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Acoustic Guide To Alternate Tunnins

Lesson: Acoustic Guide to Alternate Tunnins

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116 views7 pages

Acoustic Guide To Alternate Tunnins

Lesson: Acoustic Guide to Alternate Tunnins

Uploaded by

luis
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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amen GUITAR WORLD ACQUSTIC’S ALTERNATE YUNINGS ‘THE PRIMARY ALLURE OF ALTERNATE ‘uningsis theirintoxicatingly liberating power—to paraphrase Captain James ‘T.Kirk they let youboldly go whereno guitarist has gone before. Every one of them (and there are many) is like a miniature Starship Enterprise, atrusty vehicle for exploring uncharted musi cal territories. One tuning may expand the instrument’ pitch range substan- tially, while another may facilitate the fingering of unusual chord voicings ‘that would otherwise be very difficult, if not impossible, to play in standard tuning; still another allows ‘you to “transform” your gui tar into a mandolin, dul: cimer, or 12string. We begin this lesson by ‘exploring the alternate tun- ings most widely used by well-known contemporary acoustic guitarists, and by illustrating their merits via some appropriate musical examples; later, we'll ven- ‘ture into some less common alternate tun- ings. All tunings will be spelled from the lowest string to the highest. Although they are intended for six-string guitar, they may be adapted to 12-string. TRANSPOSED TUNINGS The tenm “transposed tunings’ refersto a category of tunings where al six strings are retuned proportionally, theirintevalic relationships remaining as they were in standard tuning (EAD G BE). Thisis com. parable to using capo, though the strings are almost always tuned lower instead of higher. The two most common transposed ‘tunings are “down-ehalfstep” (Eb Ab Db Gb Bb Eb) and “downa-whole-step” (DG C FAD), though guitarists have been 2 GUITAR WORLD ACOUSTIC known to detune all six strings by a rminor third (C# F¥BEG#C#) or lower. Here are a few reasons why guitarists use transposed tunings: To play stock “open chord” voicings (or anything that uses open strings) in a lower key, to accommodate a vocalist’s preference. ‘* Tomake the guitar sound deeper and more resonant (as compared to using a capo for a brighter, “lighter” sound). * To lower the tension of the strings, ‘making them feel "slinkier’—easierto fret, pick and bend. as —'\ Dave Whitehill — * To alleviate tension on the guitar's neck—a preven- tive measure often taken by conscientious 12string own- ers to help prevent their gui- tar's neck from bowing. They usually use a capo to com- pensate for the drop in pitch, is Nirvana's “About a Git,” from its Unplugged in New York album (guitarist Kurt Cobain used this tuning for just about every songhe recorded). Notable acoustic examples of down-a.whole step tuningare Neil Young's “Sugar Mountain’ (FTarvest) and “Hey, Hey, My My” (Rust Never Steps), and “Yesterday” by the Beatles (HELP. {A complete ranseription begins on page 60.) Transposed tunings are often com- | bined with other tunings, as youl soonsee. DROPPED TUNINGS “Dropped tunings’ are tunings in which | the pitch of only one string (on occasion, two strings) is lowered, or “dropped,” below standard tuning. The most popular of these is “dropped-D" tuning, which is arrived at by detuning the 6th string one wholestep (the equivalent of two frets) from E to D. The easiest way to do this is to use the open 4th string as a reference tone and lower the pitch of the 6th string Until the two strings sound aperfect octave apart. Naturally, this tuning is well-suited for playing in the key of D (major or minor), as you can see by fingering the familiar ‘open D chord and strumming al six strings (Gee FIGURE 1). One minor drawback to this tuning is that it makes it necessary to refinger other chords with roots on the 6th string, such as E minor and G major (see FIGURE 2). (Porthe Em chord, the thumb ray be used to fret the 6th string. The @ major chord requires a partial pinkie or ring-finger barre across the bottom three strings.) This is a small price to pay, ‘though, when one considers the advan- tages this tuning offers: extended low- range for playing runs inthe key of D, like the one depicted in FIGURE 3; and an eas- {er way to play authentic piano-style bass- ‘chord pattems, such as those illustrated in FIGURES 4 and 5, Dropped-D tuning is used in almost every genre of guitar music, including country blues, classical, county, acoustic