# alright, school me on open G tuning please



## puckhead (Sep 8, 2008)

I tend to be a 'shapes' player, so in standard tuning, when I have a Barre chord, I generally know what finger needs to change to get from majors to minors and 7th (the rest of it I need to think a little harder or consult chord charts). These chord shapes along with basic pentatonic stuff drives any noodling efforts.

however, I don't have enough theory to know how to change majors to minors etc when tuned D g d g b d.
I can obviously find the rest of the majors with a simple index finger moved up however many frets, but am largely lost after that. for very minor fills, I tend to stick to the groups of strings that are grouped together (top 2 down a tone, middle 2 standard, bottom two down a tone), but that's been rather limiting so far.

can anyone point me in the right direction, or give me some cheater shapes to know?


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## gtract (Jan 18, 2008)

This is a nice start: Non-Standard Tuning.... Tunings are a gas. Have fun!
Dave


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## Lester B. Flat (Feb 21, 2006)

With DGDGBD a minor 3rd is B flat. To play an open G minor you would have to fret the B string at the 11th fret. It would be practically impossible the play a full minor bar chord in that tuning because the B string has to drop 1 fret. You have enough fingers to do it with the first four strings, though.

You _could_ tune to a open minor using a B flat and then it would only take one additional finger to raise it to a major.


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

I usually play minor chords in open G like so (using a B chord as an example): 

B maj - 444444
B min - x44434

I use my middle and ring fingers to fret the 3rd, 4th and 5th strings, use the flat of my middle finger to mute the 6th, index frets the 2nd and pinkie for the 1st. Another way, which might be easier, is to use your ring finger to fret the 2nd string, pinkie for the 1st and index and middle for the 3d, 4th and 5th, again using either your index or middle finger's flat part to mute the 6th string.

It's an awkward shape to get in an out of when you're not used to it, so try a few different fingerings. Another option is to mute more strings, like:

xx443x
x4443x

You won't get as full a sound, but it's a lot easier.


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## puckhead (Sep 8, 2008)

Lester B. Flat said:


> You _could_ tune to a open minor using a B flat and then it would only take one additional finger to raise it to a major.


I am trying to use this tuning for mre slide work, so that could be an awkward transition. I may give it a shot though



hollowbody said:


> xx443x
> x4443x
> 
> You won't get as full a sound, but it's a lot easier.


That's a good solution - just use partial chords. 
I guess I could also use the D7 fingering in standard tuning (2-1-2 on tap strings) as my Am anchor and slide the up the board accordingly.

so.. there's some good ideas for the minors. what would a basic shape for a 7th chord be?
(again, my theory is definitely a weak spot)

ps... gtract, thanks for the link.


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## puckhead (Sep 8, 2008)

puckhead said:


> what would a basic shape for a 7th chord be?
> (again, my theory is definitely a weak spot).


so after sleeping on it, to attempt to answer my own question
using B as an example again, would b7 be 4 4 2 4 4 4 ?
so for a shortcut, you'd just have the powerchord shape of x x 2 4 4 4

does this make any sense?


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

puckhead said:


> so after sleeping on it, to attempt to answer my own question
> using B as an example again, would b7 be 4 4 2 4 4 4 ?
> so for a shortcut, you'd just have the powerchord shape of x x 2 4 4 4
> 
> does this make any sense?


Sort of, but I think you'd also have to drop the 2nd string as well, so like this:

442434 or x4243x

and easier way is to just full barre the chord and drop fret the 1st string 3 frets up. So you'd get:

444447

Here's a site to check out with some more info on fancier chord shapes and stuff in open G, though I tend to stick with things involving full barres, since that's what open G is for for me.


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## puckhead (Sep 8, 2008)

thank you. that's very useful.


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## Krule Music Group (Jun 12, 2009)

puckhead said:


> I tend to be a 'shapes' player, so in standard tuning, when I have a Barre chord, I generally know what finger needs to change to get from majors to minors and 7th (the rest of it I need to think a little harder or consult chord charts). These chord shapes along with basic pentatonic stuff drives any noodling efforts.
> 
> however, I don't have enough theory to know how to change majors to minors etc when tuned D g d g b d.
> I can obviously find the rest of the majors with a simple index finger moved up however many frets, but am largely lost after that. for very minor fills, I tend to stick to the groups of strings that are grouped together (top 2 down a tone, middle 2 standard, bottom two down a tone), but that's been rather limiting so far.
> ...


Here is an Open G Guitar Chord Chart
Free Open G Guitar Chord Chart | Musicians Resources


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

Krule Music Group said:


> Here is an Open G Guitar Chord Chart
> Free Open G Guitar Chord Chart | Musicians Resources


That's DADGAD, or D modal tuning. Totally different than the open G I think the OP was referring to, which is DGDGBD.


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## keeperofthegood (Apr 30, 2008)

>.< I wish you guys would give it in Hz, there is a new D each and every octave >.< and 99% of me cannot believe DADGAD all three of those D's are the same >.<


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## washburned (Oct 13, 2006)

first d is just below lo e, second is normal d and third is just below hi e


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