Using Alternate Tunings

It’s true that someone could spend their whole life mastering standard tuning on the guitar. With it’s access to comfortable chord shapes, and melodic pathways, it is a very logical choice. I have several other favorite tunings that I like to use when I write my songs. The one I have gotten the most use out of in the last year is the "EADGAD" tuning, that I first noticed in several Sarah McLachlan songs. To achieve this tuning, you tune the little "E" string down to "D", using your open D string as a reference. After that, tune your "B" string down to "A", using your open "A" as a reference. Since I have gotten so much use out of this tuning, I thought it might be fun to share some of the chords it offers with you!

The benefit of this tuning is that it takes fewer fingers to get some really lush chords. The sound is a unique hybrid of standard and "DADGAD" tunings, with access to some of the best attributes of both. Here are some of the chords that I like to use while I am in "EADGAD" tuning. First we will start by using familiar shapes and see how they sound different when your guitar is tuned to "EADGAD".

Beyond that, there are some other shapes that lend themselves well to the tuning. You may find that some of the chords sound better if you pick each note one at a time, while others lend themselves to strumming.

Many of the sweet sounding chords in the tuning require only one or two fingers, leaving the other fingers free to add melody to the chord. This is particularly effective when the two extra fingers alternate between fretted and open strings. I hope you get as much enjoyment out of this tuning as I have!

Enjoy!