Alternative Tunings: Demystified - Page 2

MGSRobinson · #16 02-21-2019, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Growler

Very nice. Thanks for sharing this.

Thank you for reading!

rmoretti49 · #17 02-21-2019, 10:57 AM

Well, you've inspired me.... while also helping me feel better about never really feeling free to improvise easily in standard tuning. I especially resonated with your closing comments in the video. Thanks so much!

MGSRobinson · #18 02-21-2019, 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by opencee

Sometime around 1970, I was trying to play Tom Rush's Rockport Sunday. I was failing miserably. I got the idea that if I retuned my guitar, I might have a fighting chance of covering the melody part over the chord part. I experimented by tuning and playing and tuning and playing until I ended up in open-C (CGCGCe). I was totally winging it, by ear, but it really helped.

I noodled with that tuning for decades before I found out that Tom Rush actually played that song in that tuning. The same thing went for John Fahey and others' tunes. I was shocked.

I played regularly in open-C for many years before I even knew open tunings were a thing. Even a blind squirrel can find a nut sometimes. I really thought I was alone out there, just cheating my way through guitar playing, and I was. Finally, the internet really showed me how common and varied open tunings have been, and are now. I was never alone. I was just ignorant. Everybody was doing it. I didn't know.

I played a lot of clawhammer banjo in my twenties. Less now. That uses a lot of different tunings, and it really accelerated my open tuning usage on guitar. (A little off topic, but playing clawhammer banjo really influenced how I play guitar today, and not just in tunings. I got really comfortable with simultaneous playing of syncopated rhythms and melodies. A friend said to me a couple years ago, while I was playing ukulele, "Everything you play sounds like a banjo." Made me laugh.)

I use a variety of tunings, but open-C is the place where I am most comfortable. I like the 1 on the 6th string, and the 3 on the 1st string. Most of the other tunings I use are less intuitive to me.

opencee

.

I totally agree. For me, Open C is by far the most intuitive. I love it for slide. My national is always in C. I recently realized that I can actually play the whole harmonic series in it all the way up to the 16th harmonic (the high C just past my fretboard). For melodic, raga-like, single-note playing, it can’t be beat. I don’t believe any tuning is cheating [emoji6]. Same goes for capos. If you can make a sound with a tool or tuning that you couldn’t otherwise, that’s just innovation.

I also have been accused of playing everything like a banjo! My right hand is half clawhammer and half piedmont.

Thanks for your thoughts! Tom Rush is awesome and Fahey’s one of my biggest inspirations. There’s actually some hand-written notes by Fahey about open C floating around online.

Here’s me playing Shenandoah in it https://youtu.be/X0MSurGGDgA

MGSRobinson · #19 02-21-2019, 11:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rmoretti49

Well, you've inspired me.... while also helping me feel better about never really feeling free to improvise easily in standard tuning. I especially resonated with your closing comments in the video. Thanks so much!

Awesome! Thank you for your kind words and happy picking!

Also, I find it easiest to improvise in standard if I think about it as a versatile open tuning that works well for A, G, and E [emoji6]

opencee · #20 02-21-2019, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MGSRobinson

There’s actually some hand-written notes by Fahey about open C floating around online.

Is this what you are talking about?

https://www.johnfahey.com/CTuning.htm

I'm a Piedmont guy too. Whenever I feel stress, that is what relaxes me.

Thanks for the YouTube link. I like your patience, and the air it creates.

opencee

.

Wuchak · #21 02-21-2019, 12:38 PM

Very helpful article!

I think I found a typo in Part 4, "your 3rd and 4th strings remain the same (G and E, respectively)". "4th" should be 1st.

NewPicker · #22 02-21-2019, 12:48 PM

Thanks Robinson -

I'm awaiting delivery on an OM18 Authentic, on its way from MGS. (FWIW - if you ever need to stretch time to its maximum perceived capacity, order a new guitar and have it shipped cross country - via ground. The longest week.) This blog gets me all the more excited to run her through her paces, in multiple tunings.

Cheers,

Nate

ChrisN · #23 02-21-2019, 12:53 PM

I'm barely literate in standard tuning and have learned some tunes. I've wondered about playing that sheet music with a different tuning, now that the notes are found in different places on the guitar - do you have to re-learn the new fretboard layout? Do you play the tunes as if the notes were in the same place as before, the piece just sounds different now?

zmf · #24 02-21-2019, 02:15 PM

Sebastopol. So that's were the name came from. Thanks.

I might take another crack at these tunings. I always feel guilty when using them. Like my fret hand isn't doing enough. I must go deeper.

rokdog49 · #25 02-21-2019, 03:01 PM

Very nice. I liked that Open C myself.
Gonna' mess with that one a bit.

MGSRobinson · #26 02-21-2019, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wuchak

Very helpful article!

I think I found a typo in Part 4, "your 3rd and 4th strings remain the same (G and E, respectively)". "4th" should be 1st.

Thank you for your kind words and for reading so closely! I fixed the typo [emoji6]

MGSRobinson · #27 02-21-2019, 06:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rokdog49

Very nice. I liked that Open C myself.

Gonna' mess with that one a bit.

Thank you! It’s a joy to explore. Try it with a C drone instrument backing track. Something like a tanpura. There are plenty of tracks on YouTube. It makes it very grounding and meditative.

MGSRobinson · #28 02-21-2019, 06:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zmf

Sebastopol. So that's were the name came from. Thanks.

I might take another crack at these tunings. I always feel guilty when using them. Like my fret hand isn't doing enough. I must go deeper.

I know what you mean, but using a slide or bending a lot can help you get the most out of an open tuning. We spend so much time jumping from note to note. Open tunings let you spend more time in between them. It’s become almost a right versus left brain thing for me. When I want to write with a bunch of chords (I love weird chord progressions), I play standard. When I want to relinquish control and just let the music out like a singer, I play slide in an open tuning.

MGSRobinson · #29 02-21-2019, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisN

I'm barely literate in standard tuning and have learned some tunes. I've wondered about playing that sheet music with a different tuning, now that the notes are found in different places on the guitar - do you have to re-learn the new fretboard layout? Do you play the tunes as if the notes were in the same place as before, the piece just sounds different now?

Good question! Yes, you would need to relearn some of the fretboard layout, but it would ultimately give you a fuller sense of how to approach sheet music with the instrument. Especially if you’re interested in playing classical music not specifically arranged for the guitar. A great resource for open tuned guitar compositions in standard notation is “The Guitar Book” by Pierre Bensusan

MGSRobinson · #30 02-21-2019, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NewPicker

Thanks Robinson -

I'm awaiting delivery on an OM18 Authentic, on its way from MGS. (FWIW - if you ever need to stretch time to its maximum perceived capacity, order a new guitar and have it shipped cross country - via ground. The longest week.) This blog gets me all the more excited to run her through her paces, in multiple tunings.

Cheers,

Nate

Right on! Congrats on that absolutely killer guitar!