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Open tuning

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In guitar playing, an open tuning is one where the strings are tuned so that a chord is achieved without fretting, or pressing any of the strings. With such a tuning, other chords may be played by simply barring a fret or through the use of a slide.

Open tunings are common in blues music and some rock and folk music. They are particularly used in steel guitar and bottleneck guitar playing. The names of some tunings vary between genres, for example in Hawaiian Music, for slack-key guitar, an example would be the taro patch, or open G tuning, with strings low-high D-G-D-G-B-D. But in bluegrass music, open G can mean G B D G B D.

Notable players who have made extensive or exclusive use of open tunings include Robert Johnson, Bukka White, Skip James, Nick Drake, Nic Jones, John Fahey, Bob Dylan, Alexander Rosenbaum, Keith Richards, Duane Allman, Ry Cooder, Richard Thompson, Martin Carthy, John Martyn, Blind Blake, Leo Kottke, Richie Havens, Jack White, Joni Mitchell, Jonatha Brooke, Mark Kozelek, Michael Hedges, Ted Hawkins, Jimmy Page, Rod Price, Alan Sparhawk, Barry Gibb, Joe Walsh, John Butler, Kevin Shields, Sonic Youth, Nick Drake, Pete Bexley, Devin Townsend and Jimmie Spheeris.

Examples

Major Tunings

Major open tunings (giving a major chord with the open strings) include:

  • Open A: low-high; E-A-C#-E-A-E
    • Alternatively: low-high; E-A-C#-E-A-C#
    • "Slide" Open A: low-high; E-A-E-A-C#-E (note that this tuning is identical to Open G tuning but with every string raised one step or two frets)
  • Open C: low-high; C-G-C-G-C-E
  • Open D: low-high; D-A-D-F#-A-D
    • Alternatively: low-high; D-A-D'-A'-D-D
  • Open E: low-high; E-B-E-G#-B-E (use light gauge strings because three strings must be raised)
  • Open F: low-high; F-A-C-F-C-F (rare)
  • Open G: low-high; D-G-D-G-B-D
    • dobro Open G: low-high; G-B-D-G-B-D (occasionally adopted for ordinary guitar, but requires lighter fifth and sixth strings; Only square-necked resonator guitars can hold this tuning with standard gauges).
    • Russian Open G: low-high; D-G-B-D-G-B-D (the standard tuning for the Russian seven string guitar).

Open Tunings vs Altered Tunings

Generally, Open Tunings refer to the changing of string pitches to reproduce common Major and Minor chords. One might consider broadening this definition to include more obscure or less used tonalities / chords such as the ones listed below. But these are in kind of a "middle ground" between standard Open Tunings and Altered Tunings. Altered tunings are tunings that don't really reflect any specific chord name. An example would be the tuning Jimmy Page uses on Led Zeppelin's Rain Song (D,G,C,G,C,D). Even though some tunings could be named by "theory" they might lack the gravity or musical cohesion to really represent that chord.

Crossnote tunings

The above open tunings all give a major chord with open strings. Since it is highly likely guitarists will need to play minor chords as well, open tunings must be adapted to allow this by lowering the pitch of one of the strings forming the open chord by half a step. To avoid the relatively cumbersone designation "open D minor", "open C minor", such tunings are sometimes called "crossnote tunings". The term also expresses the fact that, by fretting the lowered string at the first fret, it is possible to produce a major chord very easily.

Crossnote tunings include

  • Crossnote A: low-high; E-A-E-A-C-E
    • Alternative: E-A-C-E-A-E (rare)
  • Crossnote C: low-high; C-G-C-G-C-Eb
  • Open D: low-high; D-A-D-F-A-D
  • Crossnote E: low-high; E-B-E-G-B-E
  • Crossnote F: low-high; F-Ab-C-F-C-F (extremely rare)
    • Alternative: low-high; F-C-F-Ab-C-F (used by Albert Collins; requires extremely light gauges
  • Crossnote G: low-high; D-G-D-G-Bb-D

Sometimes a guitarist will want a tuning that will permit very easy chords but not be definitively minor or major. In this case, modal tunings can be used. They can be especially effective with droning open strings, and give "suspended" second or fourth chords:

Modal tunings include:

  • Asus2: low-high; E-A-B-E-A-E (very rare)
  • Asus4: low-high; E-A-D-E-A-E
  • C6: low-high; C-A-C-G-C-E (used in " Bron-Yr-Aur " & " Friends " by English rock group Led Zeppelin)
  • Csus2: low-high; C-G-C-G-C-D
  • Csus4: low-high; C-G-C-G-C-F
  • Dsus2: low-high; D-A-D-E-A-D
  • Dsus4: low-high; D-A-D-G-A-D (very popular in Celtic music and referred to as "Dad Gad")
  • Esus2: low-high; E-A-E-F#-B-E
  • Esus4: low-high; E-A-E-A-B-E
  • Gsus2: low-high; D-G-D-G-A-D
  • Gsus4: low-high; D-G-D-G-C-D

"Extended chord" tunings

These tunings allow a guitarist to play an open seventh, ninth, eleventh or thirteenth chord. One or more of the strings is retuned to the appropriate note of the required scale. Such tunings may be either minor or major.

Examples are:

  • Open Dmaj7: low-high; D-A-D-F#-A-C#
  • Open Dmin7: low-high; D-A-D-F-A-C
  • Open Emin7: low-high; E-B-D-G-B-E (same as standard except raised 5th string which needs lighter gauge)
  • Open G6: low-high; D-G-D-G-B-E
  • Dobro open G6: low-high; G-B-D-G-B-E (two lowest strings tuned up and require lighter gauges)
  • Open Gmin7: low-high;
    • D-G-D-G-B-F
    • D-G-D-F-B-D (both very rare presumably because of tritone between adjacent strongs)
    • F-G-D-G-B-D
  • Open Gmaj7: low-high D-G-D-F#-B-D (see slack key)
  • "Modal" G7: low-high; F-G-D-G-C-D
  • "Open G6min7": low-high; F-G-D-G-B-E
  • Open Cmin7: low-high; C-G-C-G-Bb-Eb
  • Open Cmaj7: low-high; C-G-C-G-B-E

Nearly infinite.

These open tunings offer much room for experiment, but can only be used in a few keys.

Steel guitar

On table steel guitar and pedal steel guitar, the most common tunings are the extended-chord C6 tuning and E9 tuning, sometimes known as the Texas and Nashville tunings respectively. On a multiple-neck instrument, the near neck will normally be some form of C6, and the next closest neck E9.

Noted country player Junior Brown plays his trademark Guit-Steel in a C13 tuning, which is a C6 Chord with an added 7th above the high A (the Steel has 5 strings instead of a pedal's 7)

Necks with 12 or more strings can be used with universal tunings which combine the features of C6 and E9. On a 12 string pedal steel guitar, all 12 strings are tuned and played individually, not as 6 double courses as on the 12 string guitar.

On lap steel guitar there is often only one six-string neck. C6 tuning is popular for these instruments, as are E6 and E7 tuning, there being an insufficient number of strings to represent the notes of an E9 chord.

See also

Template:Guitar Tunings

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