The Open-D Tuning Guitar Spot

Wow, too long since my last post. But several interesting comments and questions have been coming in. I interpret this as a definite interest (and need) out there for this sort of alternate guitar tuning thing.

Lots of folks tell me they are frustrated, to which I can relate, as aspiring guitarists. This of course is a primary target of mine. It's where I came from. Plus, I've witnessed the transition of others from frustrated guitarists to happy ones.

It also interesting to hear from players just looking for something different. My eyes were opened to a really cool tuning D A D A D F#, which I tried out and loved. If you have the hang of D A D F# A D, it's a simple transition and really cool, for folksy sounds (a bit limiting for rocking out because you don't have a hand D A on the highest strings.

Others have told me about other excursions into open tunings, all of them interesting. There are a few reply posts on some previous entries here. Check them out.

I also post interesting notes and questions on the site blog.

I am looking at customized lesson packages for students; so that if they like, they can have a structured plan (say 5 half-hour blocks on a CD) to keep them on track. Just the time and expense of creating them.

http://www.easierguitar.com

"I saw on the internet the information reference your open-D instructional material. I have played guitar, in standard tuning, for seveal years, but never really progressed past the early intermediate level. A couple of years ago I began playing in open-D, both slide and fingerstyle. My progress has been considerably faster, however instructional material in open-D is hard to come by. I am looking forward to obtaining your instructional material."


http://www.easierguitar.com

Here's an article I submitted to a guitar site that got some interesting reactions. It's meant to encourage guitar players who just "aren't getting it". For all you fast-fingered geniuses, you can skip it if you like.

Frustrated guitarists. How many there are. How many I’ve met, and played with. How many I’ve taught.

It’s a shame. That most wonderful instrument of all, the guitar. The most common instrument in our culture. The one you can sling over your shoulder without a case. The one that can be strummed with your thumb, picked with a bread tab or a dime, finger picked (with finger picks – or not). The one that can be played as quiet as a mouse or as loud as a jumbo jet. The one that can sing, whine, roar, or tinkle. The one that can be chorded and melodied at the same time. The one so many get frustrated with and leave in the case.

It’s a shame. It happens too much. It nearly happened to me. But I found a way to play guitar. I got good enough to go onstage with it. I even got good enough to front a band with it. I got good enough on guitar to show others how to play. But what a journey it was and continues to be.

My first exposure to guitar was when I was about eight years old. My older brother pestered our parents into submission. He talked them into getting him an acoustic guitar, with no case, and he used a bread tab to play it.

He stunk.

In fact, he got nowhere with it. So I gave it a try.

I stunk too, worse than my brother.

But I persisted and made maddeningly slow progress, to the point where I learned about five chords. I figured out about three pages of our EZ Book of Guitar. I was in my teens by now. The learning curve was a bit slow.

By my mid-teens, I had developed a somewhat accomplished musical background, having played horns (trumpet, trombone and baritone) through elementary and high school. A chance to play in a paying situation steered me towards bass guitar. I picked that up reasonably easily. I got the paying gig.

Still, success on guitar, my first love and ambition, evaded me. By my twenties, I had barely progressed beyond those five chords and three pages. But, I thought to myself, how can this be? Here I am, a horn player, bassist, even a passable vocalist, and I can’t get anywhere with the world’s most popular instrument (and the one that gets the chicks!). I was determined to make this happen. So I started reading and researching, mostly guitar magazines. I discovered in every one, in every issue, they brought up the topic of alternate tuning, in some form or other. I was intrigued. I had a vague knowledge this existed, but never paid it any mind, thinking, if anything, it would make learning guitar even harder. After all, the EZ Guitar Method never mentioned it. But here it was, and what an impressive list of names was being bandied about – Jimmy Page, Ry Cooder, Joni Mitchell, Elmore James, Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson. This alternate tuning thing seemed to reach back a ways. I became even more intrigued.

Several tunings caught my interest. I began to experiment with them. Right off the bat, it became clear that some tunings definitely made the guitar sound more… musical, at first strum, anyway. That is, those open tunings seemed to ring nicely. Reading and re-tuning, reading and re-tuning, I got to know a few of these alternate tunings (though I still could play hardly anything). The one that was easiest, I concluded, was open-D. Finally, I felt, I found I way I could actually learn to play guitar. The transition from standard tuning E A D G B E, was easy enough, to D A D F# A D. Playing chords suddenly became easier. Gone were the multiple finger positions I’d been struggling with, on just the simplest bottom position chords. Here was a major chord I could play, up and down the neck of my guitar, with just one finger. I went to work on open-D tuning with renewed vigor.

Take the following examples, as a preliminary exercise: An E chord in standard tuning, at the bottom of the neck, requires your first, second and third fingers on the A string (2^nd fret, 2^nd finger), D string (2^nd fret, 3^rd finger) and G string (1^st fret, 1^st finger) to create the chord. In effect, you are “tightening up” those three strings to raise the pitch to match the remaining open strings, E (low), B, and E (high). Contrast this with open-D tuning. To get the same E chord, you place one finger on the second fret, across all six strings. You’ve just “tightened up” all six strings, with a single finger, to create exactly the same chord. Index finger is generally recommended, at least at first – the same finger you use to create barre chords in standard tuning. Now, you’re creating usable chords with only your index finger. Manipulations from this basic starting point become as simple as adding a finger (or fingers) onto any adjacent fret to create a new chord. For example, on that newly created E chord with one finger, add your 2^nd finger onto the next (3^rd in this example) fret of the high A string. You’ve just created and E augmented (E+). Change that to your 3^rd finger on the next (4^th) fret, and you’ve created an E sixth (E6).

I get asked many times, by prospective students and fellow teachers alike – what about the re-tuning process? The fact is it is a relatively simple transition. Two of the strings in standard tuning stay the same – A and D. The rest is a matter of slackening the other four strings to create the D major chord. Any guitar player who has experimented with drop-D tuning D A D G B E, will be almost half way there. Tuning the guitar to itself in open-D is actually simpler, in that you hear the major chord as you tune your guitar – the duplication of strings (three Ds, two As) is a benefit in the tuning process. The slight wildcard is the G to F# move – but this is only a semi-tone and quite readily accomplished.

Technically oriented issues might include guitar performance – intonation and so forth – as a result of the slackened tuning. I personally never noticed any issues, electric or acoustic. Very recently, however, a reputable repairman suggested a re-set on my electric intonation if I was staying in open-D. I had that done, but honestly didn’t notice a difference.

I didn’t get “good” at guitar overnight. The transition to open-D is no magic pill, or substitute for regular and diligent practice. I don’t think I’m that “good” a guitar player to this day. But – I got good enough to play guitar. Isn’t that what a lot of people want? Not to be a wizard, or a star, or a god. Just to be able to play some guitar.

That’s what I got out of open-D tuning. The fact that I could play anything at all was the confidence boost that kept me going, to a greater degree of competence. The “getting going” part is what I’m convinced frustrates so many aspiring guitarists. Age, by the way, is irrelevant. I’ve had students of all ages who would just love to “get going” on guitar. I found a way to do it, even after being frustrated.