Open D progressions - help please
 

Dear All,

I just gave the DADF#AD tuning a try and I was very impressed with that deep growly ringing sound! Now my problem is that I cannot play every song I want to.

I have learned a few easy versions of the basic chord progression: D, A, Bm, G with an occasional F#m. That's fine for most sons and I can capo these up a few frets.

But then the capo is getting to high up, it would be nice to have a different progression. Like in normal tuning you can use Am, F, C, G, capo it up to the 5th then you get a Dm progression, then you can restart with Em, C, G, D, like a 2nd gear on your car.

In open D, it's this 2nd progression I don't know. I've checked some chord charts on the internet, but I couldn't find a 2nd progression that had nice and easy chords with not too many strings muted.

Perhaps I missed something? Any help would be appreciated.

Many thanks in advance!

Try these;

Bm (ish)
X2OO2X
G
555555
D
000000
A7
X02102

Thanks, but it's the same I already know. Now I need something similar that begins from Gm/Am or something around that.

Sorry I thought you were asking for Am F C G. My Bm G D A7 is the same sequence raised one tone. Am F C and G Could be

XO2332

333333

X3213X

555555
or
X20120

If I've got the wrong sequence again perhaps you could specify the exact chords you want.

Can I assume you're referring to strummed chords, as opposed to finger style playing?

If you play fingerstyle, I can saturate you with more than you can handle, but if you rely on muting extraneous notes in order to strum.........Nope, can't do.

I play, and compose, A LOT, in open D, and many other tunings.

HE
It Ain't Necessarily So: http://howardemerson.com/music2.html tracks 1,3,8,10,12 & 13 are all in open D

Oh ,sorry, I wasn't very clear:

I need any progression that can be played with relatively nice, and not so crooked twisted chords, that is a transposed version of Bm G D A
So that I can play it in any key without having to put the capo too high up.

And yes, I'm a rythm player, I need these mostly for strumming.

Thank you very much for your help!

OK lets take the very first chords you listed

D, A, Bm, G and F#m

D five frets up would be G open G is

X20120

A five frets up would be D open D is

000000

Bm five frets up would be Em open Em is a bit tricky try this in it's place

222300

G five frets up would be C open C is also tricky because there are no open strings so my best offer is

X3213X

you can mute the first string with your first finger and the sixth string with your thumb.

F#m five frets up would be Bm open Bm is

X2OO2X

mute strings as for C. Finding some chords is one of the problems you get with open tunings. If you had the capo on the 7th fret your original chords become

A, E, F#m, D, C#m

C#m

242242

Some nice opportunities for transposing exercises here.

Incidentally the sadly no longer with us John Martyn gave us this wonderful sequence in his song John the Baptist.

000000

222100

444300

555500

777700

and yes you do always play the open strings.

Good luck.

Thats funny I was just playing in that tuning last night. Also was messing around with the capo on the 10th fret. Does really change things up there.

You mean you want shapes for I-vi-IV-V chords in keys other than D?

The main problem is that open D is designed for playing in D major. It makes that key easier, and other keys harder. So you're fighting the tuning by trying to play in other keys.

Best way to open up your options is to look for shapes for I-vi-IV-V in close keys of G and A, which are only 1 note different from D.
Eg, say you wanted to play in key of C, but didn't want to put the capo right up on fret 10 (to let you do it with D-Bm-G-A shapes).
If you had I-vi-IV-V shapes for key of G (G-Em-C-D), you could use those with capo on 5 to get key of C.
Or I-vi-IV-V shapes for key of A (A-F#m-D-E) would give you key of C with capo on 3.

So - seeing as you already have G, D and A - you need shapes for Em, C, F#m and E to open up both options.
None of these are easy. Other than E (full barre on fret 2), all require muting one or more strings, either because no open strings are in the chord, or because (with F#m) you don't have enough fingers.
One possible F#m with no muting is:
-4-
-0-
-3-
-4-
-0-
-4-
but it has no C#, and that low A is unsatisfactory IMO.
The only option for C is the one stanron gave.
Otherwise, your best bet (and it's the strategy most open tuning players use) is to live with open strings providing interesting added notes:

Key "G")
G = 5-5-0-5-5-0
Gadd9= 5-5-0-5-0-0
Gmaj9 = 5-5-0-0-0-0, or 5-5-4-0-0-0
Cadd9 = x-3-2-1-3-0
C69 = x-3-2-1-0-0
Em7 = 2-2-0-1-2-0

Key "A"
A = x-0-2-3-4-2
A6 = x-0-2-0-0-2
Amaj7 = x-0-2-2-4-2, or x-0-2-2-0-2
E7 = 2-2-0-2-2-0
E7sus4 = 2-2-0-3-0-0
F#mb6 = 4-4-4-3-0-0


PS: you might have better luck with DADGAD ;) - much more flexible.

That is precisely what I meant, thank you so much for your help!

I agree with what you said: it makes playing in D much easier, but other keys harder. I'll give these chords a try when I get home and see how they work out.

I can play half the songs I know in open D, and they sound much better, I love that full, deep ringing sound. On the other hand I can absolutely not play the other half of the songs, so it's kind of a dead end so far. A really nice and tempting dead end though...

BTW, don't forget you can get the main element of that "full, deep ringing sound" using drop D, which lets you keep your usual shapes on the other 5 strings.
Also remember that the resonance of the tuning comes (other than the lowered D) from the open strings, which tend to sustain better than fretted notes. So as soon as you lose open strings, and either fret or mute them, you lose that advantage of the open tuning.
And you can retain some of that sound - as I said - by not worrying about triads, and accepting chords where open strings act as extensions.
IOW, don't take songs written in EADGBE and force them into open D - not without re-arranging the chord types anyway. Use drop D for songs written in it in the first place, or which are in D already. Ie let the tuning guide your choices, don't force it to do what it wasn't designed for.

As well as exploring DADGAD and drop D, experiment with open G, open C, and other lowered tunings. They give that same sense of resonance, but (obviously) suit keys other than D.

Hi,
You must find the right chord chart!
Try a Google search for "Alternate Chord Charts - in Keys".
Not free, but prices are reasonable. ;)

That's exactly the moral of the story. And since most songs I play were not written in open D I'll stick with standard tuning. Unless I win the lottery and buy a D-28 just for Open D :D Otherwise re-tuning the guitar each time is too much of a pain in the neck.

No capo necessary! Learn in one easy lesson!

"How to Play Minor/Major Chords in Open D Tuning!" :)

When it involves using MINOR chords, many people give up on OPEN D TUNING. They just can't visualize how to play minor chords up and down the guitar neck.
I had to learn this on my own... not easy. So I prepared a simple lesson to make it easier for all of you. It's not free but... very reasonable.

Check it out at my web site.