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Looper's Delight
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"Honestly, I don't see a world of possibilities in switching tunings. Sure, there's a big ringing resonance that one can get with unisons or open octaves, but that already sounds played out to my ears unless the composition is a good one. If you go on YouTube and watch the scores of open-tuned solo guitar players, you'll see the easy temptations they fall into - basing everything on a pedal note on the lowest open string, sliding around the same chord position on the low strings with the high ones ringing out, hitting the 12th and 5th fret harmonics compulsively in every damn tune - because those tricks sound good, at an average and tired level of good." First of all, watching Youtube too much will rot your brain (unless of course you are watching my stuff :). Secondly, exploring open tunings is like anything else, ruts can develop, writers block can ensue. Like you I find most fingerstlye music a bit boring and same sounding, and yet I don't feel like that about Michael Hedge's Music, or John Fahey, or early Will Ackerman. I don't find Joni Mitchell boring and she uses more open tunings than all of us combined :) good writing is good writing, bad writing is bad writing regardless of the tuning, instrument or style. I just read an interview with Joe Bonamassa where he quoted Tom Dowd as saying playing slide in open tunings is cheating. Cheating what? Is Sonny Landreth cheating because he uses open tunings, or Duane Allman for that matter when he wrote "little Martha"? I play slide in standard tuning and in alternate tunings. I can get around pretty good both ways but I prefer using alternate tunings for slide because they simply give me a bigger fuller voice and some drone options, not to mention the ability to play 6 note chords with the bar. Give me a break Tom Dowd, or better yet come over to my house and show me how much better you can play it. Fucking producer, Lee Sklar has a switch on his bass made for guys like you :) I have a tune I wrote with a chord I call E Major Tendonitis in it, because in standard tuning, it requires holding a 5 fret reach through the entire verse section. The intervals in standard tuning are stacked as follows R534R2, that would be open E, B on the 5th string (2nd fret), G# on the 4th string (6th fret), A on the 3rd string (2nd fret), E on the 2nd string (5th fret), and F# on the 1st string (2nd fret). Ouch...Its torture to play on a strat, but I found a way to re voice it in drop D that makes playing the tune less painful. Now I can actually play the tune without cramping and I like it pitched down a whole step any way, as it brings out more low end. Now I may not impress the kinds of guitar fanatics who are impressed by torturous fingerings and virtuoso playing but I don't really care, if it works for the song that's the most important thing, not how hard it is to play. And besides, I find most virtuoso guitar music pretty boring, as its like listening to someone who won't stop talking, ever... Actually, using open tunings has served to influence my playing in standard tuning as I am more likely to use more impressionistic minimal chord voicing's that utilize open strings as a result of my exploration of alternate tunings. Alternate tunings are like another group of crayons in the crayon box. I don't know about you, but I'm happy to get my hands on as many crayons as possible. Bill