Alt Tunings
 

I read somewhere that Joni Mitchell used more than 60 different types of tunings. How does one make up a tuning to that extent. How can she or whoever make up tunings. My question is what steps does she take does she just randomly change the strings or is there a specific way. Thank You!!

I use a few different ones such as open C and D (CGCGCE, DADF#AD), and a few others. With each you can vary a single string and have a new tuning. For instance, on open C take the E string down to a D, or in open D take the F# to a G (DADGAD). The combinations are numerous... and that is only with 2 starting points of many.

tunings
 

When you change tunings, try to tune down more than up, and don't go up more than a full note - to avoid breaking strings and putting undue stress upon the guitar.

I have a friend who frequently plays in alternate tunings, strange chords for which she has no name, yet she does not continually retune her guitar. She uses cut capos, sometimes as may as three at once. With three partial capos on the neck, there is not much room for playing a high melody, but then she doesn't play melody. She has found her own way to stand out and be different. I call her "The Capo Queen".

I think Joni did often just "try" things--"throwing it open to the cosmos," I remember her saying.

Assuming the guitar is tuned to actual pitches and not having some strings simply "out" of tune, the possibilities for sounding at least interesting, at best great--are almost endless...

Will Ackerman devised a different tuning for every song. Before the Internet, you could call Windham Hill and they would tell you the tuning fir any song you inquired about.

As someone who plays as much in altered as standard tunings, I find that either tuning to a specific chord or using the old 1-5 combo with a "color" note thrown in (like a 3rd or 4th) is a good way to start creating your own.

It depends.

Sometimes you start writing a piece and realize it would be easier to play if you retuned one or two strings.

Sometimes you fiddle around and get to a tuning that inspires you.

I usually look for opportunities to have interesting intervals in adjacent strings (e.g. a 2nd or m7) for neat tensions or suspended chords, or dissonant intervals (b9, b5) on far apart strings (e.g. low D and high Eb). I find those dissonances are a lot less jarring when 2-3 octaves apart and make for interesting chord decorations.

The key is to not let the tuning write the song. Those always sound terrible and lazy.

There are lots of ways to come up with tunings. You can just try things and see what happens. You can start with one tuning and see what happens when you change one string. For example, start with DADGAD. You lower the 3rd string a half step, and you have open D, another half step and you have Dminor tuning, another half step, and you have DADEAD, which some pronounce "da-dead". Alex de Grassi used this one a lot. And so on. You can do that with all 6 strings and come up with something that you may or may not like.

You can also take an "as needed" approach. Say you start in standard but find that you really want to hear a low D, so you tune the 6th string down, and get Drop D. Or maybe you find you really need a low F, and fretting that 1st fret 6th string is awkward. Tune it up to F, and you have a new tuning FADGBE. You can play this game allover the place to try to fix problems or enable access to the sounds you are trying to find.

I took a workshop with Don Ross once, many years ago, and Don's another one who almost has a new tuning for every song. He was walking us thru his composition process, and while he never said this explicitly, the picture I suddenly got was of an someone who's arranging for an ensemble, and he's thinking "OK, I need a trombone to play a line starting on a low C" and he gives the 6th string that job. And "I need a Cello", give the 5th string that job, and then he tunes the string to accommodate the part he's assigned. I don't know if that's how he really thinks, but he is a college composition major, and that was the image I got as he talked. Also, Don usually seems to use pretty simple chord shapes - many times things are based around straight barres, so basically instead of coming up with complex left hand fingerings to reach the notes he wants to hear, he changes the tuning to get the notes to fall under his fingers.

anyone - help
what is the David Wilcox tuning that is similar fingering / intervals as open ‘D’ but moved over one string to the treble side - Doug ?.

Fine I suppose, but that is the way the vast majority of notable and memorable music was composed.

[citation needed] :D

Open D "over one string" can be Open G. Maybe are others. The way to do this is to look at the intervals between strings. A couple of ways to do this, but one way is to pick a root (D) and then name the strings by relative intervals. So D is:

R5R35R

open G is:

5R5R35

so you see that common R5R35 sequence in there. That means on those 5 strings, you can use the same shapes. The could be lots of other tunings that share those intervals as well.

A similar example that I encounter more often is DADGAD, Orkney (CGDGCD) and EADEAE, which although they all seem very different, all share a common 4-string sequence of intervals, making it possible to move fingerings between them to a certain extent.

David Wilcox is an interesting case. I've seen him ask people to make up a tuning on the fly - just call out what to tune each strings to at random, and in seconds he can play something useful. I'm not sure how he does it exactly, but I suspect it's just a bit of knowledge of intervals and fretboard geometry combined with a good ear and lots of practice.

After reading this I'm glad I don't know anything about most of it.

This is an interesting list from Antoine Dufour, https://www.antoinedufourmusic.com/tunings/, pretty much everything under the sun but maybe the most common is DADGCE.

