In an alternate tuning, you need to identify the open string that the tuning is based on. So for open D tuning, that would be the D string. From there, try to figure out the difference between that D string and the string up. This will help you make the necessary adjustments to your scale patterns.

This edition of In Deep will focus on open G tuning and how it is used in blues slide-guitar playing. As illustrated in FIGURE 1, open G tuning, also known as “Spanish tuning,” is spelled (low to high) D G D G B D.

The two principal open tunings have old, vernacular American names that I still like to use: Vastopol and Spanish. Rather than conceptualize tunings by a letter name that corresponds to a particular key (i.e., “open A” or “open D”), it’s useful to think of them in terms of the intervals of which they’re composed.

Tuning Tips

1. Start by tuning your sixth string down to full tones to C.
2. Then tune your fifth string down a tone to G. Check the tuning with the third (G) string.
3. Next, tune your fourth string down a tone to C. Check the tuning with the sixth (C) string.
4. Lastly, tune your second string UP a semitone to C.

A lot of acoustic blues are in open tunings. But what I’ll be doing in this lesson is staying in standard tuning throughout. That way, you don’t need to be retuning your guitar every five minutes just to show your friends what you learned today.

You Can Sound Great Straight Away In Open Tunings! On the contrary if you have been playing guitar for just a little while and have basic techniques down such as strumming, chord changes etc, then open tunings are often easier to play in than standard tuning.

C6 tuning is one of the most common tunings for steel guitar, both on single and multiple neck instruments. On a twin-neck, the most common set-up is C6 tuning on the near neck and E9 tuning on the far neck.

Alternate guitar tunings are essentially any open string combination other than E – A – D – G – B – E (standard tuning). Although standard tuning has been used time and time again and is tried and true, alternate tunings can help you change things up.

The most prevalent is that an open tuning provides a major chord across all six strings, so holding the slide straight across at any fret yields a chord on any set of strings. Open E (E, B, E, G#, B, E, low to high) is close to standard tuning because the top two strings are tuned the same.

Open E tuning is a tuning for guitar: low to high, E-B-E-G♯-B-E. Compared to standard tuning, two strings are two semitones higher and one string is one semitone higher. The intervals are identical to those found in open D tuning . In fact, it is common for players to keep their guitar tuned to open d and place a capo over the second fret.