rock, ragtime, folk, heavy metal and alter- native. [first discovered dropped-D tuning while tryingto figure out Pete Townshend's acoustic guitar solo at the close of the Who's “Overture,” from the rock opera Tomay, Other well-known songs that use this tuning on an acoustic guitar are“Coun- ‘ty Road’ by James Taylor (Sweet Baby James), “Dear Prudence” by the Beatles (The Beatles [White Album] and “Harvest “Moon” by Neil Young (Harvest Moon). For “All Apologies” (Nirvana: Unplugged in New York), Kurt Cobain combined droppec:D tuning with down-a- half-step tuning to produce a deep, reso- ‘nant sound. The resultant tuning is Db Ab Db Gb Bb Eb. FIGURE 6 uses this same tuning and is not unlike the intro to the above-mentioned song. ‘The 6th string can be “dropped” to oth- erpitchesas well—t've heard t detuned as low as A! Ifyou do develop a penchant for tones that deep, take a tip from Michael “Hedges and replace your guitar's 6th string with a bass string, since the wobbly into- nation and nibber-band action that result, from detuning a normal guitar string beyond a whole-step can pose a problem. “Drop tuning” the treble strings is adif- ferent story. This practice is usually employed as a means of achieving close ‘unguitaristic chord voicings, For example, listen to what happens to some lovily E type barre chords afier the Ist string is dropped to D (see FIGURE 7). Presto, they've become dominant seventh chords! etuning both high and low E strings a whole-step puts your guitar into what is commonly called “double droppedD,” or “English D," tuning (D AD G B D). 1 Turing:DADGBE Tung: 0ADGBE Turing: DADGBE Tuning: 0 earned this tuning while figuring out Buf: falo Springfield's “Bluebird” (Buffalo Springfield). [came to the conclusion that itwas the only means available for playing the heavenly C major ninth chord leading into the last verse. FIGURE 8 illustrates Tuning: DADGEE Were et 7 Tuning 0+ Ab Db Gb Bb Eb ct Rak Tuning: £ADGBO no 8 Tuning: DADG BD Tuning: EADGAD GUITAR WORLD ACOUSTIC ‘that chord, which is fingered just like ‘an open C major seventh chord in stan- dard tuning, preceeded by a phrase based on some lines from the song's solo, Other well-known examples of songs that use this tuning are “Black Water” by the Doobie Brothers (What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits), “The End” by the Doors, from The Doors (performed by Robbie Krieger on a clean electric, but worth men- VERNAYE YUNINGS —s ‘Tang: DADGAD aurea “unig: DADGAD Tuning: DADG AD oun Tuning: DADC AD Fan To Ft M4 GUITAR WORLD AcoUSTIC “acoustic” style), and Eric Johnson's “Song. for George," from Ah Via Musicom., [A complete transcription of “Song for George” appeared in the March 1991 issue of Guitar School] ‘The altemate-tuning trend kicked into high gear when Buffalo Springfield broke up and guitarist Stephen Stills teamed up with fellow pickers Graham Nash and Byrds alumnus David Crosby to form Cros- by, Sills & Nash, Crosby, who tuned Joni tioning here because it’s played in an | Mitchell onto alternate tunings, had a dis- tinctly impressionstictake on retuning his guitar for many of his compositions. The haunting “Guinnevere," from Crosby, Sis & Nash, isa prime example of his unique style. The tuning he used fr this song was the rather unustal EAD G AD. Dropping both the Ist and 2nd strings down awhole- step enabled him to play figures similar to those ilustrated in FIGURE 9. ‘Another fairly common double- dropped tuning involves detuning both the | 6th and 5th strings a whole step (DGD G BE). Chet Atkins, who refers to this as “altered G” runing used itonhis version of Don McLean's Vincent” (The RCA Years) ‘To perform Fleetwod Mac's “Never Going Back Again” (Rumours), guitarist Lindsey Buckingham dropped the 5th string down a whole-step to G and the th string down two wholesteps oC, enabling him to easily incorporate alternating rootfifth basslines into this bouney fin- gerpicked, ragtime-syle piece. He then used a capo atthe 6th fet to transpose the entire song from the key of Cup tothe Key of Gb, FIGURE 10 is siilar to the song's main verse part. [A complete transcription of ‘Never Going Back Again’ can be found in the May 1992 issue of Guitar School MODAL TUNINGS Combining David Crosby's “Guinne- vere" tuning (EAD G AD) with dropped D produces the altemate tuning known as D ADGA D (usually pronounced “dadgad,” as fit were a word). Thisis one of the most popular of what are known as “modal tunings.” Modal, as used here, stretches the definition of the word a bit, and is