Open G tuning

Open G tuning.

Open G tuning is a tuning for guitar, such that the open strings play a G major chord with no fingering or capo.

The standard Open G tuning is D-G-D-G-B-D, low to high. Note that this leaves the D as the bottom of the chord, creating an inversion. To rectify this situation, which some guitarists feel produces an awkward, "bottom-heavy" sound, guitar players will occasionally remove the low D string from the guitar and only play with five strings. Dobros use a full six-string tuning with a bottom G: G-B-D-G-B-D, low to high. The two lowest strings are, accordingly, tuned three semitones higher for the lowest string (from E up to G) and two semitones higher for the second-lowest string (from A up to B), relative to standard tuning. Emulating the dobro tuning on a standard guitar may require lighter string gauges—though not necessarily, since the thicker gauges of the low strings tend to be sturdier and more resistant to tightening than the thinner, more fragile high strings.

The 5-String Banjo's standard tuning is also an Open G: g-D-G-B-D, where the lower case "g" denotes the highest-pitched string, physically located next to (above) the lowest-pitched string, the first upper case "D".

The Russian seven-string guitar uses an open G for its standard tuning; it progresses D-G-B-D-G-B-D, low-high.

Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones is famous for introducing the 5-string version of the open G tuning to rock music on songs such as "Brown Sugar", "Honky Tonk Women", and "Start Me Up".

External links

• Slide Guitar for Beginners