what does open tuning mean
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It means that you get a (normally major) chord when you strum without pressing on any frets.
For example
E B E G# B E
It doesn't have to be major though, you could do it in minor, major 7th, sus4 or anything you like
They are quite often used in slide guitar I believe.
For example
E B E G# B E
It doesn't have to be major though, you could do it in minor, major 7th, sus4 or anything you like
They are quite often used in slide guitar I believe.
Soldato
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Isn't that when the 5th fret of the first string makes the same note as the next string open? You know, tuning without using a tuner.
Man of Honour
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Its basically when you play all the strings and your left hand doesn't touch the guitar neck and it makes a proper chord.
Status Quo are the masters of this and virtually every song has a different tuning.
Status Quo are the masters of this and virtually every song has a different tuning.
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Raist said:
Nah, that is just tuning without using a tuner (its the 4th fret on G btw!).
Open tuning is in a different way from standard.
Soldato
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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 barreing 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
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 two 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.
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
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 two 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.