Myself, I use these mainly for acoustic fingerstyle stuff. You "could" do more electric stuff and leads, but to me these fit more into the way I play fingerstyle.

The main reason many fingerstyle players use alt tunings is to make things: 1) easier to play and 2) to be able to use a lot of open stings in your playing that will sound more pleasant to the ear. Strum an normal tuned guitar with all strings open and it sounds like crap, because it's not made for that. Try a DADGAD or similar tuning and you can play simple chord shape and make use of a lot of the open strings to play things that you really couldn't with a normal tuning, or things that will be 1000X easier to play.

Start with DADGAD and play around with chord shapes and some fingerstyle....

http://www.celticguitarmusic.com/dadgad.htm

Then watch Andy McKee play "Drifting" - a great tune that he plays in DADGAD (though he does some more complicated two handed stuff).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5f-FAhkrGG8

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/a/a ... ng_tab.htm

Also, Pierre Bensusan is a great guitar player that uses DADGAD a ton. I took lessons from him and Andy McKee at Interlochen. Both brilliant players, great teachers and great guys. Here, he explains why he uses it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PpMg2IypX8

A lot of traditional Irish music is played in DADGAD. Watch this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DshKyVC3 ... re=related

... which shows how you can make use of a lot of open strings, play interesting things, and not have to fret as much as you would in normal tunings.

NOTE: Once you start playing in alt tunings, and DADGAD in particular, you'll want to do that all the time It's addictive since it opens up your mind and allows you to play things you couldn't play in standard tuning. Have fun

W W

Thanks mate. Thats me sorted for the next 3 months.

Mucho's gracias.

_________________
No no and no

Our first song is called "To Ning"

or

You can tune a guitar, but ya cain't tuna fish.

_________________
Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!