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Old 03-12-2013, 10:16 AM
JonPR JonPR is offline
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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.
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Last edited by JonPR; 03-12-2013 at 10:22 AM.
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