Step By Step Guide
The Process
The best method of making up open tuning s on guitar is to start one string at a time and start from a fixed note point. First decide on the starting string and note. Then tune the adjacent string to an interval that sounds good to you. Repeat the process string by string to find intervals that ring true to your taste as you add extra strings and intervals and possibly chords. You can also tune an adjacent string to unison, (which means the same note) .I prefer to put theory aside while creating a tuning and go into ear mode and create what I instinctively just like. Later on I might look at the theory and analyze what I have created. A lot of people think that inventing a tuning would be one of the most difficult things you could ever attempt, this is simply not true. I discovered years ago that it is one of the easiest things I have ever tried on guitar!
Step 1 Start With One String Setting The Starting Point (Sixth String)
Start with the sixth string and put it into a tension that you like the sound and feel of. By feel I mean do you like the feel of that particular string when you play , does it sound good as well? Your starting note doesn’t have to be tuned to E , just put it anywhere you think the string sounds and feels good when you play it. Remember though, every string has its limits to how high or low it can be tuned . But also remember we are making our own rules here and working outside the box of convention .
Step 2 Add The Adjacent String (Fifth String)
Play strings 6 and 5 together and adjust string 5 either up or down to find a note that sounds good with string 6. Notice I am not getting you to start off on some standard tuning or teaching you open tuning basics , this is pure instinct and I want to connect your ear to your tuning creation .When you hear string 5 lock into a note that sounds good with string 6….sounds good to you then leave it. You have to decide. There will be lots notes that sound cool , you will just have to make a choice . As you tighten and loosen string 5 you will hear different notes lock in with different strength’s. The tuning you choose for this note will set up the possibilities for the next string tuning and so on and so on .
Trust yourself when you hear something that you like. You will hear the two notes ring and lock-in together into something interesting . Remember you are making up this tuning , you are the one that decides what sounds good in this tuning, your decision making process is the thing that will create this.
Step 3 Adding The Third Note Building A Character
Repeat the same thing playing strings 6 5 4 . Every note you add will relate to the notes you have already tuned. So now the sound you create is getting thicker, and possibly more complicated. The two ways to listen, are play each string note 6 5 4 one at a time, then play strings 6 5 4 as one string . The character of the tuning you are creating is starting to build . Every note you add will add/change its character. Every string note you have set in place will help you with the next note you choose . There are lots of possibilities, and lots of different character and feel that you can choose . There is no right or wrong here , you are the creator.
This is a good place in this article to mention feel, because every open tuning will feel different, just as every chord you play feels different .
Step 4 Tuning The Rest Of The Strings Deciding On The Flavor
Repeat the same steps with string 6 5 4 3, then strings 65432, then 654321
You have now finished an open tuning, it might be an original, it might be a standard open tune . In step 7, I will show you how identify it officially.
Step 5 Experiment And Observe Chord Flavors With Simple Shapes
With the new tuning you have created, try finding some new flavors by selecting one string to change from the tuning while you strum all the strings together. put simply, strum and re tune one string, as you strum. One note change in any tuning direction can make a huge shift.
The difference one note can make is incredible it can change the total feel of the tuning . This is a rabbit hole of the possibilities. The possibilities are actually endless, it’s really fun and a great way to develop your musical ear.
Step 6 Inventing Chords In The New Tuning
With your new tuning experiment lets mess around with simple one and two finger chord shapes to see what sounds cool. First , strum around on your new open tuning pattern, and then add one finger at a time any single note . You will find some notes fit really well , and some don’t. Now try adding an extra finger to that . Work in singles and pairs . The positions that work for these simple chords will also be the start of new scales for this tuning. You can start to map notes to improvise around
Some conventional chord shapes might work others will not, keep it simple to start off with you will be surprised at some of the cords you invent in these newly created open turnings.These tuning s and chords can be incredibly powerful and resonant . Open turnings have a unique sound and can’t be emulated in standard tune most of the time.
Step 7 Identify Your New Tuning And New Chords
To see what chords you have just created, play each note string by string into a chromatic tuner then look up the notes
you have taken from your open tuning chord to find out what chord you have just made. Try this link https://www.scales-chords.com/chord-calculator.phph
Open Tuning s That Already Exist If you run your tuning through the chord calculator and find you haven’t invented anything new or you have just come up with open G tuning for example then…. congratulations . Don’t be disappointed it just means you have a great ear by plucking a known tuning from the air.
Another Method
Tune your guitar to a standard open tuning and then try experimenting with random string ed-tuning as in step 5 to find different flavors .
Things To Take Into Account
String Tension
Be careful not to over tighten too much and go beyond the string tension range, it’s pretty easy to break strings doing this. Every string on your guitar has its own tension range, if you go outside of this range it’s easy to snap a string or the string will be turned to low to make any useful sound at all . After you break a few strings you will be able to tell just by how tight the strings feel as to how close to breaking point you are . Remember too that if you tighten your guitar to ridiculous tensions and leave it for a long time, you may end up with one banana neck warped thing of a guitar….this can be more a problem for acoustics than electrics.
Unison Tuning’s With Strings
Don’t forget You can tune two strings to the same note together . Each string will cause it’s unison string to vibrate in sympathy which gives them both a unique sound and can be a powerful tool for playing melody riffs. These notes really ring when you play unison strings together, and is impossible most of the time to emulate in standard tune, or even with effects .
String Gauges
You can restring your guitar to unusual gauges depending on what tuning s you invent . Once you invent a new tuning observe the different tension you have on each string then customize your string gauges to match this new tuning . String gauges , which is string thickness, relates to how much tension is on that particular string . Now we are in the world of changing string tension, we can customize string gauge if we want !
Limitations of The Guitar Nut When Using Different Gauges The guitar nut at the top of the neck has specific spacing’s for string thickness.This may limit how creative you get with using different string gauges unless you wish to make permanent changes by filing the nut to suit.
Good Luck
Enjoy Mark