[PhilUSAFRet]

As a newbie, I hope this question isn't too dumb, but are any of the open tunings used in blues any easier to learn/play?

[allthumbs]

E,A,G,D are the most common keys blues are played in on electrics. The old time acoustic players would also play in the key of C. Open tunings for blues are G,D, most common followed by A and then E. I am talking about slide players. Open tuning puts the major chords in a line all the way across the strings. The down side is that none of the chord shapes you know in standard will work in open tuning so playing individual notes over the fretboard not included in the full bar chord is very challenging and calls for a whole different skill set.
I personally don't think it is easier and you are limited by how much info is available on the net on playing in open tunings. Some of our members might be able to give you more info than I. I gave up open tunings many years ago.

[PhilUSAFRet]

thank you for a great answer to my question

[garry marshall]

Just getting into some slide myself. There's a lot of tunings, some of which you're going to spend a lot of time trying to find a second song to play.
Open G- D G D G B D seems to be a good one to start with- you can find quite a few songs and if you think in terms of the basic I, IV, V: open G, of course being the I, it's easy to get something out of it that sounds OK.
Of course, I agree, that after you've put so much effort into standard tuning you're opening a whole new can of worms, and I really like Kurt's take on dropped D tuning - I think it's 'the beans', but I do enjoy the sound of an alternative tuning and if you play around with it a bit you can get it to sound pretty good without having to turn your world upside down.
If you're a blues fan check out some Muddy Waters, or just play around with it

[Matt_11]

i just tune it normally and then play songs i can find either in half step or E-e tuning

[SlickCat]

Open tunings are another world of guitar.... if you want to dabble, open G is cool you can do some Rolling Stones stuff. If your a slider, then Open G;D;E;A;C and Kirks fave Drop-D tunings are all used . It takes a lot of practice...but what in playing guitar doesnt?