Hi guys!
I've never really used any alternate tunings before. Don't know why. Probably because I am a piano and a keyboard player as well, so I have never had enough nerve to put myself through all that trouble of tuning and retuning all the time (I have only one strat, one guitar).
I used them a couple of times before though, just to satisfy my curiosity so I can't count that. Anyway, I tuned down to Eb today, don't know why, I guess I wanted to see why the hell EVH, Malmsteen tune down and why SRV, Hendrix and numerous others did that too. Of course, there's less string tension when you tune lower, so it's little easier to play that way. Faster?!I don't know. The same I guess. I like bassy tone, but I still am not that impressed. I am a traditional kind of a guy, so... I'll stick to regular tuning.
And to tell you the truth, I like standard tuning better. It's fun though!
So, I wanted to know if you guys used any alternate tunings and why?

Goran

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Alternate or open tunings are almost indispensible for playing slide.I use an open D tuning for several acoustic Donovan songs I cover.

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I love fooling around with open tunings. Open G and Open E are two of my favorites. I also have spent some time in DADGAD tuning trying to come up with some celtic sounding melodies. What I enjoy the most about alternate tunings is finding new ways to play things and I find it sometimes makes me more creative as I'm able to play out of the norm that is standard tuning. It pushes me to try new things and form new ideas.

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I keep one guitar tuned down a 1/2 step to Eb all the time. On my Resonator I have been experimenting with several different tunings (Open G and Open D).

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I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

Yeah, I understand what you mean Mike. I love to play around with chords, intervals, so I play out of the norm anyway. And it really makes you more creative. But I still prefer standard tuning. Once again, just the matter of a personal preference.
I'll tell you what I'm gonna do. I'll leave my guitar tuned to Eb, and I'll play it that way for a week or so. Then I'll see if it works for me or not. Or maybe I'll discover some other tunings as well. We'll see.

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"If you're on a path that's beaten, it's not your path." Joseph Campbell

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."

"All that is impossible remains to be achieved."
Jules Verne

www.stratcollector.com

It's fun to break away from standard to fly in the alt zone.

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10-4 good buddy, over and out!

I agree too. I know what you mean. I prefer standard tuning over the others as well because, for me, its more of a comfort zone to stay in standard tuning.

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http://www.youtube.com/guitarmike26

Free & Easy Down the Road I Go

I had one of my Strats set up specifically for Eb tuning... Only to discover I don't play in Eb nearly as often as I thought I did. It ended up being such a hassle tuning back and forth between it and standard, that I just put the lighter strings back on and tuned it like normal. Lesson learned.

I like messing around with some delta blues and slide on my little acoustic. I have it in DADGAD and I've figured out how to do some really cool stuff using it. I even figured out how to do some Indian, sitar sounding things with it.

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I leave my gib. in open D tuning to play around w/slide. I added a new bone nut to raise strings a little at the neck. I prefer to learn in standard tuning, so I won't have the need to swap out guitars during gigs. Guess I'm lazy, carrying the least amount of gear possible.

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Well I never went with the theory of dropping down a half step as playing in an alternate tuning. Try tuning to G or DADGAD to start and then you will really get a feel to what it is about and what you can do with it. In G you can play a lot of Stones and get that authentic sound and with DADGAD you can play some Zep to start. Try and find a tab for Kashmir as that is a fun one. Also the Rain Song which is tuned to a Gmaj7th chord as I dont recall the tuning but used to have an acoustic left in that tuning years ago to hear such a beautiful and difficult sounding song be so easy to play with very simple shapes.

I'm with Straycat (:waves:), in that I see alternative tunings as changing the relative pitch of strings, not simply tuning every string down by a semitone... although I can see that it might give an interesting change in tone.

I still haven't learnt Jumping Jack Flash, because I couldn't decide which of Keith Richard's many alternative tunigs to use!! Standard? Open G? Open eb? 5 strings or 6?? http://www.guitar-collector.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=297

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I was reading a interview with Snails Pace Slim from the Hamsters. He said srv told him the reason everyone tunes to Eb is because a lot of venue owners play harmonica. It stops em being able to jump up onstage with you. He was quite adamant thats why hendrix did it too.

Myself I use a few for slide. Open E is my current favourite. Followed by open G and that open Bminor i found a couple of months ago.

I'm a firm believer in tuning a guitar to anything randomly and finding out what sounds good afterwards. It gets you thinking and breaks you out of muscle memory/autopilot playing.

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No no and no

If your only tuning in steps, you can have a look at this gadget here:
http://www.morpheusdroptune.com/

What it does is lowers the frequency of your signal so it makes your guitar sound drop tuned.

Either that or get a Digitech whammy which can do the same thing but you have all the whammy aspects too!

Check em out.

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And I can hear the faint sound of distant waves
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I have a feeling it's gonna be a fun day"

Wow! That's an interesting story! Never heard that before. I wonder if it's true. I'll look it up. Thanks Nick!

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"If you're on a path that's beaten, it's not your path." Joseph Campbell

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."

"All that is impossible remains to be achieved."
Jules Verne

www.stratcollector.com

It sounds worth having. It must be fun being able to change your tuning in a second.
I must admit I'm having fun playing in Eb for the last couple of days. I like that low "growl" and bassy tone!

_________________
"If you're on a path that's beaten, it's not your path." Joseph Campbell

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."

"All that is impossible remains to be achieved."
Jules Verne

www.stratcollector.com