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Beware the Beast Man Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Feb-18-05 02:46 PM
Original message
Any alternate guitar tuning recommendations?
Beyond DADGAD, anybody have some alternate guitar tunings they'd be willing to share with me. I'd like to experiment with some new sounds. Thanks!
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XNASA Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Feb-18-05 04:21 PM
Response to Original message
1. DGCGCD - The Rain Song tuning
I like this one, because it still works well with a standard set of strings..hate it when they start getting too floppy.
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jpgray Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Feb-21-05 01:39 PM
Response to Reply #1
6. Second that--the Rain Song is easy as shit to play, and sounds great
Edited on Mon Feb-21-05 01:40 PM by jpgray
Normal chord forms will give you some neat sounds in that tuning. Also try CACGCE if your bass strings won't buzz on you.
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BlueEyedSon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-23-05 04:31 PM
Response to Reply #1
11. Oooooh, yeah!
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Dukkha Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Feb-19-05 11:55 AM
Response to Original message
2. I like Bron-Yr-Aur tuning
CACGCE

has a 12-string like sound opend and rich tones. Fun to play too.
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bullimiami Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Feb-20-05 10:17 AM
Response to Original message
3. one of my favorites is
all the same note.

dddddd or cccccc or whatever.

makes for a jolly good time especially with an amp.
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Beware the Beast Man Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Feb-20-05 12:52 PM
Response to Reply #3
5. I just tried a similar one, based on a Sonic Youth tuning.
FFFFDD; makes a great droning effect. I'm recording a song around it right now. When it's finished, I'll post it for all of you to hear. Thanks!
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ProfessorGAC Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Feb-20-05 12:48 PM
Response to Original message
4. Here's A Fun One For Acoustic Slide
6th - D
5th - G
4th - D
3rd - G
2nd - B
1st - D

It's an open G chord that's mostly tonics and fifths. There are some convenient ways to play chords in this tuning, too, that makes it good for a prog-folk, Kottke or Towner type of thing, combining chording, picking and slide.

The Professor
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Bonhomme Richard Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Feb-22-05 10:52 AM
Response to Original message
7. D7th open tuning
Off the top of my head it's:
E - D
B - C
G - F#
D - D
A - D
E - D

John Lennon used this tuning on For You Blue
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ProfessorGAC Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Feb-22-05 12:44 PM
Response to Reply #7
8. Only One Change I'd Make
I'd let the 5th string be an A. There's no fifth in the tuning as you have it, and i think it would lack character in the lower register.

I use 7th tunings too. The only thing i don't care for is that alternate fingerings for chords in 7th tuning are tougher to find and still be interesting, rather than merely annoying.

I like the conventional C7 tuning too! Easy to find other good chord fingerings within that, but not as cool as the open G i mentioned above.
The Professor
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Beaverhausen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Feb-22-05 02:34 PM
Response to Original message
9. as a Joni fanatic, here are a few
this one is called California Kitchen tuning:
C G D F C E

Open D:
D A D F# A D

cool open G variation:
C G D G B D

and I love this variation on DADGAD:
D G D G A D


and I rarely play in standard tuning without dropping the low E to D.

I have a really hard time getting standard tuning "in tune"



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Beware the Beast Man Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Feb-22-05 06:22 PM
Response to Original message
10. Here's a little something I put together,
based on that above-mentioned FFFFDD tuning:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/7/bewarethebeastmanmusic.htm

It's called "Untitled Drone #1."

I am going to try all your suggestions as well, and maybe I'll throw something down in the next week.
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BlueEyedSon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-23-05 04:33 PM
Response to Reply #10
12. Gawd, you need an ID/PW and cookies.
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bbernardini Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-24-05 08:52 PM
Response to Original message
13. Robert Fripp's New Standard Tuning...
CGDAEG
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no name no slogan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-01-05 03:18 PM
Response to Original message
14. Richie Havens open tuning
basically it's a D major chord on the open strings:

D A D F# A D

You can get some very monstrous sounds out of this chord by just moving it up and down the neck, and strumming like your arms's on fire. If you've ever seen footage of Richie Live (like in the original Woodstock movie), you'll know what I mean.

http://www.richiehavens.com/HM3365.htm

===
Also, here's a tuning I stumbled upon once when working on some backing music for a dance piece. I've since used it for strummy acoustic stuff as well as noise/drone stuff, too.

Lo to hi:
G G D G A D

I usually add major/minor/etc. on the A string by dropping a finger on the string while barring straight across on the others. You can also get some interesting combinations by by leaving the two low Gs open and doing runs up the neck on the treble strings.

Have fun! :)
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ProfessorGAC Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-02-05 12:23 PM
Response to Original message
15. I Thought Of Another Fun One
The tuning is exotic at all, but it's open E7, but you use thinner strings on the 5th and 6th string. So, you use the standard strings on 1 through 4 and tune them E, B, G#, D, then using the same gauge string as on the 2nd, you tune the 5th to a B, and the same gauge as on the 3rd string, tune the 6th to E.

It's a cool jangly, very bright chording thing, and finding internal chords with open drones is very easy in the E7 tuning. But, those extra higher tones make it sound very different.
The Professor
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asthmaticeog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-03-05 01:40 PM
Response to Original message
16. I like Blixa Bargeld's tuning:
D A D A A D

He uses that tuning in both Einsturzende Neubauten and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. It's easily accessible from a standard set of strings, makes a cool slide tuning, a great drone tuning, and does some interesting (if a tad hellish) stuff with standard first-position fingerings.
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no name no slogan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-05 06:56 PM
Response to Original message
17. One more-- Johnny Marr's "Nashville Tuning"
Edited on Sat Mar-05-05 06:57 PM by no name no slogan
I read somewhere that when Johnny Marr was in the Smiths he used to use "Nashville" tuning on a lot of their stuff. Basically, it's your standard EADGBE tuning, except your four lowest strings are tuned one octave higher than normal.

You get a real jangly kind of tone, similar to a twelve-string. Of course, you'll probably want to set it up on another guitar, since you'd have to replace four strings to get it tuned right.
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