DGDGBD

This is a great tuning. It's an Open G chord, despite having more D notes than G notes, because G, D, B forms a G chord, regardless of how many of each note you have. I think. You'll notice many chord shapes in Open G can be transposed into Open D (DADF#AD) simply by moving them up the fretboard one string. So 002010 in Open G becomes 020100 in Open D. The chords aren't the same, just the shapes.

So here're some chord shapes for Open G. The simplest way to form a major chord in this tuning is to barre across all six strings (or as many as you can manage) at any one fret, then slide up and down the fretboard. For example 111111 is G#maj, and 222222 is Amaj. But this gets pretty boring after a couple of minutes. So here're some more weird chords, many of which can't be played similarly in Standard at all. As with standard tuning, you can use your barre finger to act as a capo. So the chord Cadd9 (000012) can be played higher up the fretboard as 222234, which makes it Dadd9.

Chord names are not fixed. Chords usually have many different names, depending on which note you consider to be the root (in G, the root note is G), and what type of progression the chords are part of. For example  007050 can be either Dadd9sus4 or A7sus4. The C 6/9 chord below could also be called D11. These chord names are for reference - I've chosen the name which is the shortest or the most obvious.

Below are some small Mp3 examples of what these chords can sound like played with distortion and played without distortion. The chords I've used are G5 (Gno3), Gsus4, Cadd9sus4 and C11, as well as those same shapes played higher up the fretboard.

DGDGBD distortion
DGDGBD clean

C is just a regular C major chord. The purple note is optional. C6 is a 6th chord, as used in a lot of Jazz. C11th is kinda weird. Cadd9 chords have an extra 9th note, and can be played in two different ways, also with a sustained 4th.

D6no3 is a regular 6th chord, but without the 3rd note, as is Dno3 and D7no3. Dno3 is really just another way of writing D5, or D5th - that is, a D power chord. It's like a regular D major chord, but without the 3rd note which give it its major sound - so the result is a two-note 'chord' which is neither major not minor.

Play the Esus4 by holding down the top 4 notes with your thumb - same with Em11. Eno3 is an E power chord. The purple note is optional - if you don't want to use it, just mute or don't strike that string.

Gno3, Gsus4 and Gno3 (G power chord) are played at the third fret. With the G7, the optional note can be played open. In the second form of Gno3, mute of don't strike the optional notes if you don't want to use them. Remember 000000, striking all strings open, is a G major chord.

Here Open G and Standard are very similar, the only difference being that the F note on the first string is at the 3rd fret, rather than the 1st.

Two barre-type chords. You can barre more string if you like, but with four I'm keeping it simple. This is just an easier version of the major chord 6-string  barre.

MOVEABLE CHORD SHAPES

The thing about this tuning is that it has moveable chord shapes with open strings. For example you can play the Gno3 shape all the way up the fretboard. The chord you'll play will change completely, but you can keep the same shape. Played as 005030 it's Gno3, but slide up three frets to 007050 it becomes A7sus4.

All chords in Open G are moveable, usually playable without creating dischordance at the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th and 8th frets. You can do this with standard tuning, but the chord shapes aren't as well suited to this.

These are some moveable chord shapes which don't use open strings. Play the first no3 chord (5th or power chord) by barring across all three strings - or you can just use two strings. The Maj is a major chord, a equivalent of an F-shape in standard tuning.

These chord names with worked out using the Guitar Chord Name Finder. You don't think I'd know all this add 9 sustained 4th stuff otherwise?
These chord charts are freely distributable. If you use them on your site, then please link back to me at www.daydreamnation.co.uk/expressway.
Download the Full DGDGBD Chord chart with all the chords on one page.
 

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