I have recently begun teaching teachers how to play guitar and use music to teach across the curriculum for
Guitars In The Classroom GITC teaches in open G, Taro Patch, tuning. I've been playing since the 60s, taught private and group lessons on and off for decades, but always started with standard tuning. It is absolutely amazing to see and hear these folks play. We've had four classes so far and they're playing (and writing new words to songs, you should hear the one a teacher wrote on test taking strategies to Hole In The Bucket...but I digress...) lots of songs, making great progress, and having fun. Prior to this experience I was solidly in the standard tuning field. That's not the case now. (The program has several levels of classes and yes, it does transition to standard tuning but that's not where it starts.)