What is your favorite tuning to play in and why ????

[Dr. Scottie C]

What is your favorite tuning to play in and why ????

[gardo]

I prefer standard tuning ,probably because I feel it is the most versatile.

I have played around with other tunings but keep coming back to what I know best

[BryceS33]

Drop B and C# standard are my two faves. Honestly, I think its because of my musical taste. I listen to a lot of low tuned post rock/metal. Plus, if you want, you can bring the brootz all day everyday.

[kayd_mon]

Hmmm... Well, other than standard, I'll use drop-D sometimes. Fun for both chunky riffing and some cool fingerpicking stuff that lets you use a bass note you ccan't always reach in standard. I always wanted to give Fripp's NST a try, but I never really have.

[billybilly]

Other than standard it's open G but probably just because I'm familiar with it.  It does sound quite beautiful though.  I played "That's The Way" by Zepplin just this morning.

[DeadNight Warrior]

Just standard E for me, or the same with a low B for my 7-strings.

 

I've pretty much always played standard E, except for a few years when I was tuning it all down (so, standard D or C# or whatever). So those intervals are what I'm really used to, and how I'm used to thinking of the fretboard. Anything outside of standard does my head in. Even just drop D... breaks my brain.

[Burgess]

Standard because that's how I learned to play.

[docjeffrey]

I use so many turnings these days--I don't even know the names of them. I use a Spider capo all up and down the neck playing both in front of it and behind it. I often use it with a full capo or a second spider.

My Baritone is tuned a e a d f# b (dropped a).

My favorite is standard with a spider capo on the 5th fret so it's 005050 (spider legs on second string, 5th fret, and 4th string, 5th fret). I play chords and notes on both sides of the capo.

I recorded dozens of songs last year and put together an album of the 12 best. Only one of them was in standard tuning.

[kayd_mon]

@mnhhngbfs
The singer will notice for sure, unless it's you!

@docjeffrey
The spider capos work pretty well, then? I've been interested in checking them out.

[BydoEmpire]

Standard, I've just spent waaaay more time with it and it's a lot more comfortable.  It's also easier for me to learn on because I'm building on existing knowledge.

I used to do some tunes in open G and open D, but it's been a while.  I like playing in open tunings, it's just not a priority. 

[mistersully]

my favourite(s)

open g

dadgad

open d

standard

 

in that order

[DaveAronow]

Tuning is overrated.

I like to do my own thing, create my own sound.

Why try to sound like everyone else?

My method is to get the guitar as physically out of tune as possible and just start wailing.
Also, the LOUDER the better seems to be the most effective with this method.
It must really sound great to others as well because of all the instant interest and wonder the sound creates.
People tend to drop whatever they are doing and just stop and stare in what I can only assume is their astonishment and amazement on how awesome I am.

For those of you that feel like you have the proper ball mass to try this, I'll share the best way to achieve the maximum outoftunedness. Simply detune the string until it is flopping around on the fretboard like a baby harp seal just after the first whack with the club, but before all the life is beat out of him. You know, like if you turn the guitar sideways, the strings will actually sag a little. Repeat that with accrue other strings and you are good to go. It wouldn't hurt either if you actually did have a baby harp seal with you that you can really bludgeon in real life as his screams will actually add to the otherworldly awesomeness of the sounds you are creating.

Oh well, guess the cat is out of the bag now.

So much for doing my own thing. Everybody will be doing it now.
Guess I'll have to do something new like removing the strings entirely or something.

[MDLMUSIC]

All of my guitars are in standard tuning, except my cheap 3/4 size nylon string acoustic. I removed the G string and tune it DADXAD, the X being the missing string. So now it's a glorified dulcimer, great for random noodling with bass string droning.

[Harvester1199]

C standard, because it s heavy as F@CK

[BydoEmpire]

My method is to get the guitar as physically out of tune as possible and just start wailing.

Also, the LOUDER the better seems to be the most effective with this method.

It must really sound great to others as well because of all the instant interest and wonder the sound creates.

---

 

Awesome. I actually did laugh out loud at that.

Louder is always better, right?  I mean, how can less be more?  More is more!

[chipwich]

It depends on who I'm trying to cover.  The last couple weeks it's been half step down for Alice In Chains, but this week standard and drop D for some Gary Clark Jr. songs.  When I was working on finger picking style, I learned 4 or 5 of Michael Chapman's compositions (highly recommended), and it was all custom tuning.  Needed a lot of help finding those.  A few weeks ago I was working on Pearl Jam's Daughter,  which is open G with the 6th string also tuned up to G.  That's a fun song, but the neck on my Breedlove started to do weird things.  So I ditched that one.

My guitar playing friend used to critically call alternate tuning "cheater tuning", but I hear that he's been playing a lot of open E stuff lately.  The cheater