I have started practicing a lot on the acoustic guitar alongside my voice, so that I may be able to sing better and play the guitar and one thing that I discovered was the joy of experimenting with new tunings involved by learning new songs

One that caught my attention the other day was this one: C# G# C# F# B C# which I encountered in this song:



I think it's really beautiful and it suits this song so well!

What tunings have you encountered that you liked and in what songs?

To me the song Iris from Goo Goo Dolls is still one of ny favorite songs that would for sure not sound like that in a standard tuning!

I felt very impressed when I started analyzing Sonic Youth's alternative tunings in order to compose and record my Sonic Youth style lesson.

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Indie-...IV-Sonic-Youth/

Check this tuning tutorial:
http://www.sonicyouth.com/mustang/tab/tuning.html

Very nice! That one with the F#s looks interesting

Also, Karnivool have used a sort of a hybrid tuning for their album called 'Themata' -> B F# B G B E <- a combo between drop B on the los strings and standard E on the high strings. Check it out in action in here:

I really like Tunings like that, gives some different approach in making songs.

I'll throw in some acoustic things here as my electric has a floyd

C G D G A D and C G D G G D

Preston reed quite often uses stuff like this or the same tuned down a whole step, having the G string twice also works nice for some tapping licks (1st vid), this guy also really often tunes down the bass strings quite low, adds some nice independent bass sound to the songs.




currently working on rylynn by Andy McKee
E C D G A E with a partial capo on the 5th fret covering the lower 4 strings.
still wonder how ppl. come up with ideas like that


when it comes to interesting tunings also check out Antoine Dufour, he hardly uses "normal" tunings at all

example (D C# F# E A D)

I'm a DADGAD man, I can spend hours there that I've not ventured to any other tunings

I shall quote myself from another thread.

I like the C# G# C# F# B C# tuning you've mentioned! It contains a beautiful 7sus4 voicing.

I've been always very impressed by the sound possibilities of the "Open C" tuning, used by Devin Townsend (C-G-C-G-C-E). The 7 string version is G-C-G-C-G-C-E - a beautiful low end.


He uses open B tuning, too: B F# B F# B D#

I have to pay more attention to this band...

on a side note, A perfect circle is coming to Argentina on April! I'm very happy.

I hear ya PB!!!

I also like straight open tuning's of G and D for slide.

I remember Neil Young had a song where he was tuned to EEEEEE!! In pairs, 2 low E's, 2 middle E's and 2 high E's!!
If I remember the song I'll post the youtube!

Nice tune Cosmin...it seems to be really effective on the acoustic. My 10 year old daughter is trying to accompany herself singing with her acoustic at the moment..Is something like drop D a good tuning for her so she doesn't have to worry about chord changes...the guitar interests her less than the accompaniment side at the moment....I was wondering if it might be easier if she just had to barre everything?
(I Don't want to hijack your thread BTW it just seemed relevant.)

Hey man, no hijacking at all Drop D would be an idea indeed, although I don't think that it would be such a bad thing to try and show her the chords in the first positions - it'll serve her a lot

This might be an obvious question but when you tune down from standard, how does that affect the vocalist? does a lower tuning help a vocalist who cant get the higher notes if you were in standard or does it not really make much of a difference to the vocals?

Oh man, trust me, the tuning makes a great difference

As a singer, I can tell you that I can feel whenever a song is played lower or higher - but the important thing is, that a song will never sound the same if you just 'transpose'. A lower tuning means involving open strings in a song - once you don't have those in your song anymore, even if you have transposed it to a key where the voice feels comfy, the song will not have the same vibe, simply because you can't use the open strings any more

You need to experiment and see what suits your voice and then use it

suppose you were singing in standard but a couple of notes were a bit high for your voice, would tuning down a half or whole step help?

You have to see what the highest note you need to reach is and tune down so that you will be a half tone with your voice, below the limit - if you want to be on the safe side You never know when you have a bad day and you can't reach your upper limit At least this is what I do

Yeah, I see what you mean, thanks. Im starting to try vocals on a couple of things..... I may need to experiment with a lower tuning
its so much easier with a guitar!

Hi Cosmin, Thanks for that advice..After I asked you that, I thought it would be a bad idea to give my daughter the easy option..She already knows some basic open chords and does them well...its just hard to sing and concentrate on chord changes (like you discussed on another thread last week, I think). I will not tell her there is are different tunings(yet) because that would make her lazy...I'm glad I asked you though because you confirmed my thoughts...
Interesting thread.

Ive played around with different tunings in the past. Mainly Open G and C tunings and also a lapslide DADDAD tuning.

A fair few years ago I was really into sound garden and had a couple tab books from a friend. I was surprised at some of the tuning that were popping up in them. I fonud the notes i made about them and these were some of the cooler/wierder tunings that were there.

CGDGBE

CFCGBE

DADGBB

EEBBBB

and one with all E notes!

I remember think that this is just madness! why the hell would someone do this?? Guess it shows in their style though.

What tuning does your voice feel most comfortable in? Have you managed to find out?



There's also another thing - if she would use drop D for instance - she would still have to move her left hand horizontally over a larg portion of the neck - which in my opinion is far more difficult than staying in the first 3 positions and learning open strings chord shapes Push her towards this a bit and see what she feels about it Also, you can make sure she knows a few of them and you can then help her by transposing the songs she wants to learn so that she may use only those chords that she knows. When she will get the feeling of accomplishment, she will want more



Man, Soundgarden are a bunch of uber awesome musicians - they as well as Alice In Chains have surpassed the 'grunge' phenomenon a long time ago - proof? They still exist, sound like they do but according to the age we all live in Very interesting tunings indeed!

Cheers Cosmin....Good advice...that's why your'e a great guitar instructor!

Thank you man

Ive really only tried standard tuning but Im starting to think it might be worth trying a lower tuning. There's only a couple of songs Ive been trying but there are a 1 or 2 sections that seem just out of range, I can get through about 70% of the songs.
I dunno if a half step down would make a lot of difference tbh but it sounds like it would be worth experimenting.
of course... maybe I just cant sing very well

On the other hand - what sort of vocal exercises have you tried so far?

Honestly......... None
Ive just been playing songs and trying to find some sort of key! I dont think I actually know any vocal exercises

Hmmmmm - the first thing you should be able to control, is your larynx

Try to smile and then pull air inside like you would do when you are surprised to see a person dear to you coming through the door. Try this exercise It allows you to keep your larynx up and pull air inside in the same time, without constricting the aesophagus - you will have FAR more air to sing than in any other way. The smile stays all the time

Let me know if you feel these things ok?

thanks dude, I'll give that a go

I agree with this.

Glad you guys found these useful - please let me know if you need more help and also read a bit here - I think this is a very thorough explanation of the phenomenon

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/loca...ed-singing.html