DETUNINGS
@ the expressway
to yr skull
tune 6th string down to D, 3rd string
up to A. Hold down ADA strings to make power chord, as well as DAD strings.
Used by Pavement, among others. The slacker's tuning.
tune 1st and 6th strings down to D.
Very popular acoustic 'D' tuning.
Pronounced 'dadgad', this is another folk tuning. Tune down.
Called Low-C, this is another folk tuning. The 6th string
is tuned all the way down to C, which gives a nice contrast with the normal-sounding
other strings.
My favourite open D tuning, good for
accoustic and slide. Tune down, not up!
The open G tuning. Used by everyone
who plays slide, slightly altered versions used by Pavement and Sonic Youth.
Slightly perverse Stephen Malkmus folk-style
tuning. Tune 1st down to D, 3rd up and 6th down.
Looks weird written down, but this
is yer basic nu/trash-metal tuning, as used by Slipknot et al. Tune all
the strings down one step (2 notes), then tune the 6th string down an extra
step. Play the same way as drop D, just with more distortion!
Tune 1st down to D. Change 2nd string
to a different gauge, such as .010 and tune to an E, or alternatively just
tune 2nd string down to E, but it will flap around loosely like a sitar
string. Tune 5th down to G. Play power chords on GDG strings, leaving the
low E string open. Used by Sonic Youth on most the of more 'rock' songs.
Complete thrash tuning. Tune 1st down
to B, 2nd down to E (or just swap 1st and 2nd strings around). Tune 3rd
down to F#. 4th up to F#. 5th down to F#. 6th up to F#. Hold down all four
F#s to make a massive one-note chord. Play with maximum distortion. Used
on most of the really heavy SY songs.
This is a pretty daft tuning. Tune
all the strings down except the 6th. Hold down either the three G#s or
the three Es and let the open three strings ring out. Used in SY's 'The
Expressway to yr Skull'.
Tune 1st down to B, 2nd down to A,
3rd down to E, 4th up to E, 5th up to A. Used by SY's Lee Ranaldo quite
a bit. Power chords readily accessible by holding down low four strings,
with or without open strings. For example a nice chord would be 12-0-0-12-X-X.
Pretty whacked Pavement tuning as used
by Stephen Malkmus (although not Spiral Stairs). Tune 1st down to B, 5th
down to G.. For the 6th string you tune all the way down to a C. The middle
GDG strings form a power chord.
This is my 'rock' tuning, basically
tune all the strings down, except for the 3rd string which goes up one
note to a G#. Essentially this means you can play power chords easier,
and higher up/down the neck.
Similar to the above. Slighter better-sounding
tuning, though, I think. Just tune down the 5th and 6th strings two notes.
Vaguely sitary tuning, as used by Beck
on 'Black Hole'. Sounds nice just played open.
The 'E' tuning. Tune 3rd up one note,
and 4th and 5th up two notes to E and B. Common tuning for slide guitar,
and also used by Phoebe out of 'Friends'. No, really.
Sonic Youth tuning, this really needs
the 1st and second strings changed to a heavy gauge, or it sounds a bit
odd. Tune 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th down, and tune the 6th string up
to F#. Used a lot on the early stuff, most notably on 'Schizophrenia'.
Originally a folky style tuning, chords
played (for example) 5-5-7-5-5-7 or simplified just 5-5-7 sound very evil.
All strings tuned down, including the 6th string which is really
low. Similar tuning used by Conrad Keeley out of ...Trail of Dead.
I think this is my own invention. Tune
strings down low, low, low. Swap the 1st string for a 2nd string gauge
or leave it as is for a sitary sound.
The Koto tuning, as used by Melt Banana's guitarist. Tune
all strings up, except the 1st string, which you tune down to C#. AEA forms
a power chord, and playing the open strings arpeggiated plays a melodic
scale.
Jimmy Page's tuning on 'Bron yr Aur Stomp' - an excellent
F open tuning. Tune all strings down to the note, except for the 1st string
which goes up one semitone to F.
DETUNINGS @ www.daydreamnation.co.uk/expressway