Alternate Tunings
Different tunings for the guitar open up different avenues for playing, and familiarizing yourself with them can help you get the most out of your best guitar. Some bands, such as the Rolling Stones, make use of open tunings, and other bands, such as Soundgarden, use dropped D tuning. As well as these, there are a myriad of different options for tuning used by guitarists. Understanding the main differences between common tunings can help you know when it’s better to stray from standard tuning.
The most common tuning is simply known as standard guitar tuning. The strings are tuned to (from the thickest string to the thinnest) E, A, D, G, B and e. Virtually all guitar instruction books will use this tuning, and most players stick with it. You can play power chords on the E, A, D and G strings without changing the basic shape, and all open chords are designed for this tuning.
One of the most common alternate tunings is dropped D. This means that the low E is dropped down to a D, making it lower in pitch. This tuning (D, A, D, G, B, e) is primarily used by metal and nu-metal bands, but other bands such as Muse and Led Zepplin have also popularised the tuning. The main feature is the ability to play power chords on the lowest three strings with one finger. This is because D, A and D are the notes in a D power chord. Press the guitar strings down at the second fret and it becomes an E power chord. In dropped D, you can literally rock out with a single finger.
Open tunings are another option for guitarists. This means that the notes of the open strings are the notes of a chord. The Rolling Stones use open G tuning on classic tracks such as “Start Me Up.” Open G tuning goes D, G, D, G, B and D. This means you have to tune both E strings down to D, and the A string down to G. Strumming all of the strings with nothing fretted in this tuning plays a G chord. This means by flattening a finger down across all of the strings at any fret, you can play different open chords.
Other options for tuning follow these same basic ideas. For metal, you can tune all of the strings down by a whole step, meaning the strings run D, G, C, F, A and D. To take this further, you can lower the thick D string down to C, which is the equivalent to dropped D tuning except with all of the strings a step down. Other alternate open tunings can also be used, such as open C, in which the strings go C, G, C, G, C, E.