Open G-seems to not be too handy for minor chords

[blowtorch]

So I recently have been getting some into using open G tuning. I am appreciating the way this tuning resonates and makes some things just so much easier. But it seems like for anything involving minor chords, stadard tuning might be better. I mean, you can strangle out a minor in a guitar tuned to open G, but it seems relatively pretty awkward. I'd like to hear others' opinions on this.

[jazztele]

A lot of folks who play in open G well will trim their chord voicings down to just two or three notes.

[FMA]

Ones and fives are your friends. Thirds not so much. If you're playing slide, you can pull the Sonny Landreth trick of fretting the flatted third behind the slide.

[gtroates]

The voicings may not cover all six strings, but if you use the first, second, third and fourth strings of open G tuning you can get all the minor forms you would need:

Am ---2---
---1---
---2---
---2---

Cm
---1---
---1---
---0---
---1---

Dm
---3---
---3---
---2---
---3---

Em
---2---
---0---
---0---
---2---

Gm
---5---
---3---
---3---
---5---

Most of these are not slide chords, but you can get them with your fingers.

A classic Doo-wop progression in open G:

G
---0---
---0---
---0---
---0---

Em7
---0---
---0---
---0---
---2---

C
---2---
---1---
---0---
---2---

D
---4---
---3---
---2---
---4---

[blowtorch]

gtroates, thank you for that. Looks like it's mostly a matter of just having to learn some new shapes.

[klasaine]

The open Am shape and the middle of a standard minor barre chord are the same in open G.

*Having said that, standard tuning is really a thing of beauty!

[Charlesinator]

I don't want to appear to be a smarty pants and sound condescending, but to make a chord a minor chord you simply flat the third. Perhaps a review of some basic theory would be of a much greater help than a new tuning. Knowing the actual notes of a chord is actually more important than the "shapes." FMA's advice concerning Sonny Landreth's "trick" is invaluable to anyone interested in playing open tuned slide guitar. Also to go in a different direction from his advice concerning "ones" and "five." While those notes are very friendly, they aren't as important in the grand scheme of things as the "thirds" and "sevenths" which are the determining factors in what a chord actually is. When playing in a band situation, the guitarist who can knows and can play these notes of a chord can stand out and or help the overall sound of the group.

[Budda]

Here's one option.

Say you're playing an A Chord like this:

-----
--2--
--2--
--2--
-----
-----

Simply move this Form 3 Frets higher, and you'll have a Rootless Am7 Chord:

-----
--5--
--5--
--5--
-----
-----

[donh]

Originally Posted by blowtorch

gtroates, thank you for that. Looks like it's mostly a matter of just having to learn some new shapes.

yup!

[Wally]

There are reasons for using various tunings, but imho, there is a reason why 'standard' tuning is just that ---'standard'. It allows the most versatility and ease of fingering over the largest number of chord changes and scale patterns, I would htink. PLease don't tell me I am wrong. I don't have time to learn a new way of playing. I use open or alternative tunings for certain applications, but as klasainenotes....standard tuning is a thing of beauty. i have to think that study of the guitar over some hundreds of years led ot the 'standard' because of its general usefulness adn facilty.
OUt of curiousity..when did 'standard' tuning become the 'standard'????

[klasaine]

No one knows for sure but there's evidence to support that in 16th cent. Spain a five-course guitar (5 sets of double stings) appeared. And then something similar in Italy (chitarra battente) at around the same time and gradually replaced the four-course instrument using the standard tuning of A, D, G, B, E - low to high. Like the top five strings of a modern guitar.

*A lot of lute music uses a sort of G and/or D type tuning i.e., lowering or raising the G string to F# or A as well as tuning the lowest string to D.