GUITAR TIP: Alternate Tunings
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- čas přidán 13. 07. 2024
- In today's tip, we'll venture beyond the "standard" guitar tuning and use three different alternate tuning methods that are guaranteed to open up new playing possibilities on your instrument.
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TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Intro
0:29 Standard Tuning
1:00 The guitar before standard tuning
2:42 Drop D
6:01 Drop G
7:08 Open D
10:28 How to support this channel
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Tip #1: To save on having to re-tune a guitar, just buy one guitar for every tuning and never change it from that tuning ever. If you're poor, I'm sorry.
I mean it takes less than a minute though
@@mattpassos5689 not if you're me.
If you're rich, buy all us poor folks some guitars. If you can't, you're probably not rich, just deeply in debt
you say that as a joke, but that's legitimately what bands such as Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine did. they toured with a bunch of guitars all in different tunings and some having some weird things done to them. they mostly played cheap guitars tho, so that's how they could afford it.
I have read before that it is generally recommended to do that, especially if you like making big tuning jumps often (e.g. constantly jumping between standard and full step down) because of strain on the guitar from the constantly tightening and loosening of tension. Can't really confirm if it's true or not but the idea is relatively sound (no pun intended lol).
Love how this renaissance dude is a metal head as well
It's all a circle
I enjoyed that little quirk as well.
I once broke a high E string and decided to tune to all 5ths. It really changed how I played.
I've done this to try and play cello music straight from the score - it's a really interesting challenge!
What notes did you tune to?
C-G-D-A-E-B?
Sounds like a 5-string mandolin
Just hearing you riff out on drop D, now I _really_ want to see a video where you have to compose a metal song.
Maybe a possible collab idea with Rob Scallon, where you compose a Metal song and Rob tries to compose or learn a Classical piece?
I know it wouldn't be that hard for either of you, but I feel it'd perform well.
Edit: also, great video as always.
oh god, would be a dream to see him and rob scallon making metal music.
This idea slaps
I mean we do have the shred reveal lol
@@dwasdw8218 yess.
I’ve been told that drop D also works well for pieces like Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1, especially since it’s in DMaj
That piece is in G Major originally and you can play in that key if you read from the cello score.
Got 5 guitars though
I spent 3 years composing and playing in Open D tuning! It opened me up to so much that I was missing in standard tuning.
In the Andalus classical music ( born back in the 9th century in spain ) a style that we still play in north africain countries. In algeria we offten tune E A D G C F and some may also tune C# F# E B D A.
Its a beautiful antique arabic music which you may enjoy learning more about..
Love ur videos !
What do you mean by tuning the first string to L?
@@joshstarkey8883 oh sorry i meant an A
You mean gitano flamenco gypsy
As a folk player I find it really sad that alternate tunings aren't utilised more. Nick Drake was the best at it I've come across but others such as Jack Rose, Richard Thompson and Paul Brady. Drake used many of his own tunings and he played more often in alternative tunings than in standard, such as BEBEBE, CGCFCE, BBGBDE and my favourite GGDGBD.
nick drake and mark kozolek from red house painters/sun kil moon!
you would love Robbie Basho :)
Bebebe is my favorite tuning, it’s so restrictive, but has endless possibilities at the same time
The way you say "in my metal band" in that very calm voice is so entertaining. :)))
Excellent video man, I am looking forward to the next one that I will see.
Hey brandon! I highly suggest checking out the Portuguese Guitar, it uses some really peculiar tunings. Hope someday you can bring us some videos on one!
2:24 nice save, vampire 🦇🧛
first it's "classical guitar licks", now alternative classical tunings! mon dieu! what's next? classical rap 💗:P💗
You mean Sprechstimme?
This guy rules
WAP in C Minor? Pure class.
Shout out from Corpus Christi Texas.. I just watched your video.. and thank you for all the awesome knowledge for some of us that are beginner's.. I have been learning a lot from all of ur video's.. awesome alternate tuning's.. always looking forward to viewing your videos new and old..
