Home › Forums › Guitar Techniques and General Discussions › Open tuning question
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February 22, 2019 at 9:48 pm #126045
So I have a guitar that has been professionally set up as being dedicated in open E tuning for slide playing. Would I be able to change this to open D (DADGAD) tuning without having to have the intonation reset again?
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February 22, 2019 at 10:57 pm #126046
Mark
I don’t think that would cause an issue; it would be more likely to change if you changed the gauge of strings that you are using.
The only way to know is to tune to Open D or to DADGAD and check it
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February 22, 2019 at 11:58 pm #126047
Hello Mark,
Open E is the tuning with highest tension. I think, there is no problem, to tune it lower up to the lowest open C. After tuning each string is striving to the former position and so it needs some re-tuning, that s quite normal.Dieter
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February 23, 2019 at 11:27 am #126077
Mark,
If you are playing slide I don’t think intonation would be of concern. Am I correct?
With slide you compensate automatically till you find your desired pitch.
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February 23, 2019 at 11:33 am #126078
In this specific case, I wouldn’t be playing slide, I’d be finger picking. My band is looking at adding the Little Big Town song “Little White Church” to our repertoire. Lead part is played in open D tuning from what I can gather.
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February 23, 2019 at 2:07 pm #126083
I have to wonder how does a professional do a setup specifically for open tuning in E? I could be wrong, but my understanding is that not all guitars require the same attention to intonation. Some have weaker neck to body joints, so that when you tighten the strings, the neck pivots up at that joint – as you might intuitively guess. Other guitars have a very rigid neck to body joint, so the tightness of the strings can vary quite a lot without any change to the plane of the neck.
Here’s a cool article I’ve seen from D’Addario about string tensions. In it you will see that if you want to maintain the same string tension while dropping from an E to a D on your 6th string, you would have to switch from an 046 to 052, for example. So I guess if you have on a set of 010s, you would probably have to switch to 012s to have the same tension when you drop to open D tuning. On the other hand (no pun intended), if you are playing fingerstyle, the lower tension might feel rather nice. BTW, this article also explains why short scale guitars (like the Taylor Baby and other parlor guitars) are easier to play blues on.
Sunjamr Steve
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February 23, 2019 at 2:33 pm #126088
In the case of my guitar, I had 12’s put on it and had the action raised much higher than I’d like for normal playing but obviously much more conducive to slide playing. The saddles are raised up quite a bit. I’m not gonna mess with them just yet, as I’d still like to be able to play some slide on this when I get a chance but if I end up using this guitar more fingerstyle, I’ll need to do something.
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February 23, 2019 at 9:32 pm #126115
I like open G tuning. Good for slide, Hawaiian slack key and Classical stuff.
Jim J
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February 24, 2019 at 2:34 am #126123
Doubt the intonation would be effected much. If it was, you could just tune the DADGAD up a half step, unless vocals are a consideration. So Eb Bb Eb Ab Bb Eb. This would let you keep the g string constant at G#/Ab.
The thing that is more likely to change is the bow of the neck. Reducing tension on the strings should lower the action some, which may not be a bad thing.
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February 26, 2019 at 6:32 am #126313
So as I have been practicing this song, it’s clear that if I want to use the same guitar that I had set up for slide work that I’ll need to commit to either changing the strings to a lighter gage and lowering the action some to make it a bit more playable, or leave it alone and devote another guitar to open D tuning. In the interim, I returned my Strat to open D to practice this on and on the bridge/middle pickup position I just about have the sound nailed, plus it’s much easier to play.
Another interesting attribute about this particular song and the open D tuning is every credible source I can find on it has it tuned to D-A-D-G-A-D, instead of D-A-D-F#-A-D. I’ve just decided to learn it with the G string properly tuned to F#.
It’s kind of fun learning new chord voicings in open tunings…
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March 6, 2019 at 7:32 am #127558
The tuning looks a hybrid between dropped D & Open D
If you want a Guitar that does Open D and is switchable to Open E then tune it to open D then use a Capo to up it to open E.
I’ve tried tuning down to open E but the strings are too floppy, gauge wise I use 11’s on the electric mostly to avoid setup issues.
I’ve 13’s on my acoustic though its a resonator designed for slide anyways and tends to live in permanent open D
Open E tuned up and on 12’s will stress the guitar a ways and your into truss rod compensation due to the tension I would imagine
Hope my thoughts are of some use
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March 6, 2019 at 5:23 pm #127612
DADGAD is now being referred to by many as “the new standard tuning”
From Wikipedia:
DADGAD, or Celtic tuning is an alternative guitar tuning most associated with Celtic music, though it has also found use in rock, folk, metal and several other genres. The result is an open D suspended fourth chord (see suspended chord). Being suspended, the open tuning is neither intrinsically major nor minor.DADGAD was popularised by British folk guitarist Davey Graham. Inspired by hearing an oud player in Morocco, Graham experimented with detuning some of the guitar’s strings from standard tuning (E2 A2 D3 G3 B3 E4), arriving at D2 A2 D3 G3 A3 D4 or “DADGAD”. He employed the tuning to great effect in his treatments of Celtic music, but also the folk music of India and Morocco. The first guitarists in Irish traditional music to use the tuning were Mícheál Ó Domhnaill and Dáithí Sproule; today it is a very common tuning in the genre. Other proponents of the tuning include Ben Howard, Andy Mckee, Russian Circles, Mike Dawes, Rory Gallagher, Luka Bloom, Stan Rogers, Jimmy Page, Artie Traum, Pierre Bensusan, Eric Roche, Midnight, Laurence Juber, Tony McManus, Bert Jansch, Richard Thompson, Dick Gaughan, Alistair Hulett, Imaad Wasif, Mark Kozelek, Jeff Tweedy, Masaaki Kishibe, Paul McSherry, ,Kotaro Oshio, Ben Chasny, Al Petteway, and Trey Anastasio.
The suitability of DADGAD to Celtic music stems from the fact that it facilitates the use of a number of moveable chords which retain open strings. These act as a drone on either the bass or treble strings, approximating the voicings used in traditional Scottish and Irish pipe music.
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