2/D (Csus2 over D) chord (Effigy fourteen).
I can just call up of one famous song that uses this unusual tuning, but it's a masterpiece that's definitely worth learning if you're an contradistinct-tuning enthusiast and adventurous songwriter/composer, The Rain Song by Led Zeppelin.
FIGURE 15 illustrates a few of the shimmering chord voicings Folio employs in this song. Note the liberal apply of open-sting drones, unisons, octaves and parallel movable shapes.
9. Open C6
Some other tuning that Jimmy Folio made brilliant use of is open C6 (low to high, C A C G C East), for which the A, G and high E strings are all tuned ordinarily, the low Due east and D strings both drib down to C and the B string goes up to C, as shown in FIGURE 16.
The guitarist employed this tuning on two acoustic Led Zeppelin classics, Friends and Bron-Twelvemonth-Aur (both recorded during the Led Zeppelin III sessions).
In Friends, Page took reward of the familiar two-finger strummed octave shape on the A and G strings to play stand-out melodies upwards and downward the fretboard in conjunction with the three ringing open C strings, similar to FIGURE 17.
More recently, Marcus Mumford employed open C6 tuning on two of his band Mumford & Sons' biggest hits, I Will Wait and Little Panthera leo Man, the latter vocal performed with a capo at the fifth fret.
ten. Open C (Chris Cornell tuning)
Our next tuning is one employed past the tardily, cracking vocalizer-songwriter and guitarist Chris Cornell for two of Soundgarden'due south biggest hits, Burden in My Manus and Pretty Noose.
Information technology'south a variation on open C tuning (depression to loftier, C G C G C Due east), for which the B cord, instead of existence tuned up to C, is instead tuned down to G, in unison with the Chiliad string, equally shown in Figure 18. This unison doubling makes notes played together on those two strings at the aforementioned fret, or open, really stand up out.
Figure 19 illustrates a few of the unique chord voicings Cornell employed with this tuning in Burden, some of which he likewise used in Pretty Noose.
eleven. EEEEBE tuning
The 11th tuning is unusual only worth checking out. It'south what's often referred to as Bruce Palmer modal tuning, named after its inventor, the tardily Buffalo Springfield bassist Bruce Palmer, who was besides a talented guitarist.
With this tuning, the low Due east, loftier E and B strings are tuned normally. The A string then goes down to match the low E, the D string goes upwards to E, and the G string goes downwards to E, in unison with the "eye E" string. The result is a drone-y, mystical-sounding E5 chord (FIGURE 20).
Stephen Stills employed this tuning to keen event to craft his sitar-like acoustic guitar parts in the archetype Crosby, Stills & Nash song Suite: Judy Blue Eyes, also as those in 4+20 and Bear On with Crosby, Still, Nash & Young.
In Suite: Judy Blueish Eyes, Stills used his normally tuned B and high E strings equally his main tune-playing strings, with the bottom 4 strings employed primarily as accompanying unison and octave drones, equally in Effigy 21.
Interestingly, Stills employed this same tuning scheme, transposed downwardly two whole steps (!), in Honey the One Yous're With, with his acoustic guitar tuned, very unusually, to C C C C M C, low to high. (You'll want to use thick strings for this tuning.)
Hopefully, this list of contradistinct tunings and the artists and song examples cited in a higher place have given yous some useful points of reference and artistic inspiration to experiment with twisting your guitar'southward tuning pegs to these nonstandard settings.
In that location are, however, many more contradistinct tunings than these xi that countless world-renowned guitarist-vocalizer-songwriters accept employed, including some used in well-known songs by artists like Joni Mitchell, John Rzeznik of the Goo Goo Dolls, Coldplay's Chris Martin and Smashing Pumpkins mastermind Billy Corgan.
When experimenting with altered tunings and searching for new sounds, a good approach is to drop or enhance any 1 or 2 strings and listen to what happens when y'all go to play familiar chord shapes. Y'all may encounter some awful sounds forth the manner, but y'all're only equally probable to find a few gorgeous, imperial chord voicings that could spark the writing of a fresh-sounding original song.
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Source: https://www.guitarworld.com/lessons/11-alternate-tunings-every-guitarist-should-know
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