Alternate Tunings

So, how often do you use alternate tunings when you play your or others' songs? I used DGGGGD recently, it is awesome to mess around with!

apart from a brief period where I kept a pinecaster in Keith Richards 5 string G tuning I haven't bothered with alternate tunings ... its a lot of trouble to re-intonate every time I decide to do play Kashmir or a swervedriver tune or whatever and I enjoy playing all of my guitars so much in standard that I have trouble setting them up to be permanently in a wonky tuning.

DGGGGD? sounds double wonky.... no, quadruple wonky!

even for a so-called 'drone' tuning, wouldn't DGDGGD make more sense? you could keep a standard string set on apart from needing 2 plain G strings for the 'drone pair', use a gauge up from whatever you usually play to keep the tension close to normal with so many strings down a whole step

I generally used to forbid my students from open tunings, they are a real impediment to beginners and even intermediate players. A lot of the 1st 5 years of guitar playing is building muscle memory and if you change tunings you are introducing a whole new set of fingering patterns in each hand position so you're not building muscle memory as effectively. Unless you plan on playing alone and not with other musicians, almost all of the playing you will do in your life will be in standard tuning or some close variation of it like drop D (which is 80% the same if you think about it). Tunings like Eb standard and C standard don't effect your muscle memory, you just need to remember what key to transpose to I your mind if not everyone in the band is re-tuning (or if you have a keyboard player).

Its said the Andres Segovia was responsible for really locking in the standard tuning for guitar (almost 100 yeas ago now). Previously tuning was discretionary and the guitar was not taken seriously as an instrument. Thanks to Segovia and the excellent luthiers who perfected the design of classical guitars in the 19th century the guitar finally started getting the respect it deserves. I don't know if you listen to a lot of classical guitar, but if you listen to Segovia some time you will be too intimidated by his formidable musicianship to question the wisdom of standard tuning!

however, there is a more modern tuning developed by Robert Fripp that you could look into. He felt it was more logical than standard and some people still use it. Its really designed to replace standard, but hasn't managed to gain much ground. Do a google search if you are interested. SInce you are young it would not be too difficult for you to switch gear and make the Fripp tuning your standard, but you'll throw off anyone you jam with who is trying to follow along by looking at your hands (as young guys tend to do).

do you have any formal music training, electronics knowledge and/or experience setting up and maintining your guitars?

I stated with tuning my guitar randomly, by ear, and I have found a lot of cool sounding tunings which can (or can't) be used as a slide tunings too. I always make some riff, but it always sounds like some riff that has been made before. (Last one sounded like "Fortunate Son" though.)

I never knew anything about muscle technique to be honest. I boosted mine on open tunings, considering you need to barre the whole fretboard to achieve the chord. And of course I have tried those jazzy/samba/bossa nova chords which are a bitch to play, but there will come the time you will master playing those chords and laugh to the other beginners with question : How can't you play that???

The sad part is that I have never been in a band, and when I play with others, I always use ear protection because my ears are extremely sensitive to the loud noises. I am called the best guitarist in the school, but I don't understand what people consider under that. Playing Dorian, Lydian and pentatonics are considered for being called the best guitar player? Yeah, I doubt, haha. I never considered myself a good guitarist - just like Noel Gallagher said, "average at fucking best".

I never took any formal training, because it costs terrifying amount of money for terrifying small amount of lessons provided (around 100 bucks for once a week training by a guy who never did anything significant and learns terribly). I bought myself a guitar and started like that. Now I got an electric, and I hope to get some kind of professional guitar and amp when I master the electric too. Considering my setup is pretty simple, I never took any huge lessons about maintaining my beauties. I use lemon oil for my fretboard, while some people say it damages it, I really fancy the effects of it. It makes it even smooth to play! About electronics knowledge, well...no. I would need lessons for that, or I would have to learn it myself again.

I probably should more, it opens up a lot of doors. I've only really used open D, open G for slide, and banjo impersonations, DADGAD, and whole, or half tone lower when needed, and for a few bits, then all number of drop tunings. Oh, and a couple of weird C tunings, I think like open csus2, for scarlet, that was cool, but a little hard to get to terms with.

I just meant formal training like a general music course in your school where you would elarn to read, get chord theory and an introduction to syncopation, y'know? all the basics that can be applied to any instrument.... I've never taken a formal guitar lesson, but I studied music in school from the age of 7 or 8 until adulthood and apart from my early crack at the classical strings, everything I learned can be applied to any instrument and any type of music.... that and physics class really helped me get the science and mathematics behind the sounds that we find to be musical (and those that most of us don't)

Most of my instruments are in Standard E... the way God intended >:(

I tune down to D for very few songs/bands. I have one 4 string bass tuned to CGCF from when I went into a phase with System of a Down. The same bass was tuned to BEAD for a long time for Cannibal Corpse stuff.

I personally hate alternate tunings. I have a friend that always has all his gear downtuned to weird stuff and it makes playing with him irritating.

"What tuning are you in?"

"Drop C# with an F"

"I hate you".

I find having my basses tuned to BEADG allows me to play most anything. Perhaps a 7 string guitar is the answer to all this tuning stuff.

in my one serious band that really made a go of the rock star thing we had some songs in drop D (the singer just liked the way I used drop D as opposed to the traditional heavy music 3 string barre and the odd add9 with no 3rd on every beat and would always root for more drop D and even to convert a new song into Drop D to see what I would come up with in those modified hand positions... it was annoying sometimes) and one song the singer started writing on piano in the guitar-unfriendly key of Cm. After much writing and arranging to do something really special with it I ended up putting a guitar into a weird tuning with the E strings down to Eb and A-D-G-B left standard so I could get some Eb drone in places with an open string over triads on the standard strings and voice some dense chord extensions on the bass strings instead of up top and eventually I wrote a part that highlighted interesting close-interval doublestops with easy to play shapes in the lead line that may have been tricky in that key in standard.... but boy I hated doing that song live.... it required a quick retune or a 3rd guitar on stage. Gah! Pain in the ass on small stages without a tech. I used to only want to bring more than 2 guitars to the big, important shows. I have plenty of axes, but 1 and a backup is plenty for 300 seat or smaller venues.

in all of these cases NO ONE ELSE retuned from standard. Even in drop D our bassist played in standard and when the rhythm guy came in he only played in drop D if we planned to double eachother the whole song and he played rhythm in standard tuning for the weird Cm song. It was fine. With one alternate tuning guitar and one in standard you can get some cool overtones when overdriven. The guitars interact in interesting ways especially when you are playing very different voicings facilitated by the dropped tuning. It can be magical. Or it can be trash...

I just found a really nice one trying to play an AF song, don't know what the proper name is, but FADACF, I've been writing a few bits on it. Sus2's are also nice,

I've used quite a few wierd tunings but my favorite must be a variety of Oud tunings that go : CGDGC, CEDGC or CFDGC.

They all sound very different but are great for messing around with your normal patterns and see how they sound!

I use the first one on a great-sounding Spanish I removed the frets from, it's crazy how unlike a spanish classical guitar it sounds. It's just tender, weird, oriental and warm.

I just found a really nice one trying to play an AF song, don't know what the proper name is, but FADACF, I've been writing a few bits on it. Sus2's are also nice,

by the way, justnoticed this and I felt I should inform you that your tuning's an open Fmaj6... basically just a slide tuning, barre for a major 6 in any position, barre plus a finger on the D to modify it to dominant 7 (middle finger), maj 7 (ring finger) or straight major (pinky)... it'll give you a really unique voicing on those 6th and 7th chords that would be difficult in standard