Tuning #2: Open G

Perhaps the most widely used open tuning of all, by everyone from Robert Johnson to Keith Richards. Once again, drop the first and sixth strings down a tone from E to D, then do the same with the fifth string from A to G, giving us (from low to high): DGDGBD.

Example 7

Here’s a lovely demonstration that you can sometimes play incredibly simply but get a beautiful result. Though many of the examples throughout this feature seek to demonstrate alternative chord shapes, don’t forget moving one note around can be enough.

Example 8

Being able to play Em9 as a ringing open chord is a real bonus in open G. Though it can seem counterintuitive fretting the sixth string to get what would be the open root in standard tuning, don’t forget the possibilities the open D can give elsewhere.

Example 9

While there are movable chords to be found in this tuning, it’s hard to resist making use of the ringing open strings, so here’s a Jimmy Pagestyle Cadd9. It’s worth sliding this shape around to see what other chord voicings you can create.

Example 10

You can see this chord comes from shifting and altering the same fretted strings against the open ones. Though the name sounds complex, it’s really just a Bm with a ringing open third string. This gives us the #5 (G).

Example 11

Here’s a movable chord with a complicatedsounding name. If you lift off the second string but keep the rest of the shape (including the barre) intact, you’ll get a Cadd9. If you lift off the third string, too, leaving just the barre, you’ll see where Joe Satriani’s FlyingInABlueDream came from.

Example 12

Gmaj9 sounds lovely in this open position, but with minimal effort it could be made movable as a barre chord, similar to Example 11. It’s not always important to understand the theory behind the chord names and shapes – that can come later.