The Fred Rogers of stringed instruments
Brandon, about a year ago, I had my guitar in DADGAD. But, then I tuned it to simply, EADGBD and my life changed musically. I could really get some interesting chord tones using the shapes I already know
Would love another video exploring how the shapes we are used to sound and relate to some of these alternate tunings, particularly open tunings in minor
It's great to see someone else experimenting. I love how you compiled a heap of different tunings into one video.
Really enjoyed this Brandon. I’m a massive fan of alternate tunings, they’ve done so much for my playing and writing.
Love the sounds brother!
One of, if not the best tutorial I have seen about Tuning. So weel explained also. Just great: thank you for sharing. Big like.
Such talent. Such a gentleman. Always nice to "spend some time with you" 👍
A very informative and interesting listen, Brandon 🧐! Out of these, I've only tried Dropped D, but I'm going to have fun experimenting with these this weekend! It'd be great to hear a companion video to this of alternative/historical pitches. Thanks for your continuing scholarship 👏
NEVER stop making videos. Even when the video is about something I already know, I still learned something. love your calming voice and demeanor, your mad skills, the straightforwardness of the content, the simple background, the borderline orgasmic audio quality, and else everything about your videos. Thanks.
You are one of the best instrumental/string artist today, thanks for your content, keeps me motivated :)
I've got inspired and also got a few ideas for some compositions!!!! Thank you!
Awesome videos keep it up!
Brandon, this was superb. TY!
Thanks so much, really needed a video like this!
I am a new player and already having fun with drop D. D minor sounds really good thank you Brandon!
Great job!
What I learned from playing Watch Over You by Alter Bridge is that you can create beautiful chords in opening tunings that may not have been as easy in standard tuning. So it's good to just try out two/three finger shapes to see how the fretted notes interact with the open notes.
I usually play in Drop C or D-standard with my band, depending on the song. It just suits my voice very nicely and it's right on the low interval limit where it sounds chunky but doesn't start to interfere with the bass. Another one I use when I'm more in the mood for something acoustic is lute guitar tuning, so E A D F# B E. I find myself playing really creative melodies and chords that otherwise would be impossible or just hard to play. I'm planning on getting myself a cheap German lute and going to medieval fantasy fairs and just walk around as a bard.
I've also enjoyed dropping A to G without dropping E, especially in songs that move between E and G and D chords (E minor, I suppose) because you can play E comfortably (omitting the fifth degree typically voiced on the fifth string for a more open sound) while pedalling on G when appropriate. Voicing a D major chord over G spices up otherwise basic three-chord songs.
Bravissimo, grazie!
I wrote a riff one day not even realizing one of my string was way of tune. I noticed it when I wanted to add a solo with a different guitar that I thought was in the same tuning but it sounded so wrong. That's when I realized tuning doesn't really mean anything as long as you can make the instrument sound good and different tuning opens more ideas too. Love it. Oh by the way different tuning is one of the way I convinced my wife to get an other guitar hahahaha
This helped so much.
But you didn’t talk about DADGAD. It’s such an iconic tuning for rock and folk songs. Also, it’s the tuning if often seen lefties use when they need to play someone’s right handed guitar and not have to restring the thing.
Open D is also great for slide playing
Great video man!
that Open D improv with the harmonics is so creative damn
Well done. 🙏💜
Awesome ❤️❤️❤️❤️!
Very helpful video!
I know i'm gonna be using the open d tuning a lot😅
Thank you brandon.
I am also learning dobro which is an open G tuning (GBDGBD). I think open cords are used by folks that use slides.
Every Guitar Tip video I'm getting really convinced about his superpowers...
Brazilian folk music is much based in the viola caipira (sort of "country viola" or "folk viola") which is derived from iberian guitars. They have 5 pairs of strings, all tunings are open and It doesn't have a Standard tuning. Although some musicians consider the open D (cebolão) the Standard tuning, there's also the open C and open G in the Brazilian viola.
An interesting tuning occasionally used by Sor, is to tune the 6th string up to F.
All fine reminders of the endless options to noodle around with for sheer fun and composing, I used to tune to open E Maj and experiment with slide blues and 1 finger full chords just for a bit of a giggle.
