Alternate tunings.

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Mustang Melx
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Post by Mustang Melx »

Doog wrote:The best thing about odd tunings is trying standard chord shapes and occassionally stumbling across something amazing, it DOES happen.
in that tuning I posted open 'a' and 'g' chords sound good....well interesting anyway!
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Post by deadonkey »

I'm boring

standard
Open A
open G with no 6th string (keef style)
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aen
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Post by aen »

Hay gaiz, I havent played in standard tuning since 1998.

BF#BB
DADD
DADAAE
DDAD
DADG#AE
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Aeon
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Post by Aeon »

Haha thats right, I figured you were kinda joking.

Alt-tunings really force you to think (and play) outside of the box, because you can't fall back on your usual shapes and patterns. So even while some of the fingering positions might make it "easier" from a technical perspective to play something complex sounding, the end result is all that matters.
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tribi9
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Post by tribi9 »

I can barely play in standard tuning so no alt. tuning for me. Half a step down is as far as I've ventured.
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Post by r40f »

i'm pretty shocked that there could still be any debate to the validity of alternate tunings... it's a bit like criticizing modern art when it's been around a hundred years already.

anyway, as long as i've played guitar, i've experimented with alternate tunings. it is not for anyone lazy because it requires not only devising a creative way of making the instrument create new chords, but also re-learning how to play the way you've just invented. although they certainly didn't invent alternate tunings, sonic youth certainly took the concept and ran with it by attempting to dedicate each individual instrument to a method of performing a piece of music (the physical guitar becoming integral to the music itself). glen branca and rhys chatham are probably the most famous examples of composers who wrote avant-garde pieces for many guitars with different tunings and strings. but the fun part about alternate tunings is that it not only opens up the guitar to all these different sounds, it also teaches you different things as you experiment with it.

anyway, all that said, despite having tried scores of alternate tunings that i either found or made up... just yesterday i learned an alternate tuning that kind of blew my mind because it was so simple: just tune the B string to a C# and check that one out. :)
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Post by r40f »

shit man i spent like two minutes too long on writing that post
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Post by Haze »

live i mainly use D#, and a bit of standard and drop D

but when i'm writing new stuff or messing around i use some of these

Drop C CGCFAD
Drob B BF#BEG#C#
Open C CGCGCE
Open Eminor7 DGDF#BD
Major 3rd CEG#CEG#

and other oddities of the sort =)
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Post by JamesSmann »

my love of mike doughty has made me discover the beauty of DADDAD. it's very droney...but me likey.
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Post by aen »

r40f wrote:shit man i spent like two minutes too long on writing that post
Thats bcasue I tricked you!
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Post by Ninja Mike 808 »

St. Jimmy wrote:my love of mike doughty has made me discover the beauty of DADDAD. it's very droney...but me likey.
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Post by Mr Mustache »

i play almost exclusively in Standard, i'm beginning to get really board with it, I've tried Alt tunings, but have found one i want to keep my guitar in yet
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Post by Sublimedo »

I've written some songs in EEBEBE
some in Nashvile tuning, which is just EADG a whole octave up and BE stay the same.
Pavement/Thurston Moore tuning s CGDGCD
a funny sonic youth tuning DD#A#D#GG
I have a couple more but don't remember atm.
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Post by NickD »

Sublimedo wrote: Pavement/Thurston Moore tuning s CGDGCD
I use a variation on that CGDGBB
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Ninja Mike 808
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Post by Ninja Mike 808 »

A lot of these tunings look like they jus make it easier to play.
If you think of god as a pair of pants, a spiritualist thinks he needs pants, in fact he wants pants but none of the conventional types of pants seem to fit just right, so he makes his own pants and is happy that his knees are no longer cold.-fibus
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Post by laterallateral »

I play alot of our brighter sounding stuff in A-D-G-C-E-A. (makes octave double stops real easy and sound awesome)
The stormbird is permanently tuned C-F-B-E-G-C and my bandmate generally plays in standard E or D-G-D-G-B.
he makes it work but his guitar reeks of the stones.
Last edited by laterallateral on Fri Sep 19, 2014 3:05 pm; edited 115,726 times in total
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Post by iCEByTes »

Jimmy page ones
DADGAD
“White Summer�, “Black Montain Side�, “Kashmir� “Midnight Moonlight� , the Demo“Swan Song�

CACGCE
“Friends�, na “Bron-Yr-Aur� , “Poor Tom� from Coda album.

CGCGCE
“Hats Off to (Roy) Harper�

DGDGBD
“Black Country Woman� e “Going to California�. One Down Half Drop , Studio “That’s The Way�

DADGBE
“Moby Dick� e “Ten Years Gone�

Rain Song , Studio DGCGCD , Live EADADE


Tony Iommi one
C# (low to high: C#, F#, B, E, G#, C#

Tony lost the tips of his middle and ring fingers on his right hand in an industrial accident in the 1960s.


from wikipedia
After attempting to learn to play right-handed, Iommi strung his guitars with extra-light strings (using banjo strings, which were a lighter gauge than even the lightest guitar-strings of the time) and wore plastic covers over the two damaged fingers. He fashioned the latter himself, by melting plastic liquid-soap bottles into a ball and then using a soldering iron to make holes into this ball, putting his fingers in while the plastic was still soft enough to be shaped. He then trimmed and sanded away the excess plastic to leave himself with two thimbles, which he then covered with leather, to provide better grip on the strings. Subsequent tips have been custom-made.




Rory Gallagher
Open D - D A D F# A D
Open G - D G D G B D
Open A - E A E A C# E


Grunge style
Drop D Tuning - D A D G B E


Rolling Stones
Open G Tuning - D G D G B D


:)
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Post by bamonte »

I use standard, eb tuning, and double drop d tuning. I really like the double drop d, I started using it after I heard going to california.
Looking for recommendations on some new music?
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Post by aen »

Ninja Mike 808 wrote:A lot of these tunings look like they jus make it easier to play.
A fuck ton easier. I played guitar like, once a week, if that, before I heard about drop D. That night I broke 2 strings, retuned to DADD, and wrote 3 songs and teh rest is post-rock history.
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Ninja Mike 808
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Post by Ninja Mike 808 »

aen wrote:
Ninja Mike 808 wrote:A lot of these tunings look like they jus make it easier to play.
A fuck ton easier. I played guitar like, once a week, if that, before I heard about drop D. That night I broke 2 strings, retuned to DADD, and wrote 3 songs and teh rest is post-rock history.
I used to do drop D, but it gets boring. I think if I want teh lows=z, I'ma get a baritone.
If you think of god as a pair of pants, a spiritualist thinks he needs pants, in fact he wants pants but none of the conventional types of pants seem to fit just right, so he makes his own pants and is happy that his knees are no longer cold.-fibus