Saturday, 9 January 2010

Open tunings...part two

The beauty of the open tuning is freedom - as the great Keith Richards once said, the basic requirements are 2 fingers and one arsehole...but once you get started, you can find a whole new world of alternate playing styles and accompaniments.

The first thing is that you have to unlearn so much; forget about playing chords, you are making relationships on your fretboard, you are thumping out a bass line whilst picking a lead line. A very average guitar player can sound like a trio in an open tuning. It just requires a little time and imagination - and listening to some variety of practitioners of the art for inspiration doesn't hurt either. Davey Graham, Jimmy Page (check out Zep III), Stephen Stills (and even Bob Dylan, cor blimey) - you don't need to do looking for the obscure and peculiar to find those G and D tunings (and E and A, even a low C if you're lucky!) - and make use of this fabulous resource 'the internet' to find new and alternate tuning ideas.

The second thing you find is that it is addictive - you will get carried away with it and try to write every song in that hybrid Dm tuning you found one night after a bottle of Chianti. And so you should - because when you come back to the basics of standard tuning, you will have learned a whole new set of dynamics for playing your guitar. Bringing the freedom of the open world to the standard concert tuning is the beginning of another little musical journey...

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