Introduction to Open G Tuning
Alternate tunings are a great way to break out of the box and explore new ideas on the guitar.
Open tunings are a type of alternate tuning which involve tuning the open strings of the guitar to the notes of a specific chord. In this case, a G chord.
Open G Tuning is used most famously by Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, but it is also used by bands like the Black Crowes and many more. It’s great for blues and rock based playing as well as slide guitar.
Tuning the Guitar
To tune your guitar to open G tuning you need to retune the open strings to match the notes that exist within a G Major chord. The 3 notes that you’ll find in a G Major are G, B and D.
Low to high, Open G is:
D G D G B D
To achieve this, tune the Low E down to a D and the A down to a G.
The D, G and B strings remain the same, but the high E also gets tuned down to a D.
Root Notes
With the strings re-tuned, the position of your root notes will also move.
Typically, you’d take your root notes for most scales and chords off the Low E string as you’ve probably done so already, but Open G has a slight quirk. In this tuning, you should view the G (Formerly the A) string as the root string.
The Low D is an extension that exists below the root. Many Open G players, Keith Richards included, will remove the Low D string from their guitar altogether.
All the root notes you might have learnt in standard tuning have now been moved up by a distance of 2 frets.
Major Chords
The great thing with open tunings is that the open strings equate to a major chord. In this case you can play major chords with just 1 finger.
If you strum the strings open, you get a G Major chord. If you barre across the 5th fret, you get a C major, and the 7th fret gives you a D Major. This is true all along the length of the guitar, just focus on the position by choosing your root on the G.
This allows you to easily create chord progressions and move chords with little effort required.
6sus4 Chords
A great alteration to chords in Open G tuning is the 6sus4 chord. This is the chord that Keith Richards uses a lot to achieve his specific sound, but it is quite a common chord in Open G.
If you’ve learnt Min7 chords in standard tuning, you’ll notice the shape is exactly the same, however, with the strings being re-pitched the interval structure changes which gives us a different chord.
A great use for this is to alternate between Major and 6sus4 chords in different rock rhythms.
Pentatonic Scales
Another thing that changes in Open G is the shape of your Pentatonic scale. As you’ll be moving all the notes on the strings that were tuned E, A and E up by 2 frets. This puts the scale into a shape that isn’t that intuitive to solo with.
A great tip you can use to start is to just focus on the D, G and B strings because they haven’t changed from Standard tuning. Whatever key you’re playing it, use your scales on those 3 strings as if you were playing in that key in standard tuning.