The Acoustic Guitar Forum - Alternate Tunings

I got the idea from a Michael Hedges interview, I think. I recall hearing him say that he composed the music first, and then adapted the guitar to it. (instead of the usual way of tuning to DADGAD or something and beginning from there). I started to investigate it for a few troublesome cover songs and have found a bit of success.

It may take some time, and it might be helpful if I got off my caveman butt and learned to post video to youtube, but I will try to relate some of these here in our shiny new AGF section.

Mary Jane's Last Dance

A stupid easy one that sounds cool is for Tom Petty's "Mary Jane's Last Dance" in Am. I tune the first string from E to D and let it ring out over the first position chords Am, G, D, Em, and A.

For Am, the open D gives me a bit of a dissonant quality at the top of the chord, the second string fretted in the first fret being a C. I strum this with a bit of a "chop and ring" style to get the sound closer to the record. That is, I strum and chop the Am without the first string, then sweep the whole chord including the open first string next. Da-dut-Daa

On the G chord, I fret the second string in the third fret, which places it in unison with the open first string. The G chord style using the middle, ring and pinky fingers sets the first finger free to do some fill. Again, a "chop and ring" strum works well.

On the D chord, I leave the first string open and in unison with the second string fretted in the third. Because the first string is tuned to D, and the fourth string open is also a D, I can also move the fretted position of the second and third strings up and down the neck for good effect.

The good part comes on the chorus. Last dance for Mary Jane/ One more chance to kill the pain In Em, the open first string gives us a dominant 7th note, lending a bit of the chimey sound of the Rickenbacker guitars Tom Petty uses to the arrangement.

On the A chord between the chorus vocal, it really sounds great to have the dissonant D note at the top, but good pick control is essential to getting the right sound. There is an ascending movement to end the A chord stuff before returning to the Em and the vocal. Again, because the open fifth string is A, we have the ability to move the second, third, and fourth strings around to get cool sounds.

I know that a picture could be worth a thousand words, but I hope this begins to turn you on to messing with tunings in what may be an unconventional way. I'll let this tune run its course, and then I'll move on to another single string tuning change for The Beatles' "Norwegian Wood".