really just a way of saying that the tuning isn’t major or minor, unlike the “open tunings” welll over shorty. In actu- al usage, it makes more sense to say that ‘modal tunings are those which work well with a variety of modes, To demonstrate, here's a fingerstyle pattern in D major per- formed in D AD G AD tuning (see FIG- ‘URE 11) that. can be easily transposed to D minor (see FIGURE 12). Over the years, D AD G A D has become popular among fingerstylists spe- cializing in traditional English and Irish fin- gerstyle music—Bert Jansch, John Ren- bourn, Davey Graham, Richard Thompson, Martin Carthy and the French guitarist, Pierre Bensusan, to name a few. Even the hard-rock’ Jiramy Page has explored D A DGD, as evidenced by “White Sum- ‘mer,"from the Yardbirds’ Little Games album, and “Black Mountain Side” (similar to FIGURE 18), from Led Zeppelin. He laterused this same tuning with an electric guitar on “Kashmir” (Physical Graffiti) [see related story, p. 30], On this side of the ‘ocean, guitarists using D ADG AD include Stephen Stills 4X20," from Déjt Vu), and Michael Hedges (“Peg Leg Speed King,” from Breakfast im the Field, and "Raga- rutin," from Aerial Boundaries). [A com- ‘plete transcription of the lawter appeared in the May 1988 issue of Guitar World] Now try your own hand at DADG AD “with this fingerstyle selection (see FIG- URE 14), and see if it doesn’t conjure up visions of the Emerald Isle. Two other musical devices that help give this figureits “green sound” are the 12/8 time signature, which gives it a triplet feel, common to Irish jigs, and the modality of D Dorian (D EF GAB O) throughout, except for the last measure. One of the coolest features of DADGAD tuningis the fact that the 3rd and 2nd strings are tuned a major second apart (A-B). This lends a harp-ike quality ‘to melodies played in this tuning. ‘Another mode that works well inD AD GAD tuning is D Mixolydian (DE F#G A B ©), as illustrated in FIGURE 15. One advantage to using such repetitive alter- nating open-string bass patterns is that they afford yourleft hand more mobility to improvise melodies. Once you learn this phrase, ry devising your own variations fon these notes and then work up the neck: into other positions as well Another beautiful modal tuning is D G CGC, which is what Jimmy Page used for the studio version of “The Rain Song,” from Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy (he live version, from The Song Remains the Same, is tuned awhole-step higher—E AD AD E—and is performed on electric guitar) FIGURE 16 ilustrates a movable chord shape employed by Page through- ‘out the song. This figure demonstrates how this particular tuning facilitates play- ing melodies in octaves. ‘One thing these modal tunings have in common is that both spell suspended fourth chords, Dsus4 (D G A) and Gsus4 (G CD), respectively. Other related tunings based on sus4 or sus2 harmonies are *EBEABEDADGAD mised a whole step) *EBEFOBE *EADEAD *DG@DGCD *DADEAD *DGDGAD. OPEN TUNINGS Another broad category of altered tun- ings are open tunings. Open tunings are those where the open strings are tuned to a consonant chord of some sor, fycally ‘major or minor. I you take the now fami iar AD GAD tuning and drop the Sra ‘string down a half step to F#, your guitar ‘would then end up being tuned D AD F¥ AD. This tuning is called “open D* (also Jnown as“Vastapol" or “Vestapol”), a8 the open strings are tuned tothe notes of aD major chord (D FA), Richie Havens has pretty much made a career out ofthis tan- ing, except for those rare times when he alters it slightly to “open D7” (D AD F# A )or“Dminor" (DAD FAD), asin"Moth- cerless Child,” from Woodstock. Open tun- ings are great for just about any style of chord melody playing since they free the fretting hand from having to finger a chord while playing a melody. This fact made ‘open tunings popular with such solo acoustic blues guitarists as Bukka White Bo Carter and Robert Johnson [see the July 1990 issue of Guitar School for a transcription of Johnson's "Crossroad Blues", Other tunings often used in the blues idiom are “open B" (BBE G# BE, tuned Just like an open E chord in standard tun- | ing), “open G" (DGD GB D) and “open A (BABA C# E, like an open A chord in standard tuning). FIGURES 17-19 ilus- trate how the aforementioned and other “Tuning: DADGAD bluesmen use these open tunings, with and without aside or bottleneck. Changing to other major chords is a simple affair since open tunings existin a universe of one-

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