Chords for Sound Advice: Myles Kennedy - Using Open G Guitar Tuning

_ [C] _ _ _ [G] _
What's happening?
I'm Miles Kennedy and this is [C] Sound Advice.
Here we are.
We're going to talk about [G] altered tunings or one in particular, Open G,
which I get asked about a fair amount because a lot of the songs that I've written
or collaborated with, in particular with Alter Bridge, with Mark, with Mark Tremonti,
we've written a fair amount of songs in Open G.
It's a favorite.
So I want to go into that, a little bit of detail as to what that is.
So you probably started on standard like I did and then you get a little crazy
and you go, I'm going to tune it down a half step so the strings are easier to bend.
And then drop D and then you're getting into the heavy stuff.
But then after a while, you see that you need some inspiration.
[Dm] You need to kind of mix it up a little bit.
You get locked into your patterns and your shapes
and your go-to's as a guitarist.
So open tunings are good to break you out of that.
And also they're really great for just the overall [Eb] vibe of a chord progression or [G] riff or whatever it is.
And I'll tell you what it is that makes it so appealing to so many of us is that there's a drone.
Because if you play, say, in Open G, I can stay in G major or I can even get fancy and go modal,
like G Lydian, to a degree.
And there's those droning qualities.
Because you can keep those strings ringing, you know?
_ [G] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ [G] It's cool, right?
So you're like, alright, well, I'm interested.
Maybe you are.
_ [D] So here's what it is.
Instead of your standard tuning, you start with your low E string going to a D.
You're going to tune that to D.
Then we go to what was the A string.
Now that is [B] now the G string.
D string [D] stays the same.
D.
And then G [G] stays the same.
And [B] then we go to B.
B stays the same.
And finally, instead of E, [D] drop it down to D.
Now, one thing I want you to keep in mind is that [B] the B string [G] is now the major third of that.
It's a G chord.
Basically, all those notes, G, G, and then B, [B] B.
That's the major [D] third.
And then you have D.
[G] Three places in that tuning.
So the major third, you're going to want it to be a little bit flat.
When you tune this thing, if you have it spot on at B natural, drop it just a tad.
Actually, what I do is I just play the chord and then I tune it down just a little until it stops bouncing around.
If you try and keep it at just regular B, it's going to sound out of tune.
It's going to be weird.
So now you get to strum the guitar and you have a chord.
It's very easy, right?
I have a G chord.
You can now move.
You can take your index finger.
[Ab] Now you have a G [A] sharp.
So A.
[C] It just keeps going, right?
_ Obviously, I'm not [Em] going to do that because what's the point of having all those nice [G] open strings?
I'm going to play parts of the chords.
A lot of times I'll think, okay, so here's your one chord, the G.
And then you can go up one, two, three, four, to the fifth fret and play the four [C] chord.
But instead of, you could do that _ _ or you can make it a little interesting.
So it's got those notes ringing out.
It gets [D] real rich harmonically.
And then you go to the five.
Just move it up two frets, right?
_ _ _ [G]
So [C] what that is is just go up to the fifth fret on the G string, what is now the G string.
[G] And then skip two strings.
Leave those ringing open, your D and your G.
[Em] And then ring finger on the [C] fifth fret on the B string.
And then move that [G] up two frets. _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ And that's another fun thing that you can do is take the harmonics on _ the twelfth fret.
But it's definitely on the seventh [G] and the fifth fret. _ _
_ _ _ _ You can just have fun with it.
So that is open G and that is a very basic explanation [D] of how to utilize that in your world.
But have fun with it.
It was a big deal [F] for me when I stumbled onto it through a friend who helped me go down the open tuning,
step into the open tuning world.
And I've never really looked back since.
I've used it tons.
And it'll probably be something I'll continue to venture into as the years go on.
Because I find that every time I mess around and utilize some of these open tunings,
it's just a whole lot of fun and a lot of songs are born that way.
So hopefully this helped and hopefully this [G] will give you some ideas for your own songs and your own concepts.
Have fun.
Miles Kennedy.
[D] Peace out.
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