Fingerstyle - DADGAD or STANDARD or else

[rick-slo]

The issue is the mechanics of tying a note of a pitch to a certain place(s) on the fretboard for a given tuning, rather than pitch sense per se. I can usually hum the first note of some piece on the guitar or piano, start playing the piece and find my hum was right on pitch. By contrast I have not consciously tied pitches to note names. Some pros and cons to many things.

[Shades of Blue]

DADGAD opened up a completely new world of playing guitar for me. I have written about 11 instrumentals in DADGAD, and the creativity hasn't dried up yet. It's just an amazingly seductive sound, and I LOVE how deep and haunting DADGAD is.

My style is primarily finger style, but my pick is always squeezed in my ring finger waiting to come out for strumming.

[merlin666]

Originally Posted by Psfam

Because you already know chords and shapes in standard tuning and so much music including variety of styles flows naturally from this tuning, it is the place to start.

That is unless you have something specific that you want which lends itself well to another tuning. I think, for example, songs written in the key of D benefit from a dropped D to provide that one extra low D.

Other than that, I see the alternate tunings as providing a unique and often beautiful alternate sound rather than an easier way to learn to play. They do sound really neat, but for most standard music (working and playing with others) standard tuning is the place to start.

That's a good response. When the OP mentioned fingers flying all over the place it may suggest that when reading tabs or other notations he's not sticking to the shapes. If I change the tuning then this means as a first step I have to figure out the new shapes to for this, so standard is a good way to get started and allow right hand to develop more without worrying too much about left.

[three4rd]

Originally Posted by Shades of Blue

DADGAD opened up a completely new world of playing guitar for me. I have written about 11 instrumentals in DADGAD, and the creativity hasn't dried up yet. It's just an amazingly seductive sound, and I LOVE how deep and haunting DADGAD is.

My style is primarily finger style, but my pick is always squeezed in my ring finger waiting to come out for strumming.

You'd probably like EBEF#BE as well...similar sort of sonority. Any such open-sounding tuning is great for being able to put a melodic pattern on top and know that any plucked or strummed strings below will blend right in. Pretty cool with harmonics too.

[justonwo]

I really enjoy open D, open C, and open G. I believe all 3 of these tunings make compositions a bit easier. With the right guitar, open C can have a big and very satisfying bass response. The droning notes sound great. There are also a lot of cool Fahey tunes in those tunings, which is why I started using them.

[Jeff Scott]

Originally Posted by samirguitar

Fingerstyle - DADGAD or STANDARD or else
Thanks
Sam

Or else..................