Open (alternate) tunings

the_satanic_rabbit

Return of Ganon
Oct 30, 2002
1,182
1
38
45
Twin Cities, MN
www.omwresearch.com
Anyone here ever experiment with open or alternate tunings?

I don't mean dropping all strings down a step or two, I mean screwing with the intervals between strings. An acoustic player, Alex de Grassi, use to do it alot.

He knows what he's doing with that, but since I don't, I thought it might be cool to just tune differently and play with the same fingering that you normally would in standard tuning to see what happens.

The first midi file demonstrates 3 arpeggios in A. Minor, Major, and Diminished.

The second midi file demonstrates what it would sound like using the same fingering but just with the alternate tuning.

The tuning differs from standard tuning in that B is tuned up half a step to C, and high E is tuned down half a step to Eb. When you play the three small strings openly, it is a minor chord.

Just something to play with. :)

Standard:
http://sconnelly0170.home.mchsi.com/files/arpeggios_std.mid

Alternate:
http://sconnelly0170.home.mchsi.com/files/arpeggios_open.mid
 
I usually have a guitar in E-C-G-C-G-C (H-L) cos I'm a big Devin Townsend fan. i usually like to play in that tuning without thinking about the fact that I am, makes for more interesting results that way