Great video Brandon! Tommorow I will check it. God bless you and stay healthy friend :)
Ur an inspiration, thanks for the vid
Awesome 👌
This is such good advice, Brandon... especially when getting back into practicing for extended periods of time after years of not practicing and/or breaking in an instrument. Tuning down a bit had provided the opportunity to practice for extended periods of time without excessive finger strain. (Bar chords, spider crawl, speed drills are all facilitated by tuning down.) Another thing that you had recommended was lowering the action on my guitar. That too had made a huge difference in playability. Thank you, Brandon, for your wealth of good advice!
how do i tune the guitar into an alternate tuning? is there an app to do it?
Speaking as someone who has spent the last 25 years of guitar playing focused almost exclusively on alternate tunings:
Don’t go through life without trying FACGCE-or as some of us math/post-rock geeks tend to refer to it: “that American Football tuning” :). That’s a super special one, though takes a bit of time to come to grips with. Also open C (CGCGCE) is truly amazing. Much like open D (DADF#AD), open C is instantly gratifying and easy to wrap one’s head around. Absolutely bombastic sounding.
In both cases, however, you’ll probably want to set your guitar up for it properly to explore them for any length of time. This is especially important for steel string guitars, where tensions can wreck havoc on a setup. You’ll probably want to think about custom string gauges, recutting the nut slots, neck relief adjustments…
That said, even with classical guitars you’ll want to be mindful of the effects of tension adjustments. Especially what it can do long-term if you leave a guitar in an alternate tuning for months on end.
Don’t experiment with tunings that deviate wildly from standard tuning on your most precious vintage classical guitars. Some of the tension increases (but also decreases), if extreme, can lead to problems from subtle neck relief changes and twists, to structural damage (lifting bridges, stress cracks, damaged braces).
Be sensible on classical guitars-especially since most don’t have truss rods-if you’re going to raise the tuning (like FACGCE) use a lower tension non-carbon string set, if you’re going to lower the tuning dramatically (open C etc), maybe use some heavier gauge basses with a student instrument and buy a $15 precut nut from StewMac that you can easily swap in and out where you can widen the nut slots without having to mess with your original bone nut etc.
Also, it’s a good idea, if you’re going to experiment a lot with tunings, to make sure you’re doing it at a time when humidity isn’t too crazy. Like don’t wait for February in New York at 29% humidity to start your journey with FACGCE :).
Lastly: be warned! The more tunings you fall in love with, the more guitars you will want to own! :) I have a handful of guitars permanently set up for my favorite tunings… and I’m always thinking about the next guitar I want to buy for that new tuning I want to explore :). You know how it is… blessing/curse yadi yada
Thanks! I'm going to go try FACGCE today
In my experience a good quality $1000+ modern guitar can handle any tuning you can throw at it. In the case of raised pitch tunings though, sometimes the strings can't. Another thing I would add is sometimes really cheap guitars can't create a useable sound with super slack tunings like open C, and they just sound wobbly and flubby. I agree, open C sounds magical.
@@JakeWilder0 yeah open C needs a proper instrument, I agree. I’ve had my open C for about 6 years on a heavily customized ‘93 Les Paul that I’ve owned since childhood. That thing is so stable it’s ridiculous. It’s actually got a bigsby and my luthier had to make custom saddle rollers for the heavy gauge strings etc.
Thank you I loved it ^^
Plus I started learning The Testament of Amelia so that's a great coïncidence :D
I just had a Preston English guittar restored to playability, and since it's in an open C tuning (albeit in opera pitch!), I expect this video will inspire me as I learn to play it. Thanks!
Nice guitar, I gave up on standard tuning long ago nice video as always
More guitar tips! czcams.com/play/PLqjziYes6yPKCYRIh9WNmcUkHrtii_3d7.html
There’s a cool (Fmaj7 I think?) tuning I picked up from a few Rob Scallon songs, FACGCE. Just wonderful, I love how airy it sounds
Other than that one I really dig the drop tunings. The drop G is something I’ve yet to try out! Thank you!
