I'll admit to being lazy . . . what are some of the more common slack key tunings?? I used to (30+ years ago) do some open guitar tunings, but just never followed through.
Mahalo in advance!
bobinde
Probably the most common is "taropatch" which is exactly the same as open G or as the blues guys call it, "spanish" from its use in "Spanish Fandango." Spelled D G D G B D low to high.
Drop the low D down to C and you have a non-open tuning we call Drop C. It's both very convenient and a delightful tuning to play.
Some guys use open D (D A D F# A D) but more common is D Wahine (D A D F# A C#) because it makes for a more interesting set of runs and the V chord is more convenient.
Wahine tunings feature a major 7 note as in the D Wahine. Drop C is, then, a C Wahine. G Wahine is D G D F# B D and may be the oldest and most traditional slack key tuning. It's easy with this tuning to play a two chord song with only one finger.
The Pahinui family and their cohorts generally use a variety of C tunings such as C G E G B E (C Wahine), C G E G C E (open C), and C G E G A E (C Mauna Loa).
Naturally all these tunings can be varied up and down for versions in F, A, D, or Bflat, etc. With all the variations I think there have been over 50 tunings documented as being used in slack key, with some specific to a song, some to a family, some to an area. Presumably there are others that have been lost in time.
Fran