Album: Naissance
1-Naissance------DADGAD
2-Scratch---------CADGBE w/partial capo 3rd fret on strings 1 to 5
3-Trilogy-------DADGBE w/partial capo 2nd fret on strings 1 to 5
4-No name for love--------standard
5-The little Sam---------standard w/third hand capo at 2nd fret on strings 3,4,5
6-2 vs 3-----------standard w/third hand capo at 2nd fret on strings 3,4,5
7-As in the Sky--------FACGCE
8-Illusions--------DADGAD
9-Springtime-------DADGAD w/capo 4th fret
10-The groovy guy with long hair is whistling a nowhere song-------CGCFBbD
11-Technoguitar----------CGCFBbEb
12-Scratch---------CADGBE w/partial capo 3rd fret on strings 1 to 5
13-Glimmer of hope-----------EbADGBE w/partial capo 3rd fret on strings 1 to 5

Album: Development
1-Development--------DADGCE
2-Spiritual Groove-------CGCFBbD
3-Vibe------CGCFBbD
4-Mélancolie du changement------EACGCD
5-Edge of light-----DACGCD w/partial capo 2nd fret on strings 1 to 4
6-Passage-----Standard
7-Memories of the future-----standard w/ third hand capo at the 4th fret on strings 2,3,4,5
8-Wapus-----drop D
9-Inspirations--------CGCFBbD
10-Funky tonk guitar trio-------CGCFBbC(rythm guit) other guitars in standard
11-Oh Yeah!-----DADGCE

Album: Existence
1- 30 Minutes in London---------C#G#EF#BD#
2- Song for Stephen---------EADGCE
3- Reality----------EBDGBE----Baritone(BF#ADF#B)
4- The Heart of the Matter--------DADGCE
5- The Transcendent Mountain-------CFEbFBbD
6- Existence---------------FsharpACsharpGsharpBE-----baritone(C#EG#D#F#B)
7- Catching the Light----------------DAC#EBE
8- You and I--------F#ADGBE w/ capo 2nd fret on strings 1,2,3,4
9- A Hiding-Place for the Moon-----------DAC#G#AE
10- Mother--------------C#AEG#BE
11- The Hidden Moon---------EBDGBE---Baritone(BF#ADF#B)
12- Ashes in the Sea----------DAEFCE
13- Into Your Heart---------DACFCE

Album: Still Strings
1-Swing in a Round--------DADGCE capo 2nd
2-Tango Agricole-----------DADGAD capo 5th
3-Catherine ----------------DADGAD
4-Après le beau temps...la pluie---------Standard
5-Breakdown Ross-----------------DADGAD
6-Mellow Deep Art-------------------DADGCE
7-Solitude---------------------- Harp-guitar---Low to high: EABCDF-EADGBE
8- 6/8 d'la Belle (Tommy's duet with himself)(Bouzouki and mandoline)
9-String Fusion---------------------DADGCE
10-Intenso---------------------Standard capo 2nd

Album: Convergences
1-Lost in Your Eyes-----------EACGBD
2-To Run in a Dream---------CGDGBE
3-Spirits in the Material World--------EACGBE
4-Paroxysm------Harp-Guitar---bass strings: EGACDE---guitar neck: F#ADGBE
5-In my Own Rhythms----------DAEF#C#D
6-En T'Attendant-------------EG#DGBE with spider capo on strings 2,3,4 at 4th fret
7-Hide and Seek----------DAEG#AE
8-South side of the Sky-------Standard
9-So Little While Road--------FAbCDbBbF
10-The Drive Within---------EbBbDEbBbF
11-Cold Day-------------C#G#EG#C#D#
12-Life in Technicolor--------C#ABG#BE

Album: Sound Pictures of Antoine Dufour
1-These Moments------------------C#G#EF#BD#
2-Spiritual Groove------------------DADGCE
3-Mother------------------------------C#AEG#BE
4-Midwestern Expansion---------Harp guitar: Sorry…I don't remember!
5-Solitude-----------------------------Harp Guitar Low to high: EABCDF-EADGBE
6-Dracula & Friends part 1-------DADGCE
7-Glimmer of Hope-----------------EbADGBE with partial capo 3rd fret on strings 1-5
8-Good Dog--------------------------Standard tuning
9-Catching the Light---------------DAC#EBE

She is Music (Single)------------ EbBbCGBbD with modified harmonic spider capo at 12th fret on strings 2,3,4
Talk (Single)----------EbBbCGBbD
1979 (Single)----------EbBbDEbBbEb

Album: Back & Forth
1-Air Ground----------EbBbCGBbD
2-Electromagnetic Sun Powered Starship----------EbBbCGBbD
3-Déjà Vu----------C#G#EF#BD#
4-Polar Shift-----------Harp Guitar--------Bass: EF#ACDE----Guitar: F#G#DGBE with Spider Capo 2nd fret on strings 3,4
5/6-Star Trails Part I & II---------Harp Guitar--------Bass: EF#AC#DE----Guitar: F#G#DGBE with Spider Capo 2nd fret on strings 3,4
7-Intersections----------EbBbCGBbD with Modified Spider Capo with Harmonic Mutes on strings 2,3,4 at 12th fret
8-Overlay-----------Drop D
9-Drowning--------DAEFCE
10-She is Music-----------EbBbCGBbD with modified harmonic spider capo at 12th fret on strings 2,3,4
11-Auto Reverse---------CGCGCE

Wow thank you all for the help. i dislike standard tuning i feel im boxed in which is why I was trying to learn ways to really bend the way I can play. Everyone that posted in here has been a help. I'm taking screenshots and learning thank you!!!!