Step Up Your Game: 10 Alternate Guitar Tunings for Beginners

Open G tuning requires three strings to change notes. Tune the E strings down a whole step to D, and the A string down a whole step to G.

Now when you strum the guitar, you’ll play a G chord. This tuning makes the guitar resemble a banjo, except with a banjo, the low G string is a high G string and the low D is not there. You can play some banjo songs in this tuning, substituting the high G with the low G offers a new sound on some traditional banjo songs.

I primarily use this tuning for blues, folk, bluegrass, and rock, but I’m sure you can find other genres to play in this tuning. A couple of songs that use this tuning are “Poor Black Mattie” by R.L Burnside and “Death Letter” by Son House (or covered by White Stripes).

The beauty of open G tuning is that you can strum the bottom five strings together and play a melody with any of the strings as long as the note is in the key G. You can also get any major chord you like if you barre the fretboard on the corresponding right fret (the chord is based off the notes on the G strings).

If you want a minor chord, barre the fret but play a half-step lower, on the B string. Alternating between the low G and D strings gives you fun bass lines, too.

If you would like to learn more chord shapes simply look online for “banjo chord chart” and apply those shapes to the guitar in this tuning.

3. DAGAD Tuning

DADGAD is very similar to open G. For this tuning, just tune the fifth string back up to A and the B string to A. This tuning opens the door for some really neat sounding modal music.

You can play folk music, like Paul Simon’s version of “Scarborough Fair” and “Armistice Day”, some rock music like Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir“, or even nu-metal like Slipknot’s “Circle“.

4. Open D Tuning

Open D tuning requires four strings to change notes. Tune the E strings down to D, the G string to F#, and the B string to A.

Now, when you strum the guitar, you’ll get a D chord. Again, I mostly use this tuning for rural music (blues, country, bluegrass, ragtime, etc.) This tuning is also my favorite to play the slide guitar.

Go ahead and strum steadily on the low D string while playing melody notes on the high D and A strings, and tell me that’s not one of the most sultry sounds you’ve heard! A couple of my favorite songs in open D are “Blind Willie McTell” by Statesboro Blues and Bob Dylan’s “Corina, Corina“.

As with open G, you can find any major chord by barring the corresponding fret (the chord is based off the note on the D strings). If you want a minor chord, play a half-step down on the F# string.

Here are a couple of open D chords, besides barre chords, to get you started.

G7 A7
—3— —2—
—2— —0—
—1— —1—
—0— —2—
—2— —0—
—0— —2—

5. Drop C Tuning

This alternate guitar tuning requires you to drop your low E string down a  C. You’ll have to lower all six strings of the guitar to do this.This guitar tuning is similar to Drop D in that the fingerings and chords are all identical, but they sound lower and have a more bottom-heavy intonation. It’s found in a variety of genres, most notably hard rock and metal. 

6. Open C Tuning

Another popular alternative guitar tuning is open C. This will make your guitar sound open, wide, and meaty, but since you’ll be tuning your strings down several steps, the strings might rattle and have more slack than they might in standard tuning. This tuning is found in many genres, including folk and indie music. 

7. Drop B Tuning

Drop B will make your guitar sound dark and heavy, making it popular in metal and other “heavier” genres. You’ll tune your low E string down by two and a half steps, which alters the sound of the other five strings to be one and a half steps lower than standard tuning. 

8. Open E Tuning

This alternate guitar tuning offers only a slight variation from standard tuning. It changes the sound of three out of six guitar strings, letting you form an E major chord when you strum the guitar in an open position. 

You’ll tune the strings like this: E-B-E-G#-B-E.

This alternative guitar tuning is popular in folk, blues, and rock music. 

9. Drop A Tuning

Drop A tuning requires you to tune all strings down a fourth and then to turn your low E string down by an additional step, so it will look like this: A-E-A-D-F#-B. It’s popular in hard rock and heavy metal. 

10. Open A Tuning

Open A tuning is this – low to high, E A E A C# E. It is t o open G what open E is to open D. Just a whole step higher.

It’s popular for electric guitarists and gives you a sound that’s identical to a first-position A chord in standard tuning. 

Are Alternate Tunings Bad For Your Guitar?

There is a common misconception that you shouldn’t play around with alternate tunings because it can damage your guitar. While it’s true that alternate tunings – when done incorrectly – can shorten the life of your guitar strings, changing the way you tune your guitar isn’t likely to damage the guitar.

Most of these tunigns are lower in overall tension than standard tuning, so there’s not really any risk of applying more tension than your guitar can handle. Plus, you’re going to have to replace your guitar strings at some point, anyway!

So, if you’re looking to change up your sound, or just want to find a new tuning that works well for you, try out some of these alternate guitar tunings. You may be surprised at how great they sound!

I hope this gives you some new ideas on how to approach the guitar. Have fun with these alternate guitar tunings. They changed the way I think of guitar and I hope they do the same for you, especially if you’re a fan of delta blues and folk music!

If you need help with any of these alternate guitar tunings, ask your guitar teacher to go over them during your next lesson!

Want to ramp up your guitar skills at home? Try one of our free online group classes!