I like to dabble around with videogame soundtracks and 2 of my favorite Koji Kondo pieces actually play out nicely in drop D or C. Water theme from Mario 64 in Drop D where you walk through the first 3 notes and then tap the rest in as you walk up the 4th string, and end it with tapping the 12th fret on the second on third strings; and Ocarina of Time’s title theme in Drop C where you may take a similar approach, or just play the chords without tapping because there’s no overlapping the barre for the bass notes
I haven't seen it mentioned, so I'll just throw out DADGAD, a popular tuning among acoustic guitarists. A lot of the beauty of open D, but a little more versatility.
"Black Water" by the Doobie Brothers
Pierre Bensusan is the king of DADGAD tuning. A real virtuoso.
Open d is in the vid
@@scruffy5119 ...yes? I don't understand your point
@@scruffy5119 Open D and DADGAD are not the same.
I like CGDGCF better. It has 4 strings in fourths (for easy solos), 3 strings in fifths (for fast and easy power chords) and gives easy chording. For example, for C major chord, you just put your fingers on 2nd frets on the 1st and 4th strings, for C minor chord, it just changes to 1st fret on the 4th string. And it gives a fourth of extra range.
Very informative
Thanks
Awesome video
One nice song in open D tuning is Eyes wider than before, by Scott Matthews.
Beautiful
Pliss upload more videos ❣️🥰 love all ur stuff
Got my attention ✌️
thank you Count Vlad
My favourite alt-tuning is probably E A D G B Eb ^^ It's very easy to get to from the normal tuning and it sounds awesome.
My favourite tuning is all major thirds :)
The open chord sounds...interesting (it's an augmented chord), but everything else is so easy to play because all the fingerings are the same in all 12 keys.
What an interesting idea, I'll have to try that out! What note do you start on to make the tensions at a good spot?
Sounds interesting
What notes do you tune to?
@@benleydon
Two times F♯-A♯-D
I think the most popular one goes G♯-C-E, but idk, I prefer to keep at least a little of the low end in there and save the tension on the high E-string
Also, a big downside to M3 tuning is that it's quite hard to tune by ear because it doesn't work with just intonation, so the guitar tuner is your friend.
@@Nicenigel14 Some people prefer G# to keep the tension up on the higher strings, but I like F# because I like to keep the low end relatively low. Either way you'll be losing some range, so I prefer to lose a little bit less in the deep end and also conserve the high E-string a little bit.
@@rasmusn.e.m1064 Thank you so much, I'll be trying this out for sure!
I like the DADGAD tuning majorly beacuse of jimmy page, he's a good example of a guitatist who played well in a lot of alternate tunings.
Was going to recommend the same. DADGAD is great if you’re into British and Irish folk too. Jimmy took a lot of inspiration from folk guitarists like Bert Jansch and Davy Graham.
Yeah.
A lot of Irish music uses it a lot.
Thanks for this clear explanation and demonstration. Another possibility which I play is based on mandolin or violin tuning - the highest four strings tuned GDAE and the two bass strings open. I have mine tuned a semi-tone lower for a kind of 'open' Gb scale tuning which pleases me.
Open tunings are especially common for slide guitar, although that’s not all they’re used for. If I remember correctly, “Black Mountain Side” by Led Zeppelin is in an open A tuning.
Also 'Dancin' Days' is in Open G. Fun tuning to mess around with.
Joni Mitchell used open D a lot. Romeo and Juliet by Dire Straits also uses open G (capo from an open Bb).
@@syntaxlost9239 I thought Joni used a Dsus4 tuning?
@@StarQueenEstrella She did that too. But you can go over to her official tabs page and find a bunch of stuff in open D. Big Yellow Taxi comes to mind (capo at 2, so it's open E).
@@StarQueenEstrella Actually that's the one tuning she didn't use. DADGAD.
playing in open tunings (open C especially) brought a totally new life to my guitar playing, i’ve never gone back. the improv you do on open D here is beautiful, brandon!
You definitely got to try that last tip out and change 1 string and see what happens! I accidentally tuned back to standard once, but left the B string tuned to an A. It was so weird playing regular chords but hearing something different until I realized what I did. It sounded so cool though!!
I figured out how to play different chord shapes in A major and A minor and it is a super fun and easy way to play chords with extra color tones! Seriously, please just pick up the closest guitar and try this right now!! 😃
I actually play mainly with the B string down in A, and the lowest string in D. Doesn't quite have the clear palette of DADGad but can still get in that sort of realm.
