Alternate Tunings
Alternate Tunings
When I cover alternate tunings in a lesson, I first make sure the student understands standard tuning. Then, based on those notes and strings, we figure out which strings have to be tuned to which notes in order achieve the new tuning. Then we look at how to get the guitar back into standard tuning.
Alternate tunings have become extremely popular over the last few years. Lately I've been spending more time during lessons just teaching various tunings.
Bands like Creed, Goo Goo Dolls, and Dashboard Confessional often use open tunings. These tunings often make a six string acoustic guitar sound like a twelve string. They also allow a player to slide simple chords up and down the neck very easily. Even though the chords are simple they sound great.
Lots of bands are also using alternate tunings to get very heavy rock guitar sounds. Using a tuning like Drop C# will give a distorted guitar an even more distorted sound. The band Korn uses seven string guitars with a Drop A# tuning. That's insanity!!! They got rich doing it though! Actually, I bought a seven string this year just so I could play and teach music by "Nu Metal" bands like Korn and Limp Bizkit.
If a student owns an electronic tuner I ask them to bring it to class when we're working on tuning. I like to make sure the student knows how to use the tuner for standard tuning as well as alternate tuning.