There's a few open tunings I've used such as open d open e open g etc.
I was trying a tuning by randomly tuning one day and there was a different sound. I read that the tuning was what's called-cross note tuning. Is there a difference between open tuning and cross not tuning. So this is the tuning I'm talking about
E A E A C E from low string to high string. It at first started as a open G Keith Richards like tuning but then there was the mysterious difference of one string...so I got out the tuner and this is what I found...the strings as described above and skip James used it...a minor open tuning ???
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Everything I have learned about music theory has been self taught from googling an idea and following it to ridiculous end-points, and I'm glad I have, I really understand a LOT now.
EAEACE is a second inversion Am open tuning also noted as Am/E. to explain instead of saying "go google for yourself"...
simplified version: a ordinary chord is 3 notes, a root note, a note that is a major 3rd (4 frets) or minor 3rd (3 frets) above the root, and a note that is a perfect 5th (7 frets) above the root note.
AC#E is A major, A, C# (+4 frets), and E (+7 frets above A)
ACE is A minor, A, C (+ 3 frets), and E (+7 frets above A)
A neat thing with string instruments is that the notes don't have to be in order, as long as all 3 are somewhere. If you throw the root note up an octave for CEA, its called the first inversion. Its still an Am chord, just written as Am/C If you throw both the first and second notes up an octave for EAC its called the second inversion and it is still an Am chord, just written Am/E.
And to make it easier on the poor folks writing music the /<letter> is often dropped since it's built in as part of the tuning/finger-pattern on a git.
That's one of the neat things about a multi-stringed instrument, as long as you have all the notes it doesn't matter if they are in the right order. ACE, AEC, CAE, CEA, EAC, ECA, are all Am chords, and extra copies of the notes just add depth, ACACEA, CAEAEC, EAEACC, all sound right!!!
In fact, that's the basis of the fingering charts for a 6 string in standard tuning, find all the notes of a chord everywhere on the fretboard, then work out which combination has all the notes and isphysically possible for a human hand.
tangent: here's an easy experiment you may want to try, take your GDg 3-string-CBG and raise the high g up to b-flat for GDBb (you won't break it)
Open G minor tuning at your service governor!. bar at any fret for minor chords, use an extra finger to play the high Bb string 1 fret higher than the bar for major chords.
I tuned my 6 string Baritone Dulcitar to Drop C using a 1-5-1-5-1-1 setup. Most 6 string Open tuning's for slide have at least 2 root/1 notes, a fifth/5, a third/3 and sometimes a forth/4 or seventh/7. But do what you feel or think sounds good because we need different flavors.
I prefer to have a fifth in there. Probably from my Rock Power Chord days which is always a Root/1 - Fifth/5 - and Root/1 an octave higher like you find on most CBG's. But it's nice to do something different now and then.
Something I did on my 4 string was tune it A/D/G/B( since that's the strings I use anyway) and use a slide on the D/G/B strings and picking the A open as a droning note. Worked well.
Oily said 'purists' don't consider power chords to be proper chords - there are plenty of non-purists that just accept them anyway...
Technically two notes played together is a dyad, so G and D are the root and fifth degree of the scale, then we stick the octave on top to get GDG - the result is not technically a chord according to music theory, but *is* a chord in practical terms. Kind off the exception that proves the rule I guess...
Whenever you hear two notes together the interval between them will give the sound a certain colouring or feeling - for example, root + major 3rd sounds 'happy', root + minor thirds sounds 'sad', root + dominant 7th sounds 'expectant' or 'bluesy' etc. How you interpret the sound is a bit subjective of course, but I believe is the same for most people. This relationship between musical intervals is the basis for constructing chords and what makes them sound different.
An interval of root + 5th (our 'power chord') has a neutral feeling that often acts as a sort of musical bulking agent to fatten the sound up without adding any additional colouring. This is why you find the 5th included in the construction of most chords.
You know how you can play most songs on a GDG guitar by just sliding your 1 finger barre up and down the neck? You can get all the right chords for your song and don't need to worry about major or minor or any of that stuff, but the result is kinda simple sounding (not necessarily a bad thing...)? It's because all those power chords don't have the extra notes to colour them in. Like food with no seasoning. Or a black & white picture.
(Not everyone likes too much seasoning of course, we all have different tastes. And monochrome photos are often quite striking and dramatic.)
GDG is neither major or minor - it is neutral. Remember how JL said a chord is built from 3 notes? GDG only has 2...
