anyone write in alternate tunings?

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a27thletter

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first off, i find it much easier to sing most songs when i tune my guitar down a half step. it just seems to work better with my vocal range,. so, does anyone write in a really off the wall tuning, like, most stuff dashboard confessional play is in >dcdcdc< or something like that, i've heard that it tends to fill up space more and if you're playing a song thats just acoustic guitar and vocals , an open tuning like that can make the song sound more "full". just looking for opinions, etc. i personally cant bring myself to write a song in a tuning like that because i dont want to have to bring extra guitars with me when i play
 
I am not a guitar player, but a couple of my guitar-playing-friends play a lot in DADDAD (i believe its a variation of what dashboard uses... or maybe its what dashboard uses...i dont know) as well as drop d, and standard (though our band drops a lot when we play for our vocalist as well).

I see the other tunings as just another way to write songs... no more, no less.
 
I've written a little in alternate tunings and I know several cover songs that use alternate tunings.

Alternate tunings are not new. Some big names who use alternate tunings include Led Zeppelin (Jimmy loved DADGAD), Joe Walsh, Soundgarden (most of their songs are in alternate tunings), Rolling Stones.

I see two real benefits to alternate tunings:

1) They sound "different" than chords voiced in standard tuning. Much like an open G chord (in standard tuning) is a different flavor than a barred G chord. So basically you get slightly different flavors of the same old boring chords we are all used to hearing.

2) They allow you to do things you couldn't do in standard tuning. Alternate tunings create pivot points and intervals that would be impossible to finger in standard tuning.

The only real disadvantages that I can think of relate to playing live. Although, some tunings may make it more likely to break a string and some tunings are basically impossible on an acoustic guitar (try to tune the G string on your acoustic up to a B and you will understand).

For live playing, you have to take time to re-tune if you are playing songs in both standard and alternate tunings (or various alternate tunings). I always bring at least one extra guitar so I can have it tuned up and ready for the song using an alternate tuning. I will even plan the set list around songs with alternate tunings so that I can minimize tuning time and changing guitars.

Here are some fun ones to play around with (there are many more):

DADF#AD
DADGAD
CGCGCD
EEBBBB
 
By the way... there is nothing wrong with tuning down a half-step to fit your vocal range. This is common among bands with male singers. I think just about every Alice in Chains song was dropped a half step for Layne's voice. Days of the New does this also. I'm sure there are many more-- those are just two that popped into my head.

I'm in the opposite situation. My band has a female singer. So when we play a cover song that was recorded as half-step down tuning, we tune up to standard so she doesn't have to struggle with the low notes.
 
I wrote a song in DADGAD which is one jimmy page used a good deal it is derived from sitar music and kind of has a mello droning to it that i like.
 
Open G

I write a lot of stuff in Open G Tuning. I find that it enables me to do intricate acoustic guitar fills (folk/rock/country style) whilst also hitting the open strings, meaning that the song doesn't die out over solo's. The stuff I write is generally just me and the guitar, so the guitar has a crucial role to play in keeping the song alive. The open strings add to the texture, too :). Jimmy Page is a player that makes good use of it.
 
I have been using open Gm lately,, DGDGBbD and I it.. adds a sort of southwestern flavor to my playing. The music comes easy, but words to match are harder.

Another new one that I'm still experimenting with is standard tuning, except lower you G to F#.. (EADF#BE low to high) This REALLY changes how standard chords are voiced. Find any tuning aplet and put that tuning in, watch what happens to the chord fingerings.... adds some beautiful open and droning stings and yet keeps the chord shapes close to normal so it isn't too hard of a learning curve.
 
I've been learnig guitar for about a year now. Theres so much to learn just with standard tuning - I don't even want to think about trying to learn something else!
 
I have a tendency to write in nothing but alternate tunings at the moment. Just wrote two in Eb G C F# Bb C which is insane. Other favourites are BEBEBE which Nick Drake used a lot, Open G, open D, DADEAD and DADEAE are very useful. A lady called Polly Paulusma has written a great song recently in C#AEEAE which I'm planning on exploring.

The best band to listen to, almost ever, if you want to learn about altered tunings are a very little know english band called Ben & Jason. On their second album almost all of the 13 tracks are in a different tuning (including one just standard down three semitones / half steps, to accomodate vocal range). You get to witness such delights as C#G#DF#G#C# (which is reeeeallly nice, very dark) and the ludicrous AEC#GBE for which you need really heavy strings.

Also check out Joni Mitchells albums, she's pretty much used every tuning there is as has John Martyn though the later albums aren't up to much. Also anything by Bert Jansch / John Renbourne / Pentangle from the late 60s / early 70s and obviously Nick Drake. Recently, Coldplay are the most famous band to use altered tunings, again there's hardly any of their songs in standard tuning and their B-Sides' tunings are way out there.

Pillaging other peopl's tunings is a great way to start woring out what sounds good for yourself if you're interested in going that way. It is a great technique for making solo acoustic songs sound "larger".
 
Others who used alternate tunings: Black Sabbath, Robert Johnson (blues player), and almost everyone who plays slide guitar. I have only used dropped-D and tuned down half a step. I find it easier for me to write in standard tuning, and I only use alternate tuning when I goof around with my guitar. I haven't explored it enough, I guess.
 
All my strings are automatically tuned down half a step, regardless of song. this started firstly when i was learning to play along with my favourite songs, but i just kept it there cos it suits me too.

i use alternate tunings, but only for the sake of playing around, and inspiring lyrics. Normally I just whack the guitar into open C and just strum away with the open strings and notes. it sounds amazing.
from my normal tuning, occasionally ill drop the low E down to D to use as a pedal note.

tho im yet to write a song in alternate tuning, especially as for example, 2 of my fave bands do it : - Led Zepellin (Listen to Bron-Yr-Aur, one of the sweetest sounding instrumental solo guitar pieces ever, IMHO), and the Goo Goo Dolls, where the singer/songwriter doesnt even know how to play standard tunings. Thats cool, and I like most of their stuff.
 
i've done a lot of stuff in alternate tunings. its fun. it adds a different emphasis than standard tuning. sometimes i'll just sit there and detune my strings and add capos just to hear what they sound like. i don't even remember most of the tunings i've used.

using double capos and cut capos can also change the sound of an open strum without changing your actual chord fingerings.

i try to pay attention to the different tunings that Phil Keaggy uses on his Acoustic Sketches albums. He even goes so far as changing the tuning during the song.
 
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