Alternate
and
Open guitar tunings | Back to standard tuning
Anytime you tune your guitar to anything but 'Standard'
tuning, you are using an 'Alternate' tuning. The term 'Open' tuning
is used when you tune your guitar to a chord, so that when you strum
the open (unfretted) strings, you hear a chord.
Let's look at the most common 'Alternate' tuning, dropped
D. The word 'dropped' is used because you lower, or drop, the E string
down to D. The interval is just on wholetone, so it's not much of
a drop. There are two E strings on a guitar, the bass string and the
treble string. The most common form of dropped D is to lower just the
bass string, but you can also lower the treble string. Naturally, you
must adjust the chord shapes to accommodate the change(s) in pitch
Here are some open tunings. You will need to tune some strings up,
some strings down from standard. Click the chord name for all strings
in sequence. Click 'Arpeggio' for a strum of the open strings.
Back to
standard tuning
|