To make it major or minor you have to add the 3rd degree of the scale - either B for major or Bb for minor (a minor third is a semi-tone flat from the major third).
Replies
Corrected version, thank you sharecropper for the catch...
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Everything I have learned about music theory has been self taught from googling an idea and following it to ridiculous end-points, and I'm glad I have, I really understand a LOT now.
EAEACE is a second inversion Am open tuning also noted as Am/E. to explain instead of saying "go google for yourself"...
simplified version: a ordinary chord is 3 notes, a root note, a note that is a major 3rd (4 frets) or minor 3rd (3 frets) above the root, and a note that is a perfect 5th (7 frets) above the root note.
AC#E is A major, A, C# (+4 frets), and E (+7 frets above A)
ACE is A minor, A, C (+ 3 frets), and E (+7 frets above A)
A neat thing with string instruments is that the notes don't have to be in order, as long as all 3 are somewhere. If you throw the root note up an octave for CEA, its called the first inversion. Its still an Am chord, just written as Am/C If you throw both the first and second notes up an octave for EAC its called the second inversion and it is still an Am chord, just written Am/E.
And to make it easier on the poor folks writing music the /<letter> is often dropped since it's built in as part of the tuning/finger-pattern on a git.
That's one of the neat things about a multi-stringed instrument, as long as you have all the notes it doesn't matter if they are in the right order. ACE, AEC, CAE, CEA, EAC, ECA, are all Am chords, and extra copies of the notes just add depth, ACACEA, CAEAEC, EAEACC, all sound right!!!
In fact, that's the basis of the fingering charts for a 6 string in standard tuning, find all the notes of a chord everywhere on the fretboard, then work out which combination has all the notes and is physically possible for a human hand.
tangent: here's an easy experiment you may want to try, take your GDg 3-string-CBG and raise the high g up to b-flat for GDBb (you won't break it)
Open G minor tuning at your service governor!. bar at any fret for minor chords, use an extra finger to play the high Bb string 1 fret higher than the bar for major chords.
I tuned my 6 string Baritone Dulcitar to Drop C using a 1-5-1-5-1-1 setup. Most 6 string Open tuning's for slide have at least 2 root/1 notes, a fifth/5, a third/3 and sometimes a forth/4 or seventh/7. But do what you feel or think sounds good because we need different flavors.
I prefer to have a fifth in there. Probably from my Rock Power Chord days which is always a Root/1 - Fifth/5 - and Root/1 an octave higher like you find on most CBG's. But it's nice to do something different now and then.
Something I did on my 4 string was tune it A/D/G/B( since that's the strings I use anyway) and use a slide on the D/G/B strings and picking the A open as a droning note. Worked well.
A-D-G-B
That's the nefarious "Gang of Four" tuning! Also known as double dropped E (or, "where in the hell did I put those E strings I was saving?").
Kewl thing about it is that most of your 6-banger middle chord shapes still work, and you can retune the G down to F# for even more versatility.
Can do a lot of Billy Gibbons stuff.
I agree.
Oily said 'purists' don't consider power chords to be proper chords - there are plenty of non-purists that just accept them anyway...
Technically two notes played together is a dyad, so G and D are the root and fifth degree of the scale, then we stick the octave on top to get GDG - the result is not technically a chord according to music theory, but *is* a chord in practical terms. Kind off the exception that proves the rule I guess...
Whenever you hear two notes together the interval between them will give the sound a certain colouring or feeling - for example, root + major 3rd sounds 'happy', root + minor thirds sounds 'sad', root + dominant 7th sounds 'expectant' or 'bluesy' etc. How you interpret the sound is a bit subjective of course, but I believe is the same for most people. This relationship between musical intervals is the basis for constructing chords and what makes them sound different.
An interval of root + 5th (our 'power chord') has a neutral feeling that often acts as a sort of musical bulking agent to fatten the sound up without adding any additional colouring. This is why you find the 5th included in the construction of most chords.
You know how you can play most songs on a GDG guitar by just sliding your 1 finger barre up and down the neck? You can get all the right chords for your song and don't need to worry about major or minor or any of that stuff, but the result is kinda simple sounding (not necessarily a bad thing...)? It's because all those power chords don't have the extra notes to colour them in. Like food with no seasoning. Or a black & white picture.
(Not everyone likes too much seasoning of course, we all have different tastes. And monochrome photos are often quite striking and dramatic.)
To make it major or minor you have to add the 3rd degree of the scale - either B for major or Bb for minor (a minor third is a semi-tone flat from the major third).
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