@@tarkenton3895 oh nice I'll have to try it with the E lowered also!
The Bob Ross of tuning
Hi Brandon, absolutely love your channel, thank you. Do you have any videos on micing a guitar? Thanks again. .
Hi again,
I really appreciate that, thanks!
No I don't have videos on the subject but I just use a Zoom H6 about a foot or two from the bridge. I add a little bass EQ, remove some of the hiss, and a tiny splash of reverb. I have fancier equipment but like the sound and find it so much easier!
Best,
Brandon
The Koyunbaba Suite by Carlo Domeniconi is probably my favorite example of the magic of alternate tuning. He uses C# minor and it’s magical!
I was really hoping I would learn something new here. still love ya Brandon!
Leon retired from killing zombies to play beautiful melodies on guitar
There's also the turning of C pantatonic that was played by Robert Fripp from king crimson. Really fun
I love playing in this tuning, But i do in Db. Love playing Alter Bridge songs so that is the way to do it :)
I would like to know more about tunings used prior to today's "standard" tuning. Thx.
Alternate tunings also work for extended range guitars, on my 8 string I like to use EBEG#BG#BE which is a giant E major chord.
I like DADGAD. You can play anything in it, but not the standard written music, of course. You get nice open string ringing and also overtones. The G has a harmonic relationship with D, which F# doesn't. I played open D for a number of years, then tried DADGAD, and have stayed with it.
Since I play extended range guitars I rarely have a need for drop tunings, but when I do it's usually EAEADGBE. That tuning allows for a four octave bar chord.
I knew it! It's always the quiet ones that are metal heads and vampires!@!
Oh, I just realized that the Open D tuning (which I usually raise the F# to a G to get the famous DADGAD tuning for that beautiful Dsus4 sound) is the same tuning most commonly used for a brazilian instrument called "viola caipira" ("caipira" means "bumpkin", "hillbilly", "redneck" or anything like these), minus the low D string. It has nothing to do with the classic viola, it looks a bit like a mix between the baroque guitar and the modern guitar. It's a instrument with 5 pairs of steel strings tuned ADF#AD and is the main instrument used in our "country" music, called "sertanejo".
The funny thing about this tuning is name the name it got over here: "Cebolão em Ré" which literally translates to "big onion in D" hahahah. There are some variations of it, like "Cebolão em Mi" (Open E tuning) and other tunings with other funny names, like "boiadeira" (roughly translates to "cowboy", which is the same as the Open D tuning but with the low A pair tuned down a whole step to G), "rio abaixo" ("down the river", which is GDGBD, a G major chord), "rio acima" ("upstream", tuned as a C major chord), "paraguaçu" (named after a city in the state of Minas Gerais, tuned ADGBD) and many, many more. It's a really nice sounding instrument that also really shines with these alternate tunings, using a lot of open string chords and natural harmonic chords. Our old sertanejo songs aren't really written in keys, but in tunings, so people don't really ask directly what's the key of a certain a song, they'll just ask what the tuning is and that'll give them the answer they're looking for hahah.
fifths is my favorite of all tunings!
You omitted at least one good one. I do not know what it is called but the tunings from sixth string to first string are D A D F# B E, used often for many of the Rondeña.
It inspired me to play for a few hours this evening, thanks for sharing, Brandon! By the way, could you please tell the name of the melody playing in the background during the video?
9:41 it's beautiful!
Would love a whole video of him improvising for part 2! Lol 😁
The last time I wrote a song in anything other than a full step down it was in DADGAC# it's my own tuning doughnut steak
Great video, I'm about to discover russian tuning with a 7 string guitar, DGHDGHD, it is beautiful for the melodies, completely new world and shapes for your fingers.
as a beginner who's still learning for both bass and guitar, the perfect fourths tuning fit the bill for me (EADGCF and EADG/BEAD) to simplify switching between both
Thanks from my little channel
You can also slightly change the open G: D-G-D-G-B-D, a perfect G triad. Add one string and you will get a Russian 7-string tuning D-G-B-D-G-B-D.