Open Tunings?

JackLuis

JackLuis

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I found this Uncle Raggy vid about Open D tuning on a Baritone (DGBD) and began to think about it, me being an Old Geezer and all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxMk1qb32lU

I had tried Open Tuning and a slide some time ago but didn't do much with it. However I thought that Open C might be a way to explore my spruce topped CK22 which was tuned GCEA. I don't play it much, focused as I have been on Tenors and Baritone. so I detuned to GCEg and tinkered a bit.

Raggy makes the point that if you aren't making mistakes, you aren't learning much. He also makes the point that Open tuning is about playing by ear. I learned very quickly that 0000 is a C, 2012 is a F, and 0234 is a G! Wow, this was pretty cool! 2222 is a D and 4444 is an E! OMG!

Do any of you play open tunings?
 
I use open tuning on some of my ukes and, of course, banjos. It didn't take long to get usta it. I guess it depends on what ya wanna do with it. If you chord a lot, many of the chords are easy-peasy, but some aren't. I like it a lot.

You can get open chord charts on the internet. I think I would use gCEG. :eek:ld:
 
Down Up Dick said:
I use open tuning on some of my ukes and, of course, banjos. It didn't take long to get usta it. I guess it depends on what ya wanna do with it. If you chord a lot, many of the chords are easy-peasy, but some aren't. I like it a lot.

You can get open chord charts on the internet. I think I would use gCEG. :eek:ld:
Click to expand...
I did that a few times, tuned the A string down to a G. It is fun to mess around with. It isn't as easy as it looks though. I tried using a slide, and it didn't work very well. Using my finger as a bar and sliding it worked better, but I have not spent enough time with it to be very good at it.
 
I've been messing a bit with gCEG, open C, using a slide for bluesy stuff and also playing Wake Up Little Susie Everly Brothers' style.
I think, if I did more of this, that I would use a low G. There's not much point in having the unison Gs and sometimes I want to go down below the C.
I also have tried gBDG, an open G tuning. I'd also like to try this with a low G. Time for a new uke?
 
My CK-22 is strung Low G so I just slacked off the A string to g. I haven't had time to explore much but it is interesting. I thought I'd try using the side and figure out how to form more chords. I should probably lookup open tuning chord charts, but that might cause me to not make the mistakes that would teach me the key board, so what's the point in that? ;)

Uncle Raggy was using a DGBE Baritone, but I could be in error. I think DF#AD might make my head explode trying to figure things out, so I'll stick with a simple slacking off the A string on a concert. It's taken me a year to switch from g/GCEA to d/DGBE and relearn the chord names. I wouldn't want to get too crazy about this. I kind of wanted to do this as a way to learn the key board better. Next month I celebrate my second anniversary of playing the Uke and I'm still learning the left hand and starting now to learn more right hand.

I don't take Uke playing as a deadly serious thing, but like to explore the different ways to make music as I learn more. I am interested in hearing your observations about playing open tuning.
 
gCEG. i have sometimes heard referred to as Low G taropatch and used for slack key style ukulele
 
geetee said:
The first published (1915) ukulele instruction book uses a linear open G tuning DGBd. I've recently been playing around with a soprano in this tuning. I like it.

http://ukulele.space/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=pdf:mat:1915_santos_nunes.pdf
Click to expand...

This is 5 string banjo tuning minus the thumb string. Often the plectrum banjo is tuned either DGBD or CGBD, although some treat the plectrum like a tenor, CGDA or GDAE with a long neck and some also tune it DGBE, like a Chicago tuned tenor guitar/banjo or a baritone uke.
 
Open D minor is another option...DFAD or a modal tuning DGAD (on guitar it would be a DADGAD or Open Dsus4 tuning)----applied to a baritone ukulele!!!! Don't know much about tenor or concert ukes.
 
Believe it or not, a lot of slide players use 6th chords so standard uke tuning of GCEA will work for picking and selective strumming. The GCE strings for major chords, the CEA strings for minor chords.
 
Jack, you might take a look at our Tips page for the archived letter on Open Tuning. There's all kinds of info, sound samples and sources for the particular form you're experimenting with, from Ukuleles, Banjos and Cavaquinhos.

It's funny, one of the links posted in this thread is to the Santos method. The Germans that posted it stole it off that page of ours. Not that we mind, and in this case it was a very good thing, as they are obviously better at editing pdf files than I am - it's in a nice "page by page" format on their site instead of the way I scanned the original. BTW, that copy may well be the last left in the U.S.

And should you get serious about playing this form, every one of our Linear sets has an option to Add-On a matched Open 1st string. Tuning down like you did is a good way to expermiment, but a bit higher tension will not only give better feel but produce better sound as a result.
 
Last edited:
southcoastukes said:
Jack, you might take a look at our Tips page for the archived letter on Open Tuning. There's all kinds of info, sound samples and sources for the particular form you're experimenting with, from Ukuleles, Banjos and Cavaquinhos.
-
And should you get serious about playing this form, every one of our Linear sets has an option to Add-On a matched Open 1st string. Tuning down like you did is a good way to expermiment, but a bit higher tension will not only give better feel but produce better sound as a result.
Click to expand...

I'll remember that, but doubt I'll get much beyond experimentation with it. I was fooling around with this morning and tried it on a Tenor and the concert with a slide. Not sure I should devote much time to open tunings yet, I'm still pretty poor with my right hand. I like instrumental music and love arpeggio sounds, but lost the skill I had when I dropped the guitar ~20 years ago.

A couple of week ago I dumped all my "discretionary funds" on a cedar topped and solid rosewood Ohana tenor and it is really sensitive to heavy 3rd and 4th strings. I've tried it Low G and it boomed horribly, switched out the 4th for a high g and the 3rd still boomed! I was able to reduceit somewhat with a different strumming technique but I think the solution is to shift to finger picking it.

But come payday I might just buy three sets from you to try out a set for my spruce topped concert, the cedar top tenor, and a laminate tenor in dGBE .
I'll be in touch with you to see what might be a solution.
 
Some other options:

Open F: f c' f' a' -or- a c' f' a'.

Open C7: g c' e' bb'—an interesting option for slide blues.

Open Cm: g c' eb' g'—easier mixing of major and minor chords (3rd string root).

Open Cm7: g c' eb' bb'—ditto, including their 7th variants. Doubles as Eb6 tuning.

Open A tuning: a c#' e' a'

Open A7 tuning: g c#' e' a'

(Open Am7 tuning is the same as C6 tuning.)

Double-Slack G (aka. Drop G): g b e' g'—forms an open E minor chord.


LucilleJustRock's guitar/bari tunings would equate to these tunings in the standard range:

Open Gm: g bb d' g

Modal G (Gsus4 or Csus2): g c' d' g


I'm sure Ken Middleton will make you a custom set of Living Waters, if you need matched unison strings or other tweaks for open tunings.
 
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JonThysell said:
A couple years ago I made chord charts for gceg and dgbd tunings: https://jonthysell.com/2013/06/20/f...chord-charts-and-diagrams-gceg-baritone-dgbd/

I almost exclusively play dgbd baritone these days. It can be scary to commit to an alternate tuning after you've invested the muscle memory in standard, but I haven't regretted my decision to switch.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Nicely done. Not sure I'm ready to 'commit' to slack key yet but this will make it a lot easier to experiment.
 
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