For Drop D, most of the open chord shapes are unaffected. Those chords that are only 4 or 5 strings are (can be) unaffected.
I say can be as you may wish to incorporate the open 6th string where it was omitted / muted in standard tuning. The most obvious example is D major. You can play open 6th and open 5th strings for a really fat (phat) sounding D chord.
A few chords need the fingering / shape to be adjusted but not by much.
Here are just four chord shapes affected by / changed for Drop D.
Thanks @Richard_close2u thatās very useful. So if I understand correctly you do need to adjust your fingering to use alternate tuning on some chords. Time to get the pen and paper and my music theory book out to work out the fingering on the various options.
As I progress through Grade 3 I get the impression that itās a selection of standalone videos that Justin had previously made on a series of topics before grade 3 was introduced and hence doesnāt flow and build in the way the earlier grades did, which would explain the lack of context. Thank goodness you are here to add that context!
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More food for thought in the playground section
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There are some open tunings where most of the standard chord shapes are a non-starter. Part of the beauty of open tunings is being able to play chords and progressions with lots of open strings ringing out and lots of octave repeats of root notes or thirds of chords etc. This concept might not be clear from Justinās introduction video lesson here - and remember it is just an introduction - because he shows in his small selection of example chords a lot of chords that use full barre or 5-string barre. Using a barre on open tunings (where all open strings actually sounds out a chord) do lend themselves to use of barres for chords too. But that is just a tiny nibble of a very small portion of the bigger picture.
Drop D and Double Drop D - small adjustments to your known chord shapes.
Open G (and A by extension) - a whole new world of chord shapes but the Keith Richards trick is a great starting point.
Open D (and E by extension) - a whole new world of chord shapes and many will use just one or two fingers.
For open D and open E try these:
For song examples ā¦
Justin name checks several Rolling Stones songs in open G.
Listen to Blood On The Tracks for open E - almost the whole album is in that tuning.
For open D listen to this: https://youtu.be/2arCRtfReIo?si=heIlXKkhxfwPY8bf
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Thanks @Richard_close2u I have just listened to the Roy Harper track, I didnāt know him so thanks for the introduction. I have Blood on the Tracks on vinyl buried in the cupboard under the stairs, I will listen to the album with new ears.
So much to learn, I sometimes feel I have started 50 years too late!
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Thanks @Socio this is the information that would be useful in the grade 3 course video, saves a lot of head scratching about āhow do I use thisā.
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No discussion of open tuning is complete without mentioning the very influential Joni Mitchell (Zepās Going to California in double drop D is inspired by and references her). All of her songs are in alternate tunings, most are unique of her own making. If youāre interested in playing her songs, her website was built and developed by her fans, starting in the very early days of the internet. Tab for all of her songs can be found there, added by her guitar playing fans over the years.
There arenāt many clips that show enough close ups of her playing to get a good sense of her mastery. This one has two songs and itās really stunning to watch her strumming/picking technique, especially on the 2nd song starting at 8:50 (unfortunately the clip is a couple of frames out of sync and she has a cold, but stillā¦): https://youtu.be/oCTnXz7Lc8E?t=352
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Just some feedback on this one: I find this lesson to be too fast, it feels more like an intermediate lesson. Iād really like to learn the most useful chord shapes in each tuningā¦ it would be great if you did a lesson for each of the most popular tunings.
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Iāve never used a minor alt tuning, but have learned Joniās Coyote (Justin has a lesson for this) which has the lowest string tuned down to C. I have a 25 yr old Martin that tends to drift from too many dry days and I donāt have a problem with it losing tune while Iām playing the song. You can get rattle from the looseness of the string if you play it, but you can also use that to effect, like in this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpsrBWOOv9U
Justin notes in the video that songs on the website can be filtered by tuning but I canāt see that option. Did this never get done?
Thanks for that. Didnāt think to look there as was looking for ātuningsā.
This bit has got me confused āTo get to Drop D Tuning, all you have to do is drop the low E down to a D.ā
I assume that means that the 6th sting is higher in pitch as the D on 4 is higher than the E on six. Is that right? May be a daft question but Iām not sure about this.
As I canāt tune a guitar by ear I have to use a tuner. Which way do i turn the tuner -clockwise or anti-clockwise?
You want to loosen the E string down in pitch 2 semitones. You want the E string one octave lower than your D string.
To drop the E down to D you would turn your tuner anti-clockwise.
Perfect thank you. All sorted.
This makes a lot of sense to me at this moment. I feel that i moved forward so fast in my firts year that there is so much i need to go back and relearn or masterā¦ Instead going off on so many shiny tangents. Its a marathon not a sprint