So glad that Nick Drake was included. So under appreciated and so many beautiful songs

"What does 'Sweet Child O' Mine' sound like in the New Standard Tuning?" King Crimson. It sounds like King Crimson.

The Nick Drake tuning is the “Pink moon” tuning.

As ever, Nick Drake wins the day. So magickal, even an open strum sounds sublime.

Love Nick Drake’s tunings. He also played in BEBEBE tuning for “From the Morning” and “Northern Sky”

Thanks for the inclusion of Nick Drake. A creative genius, near impossible to replicate.

Brilliant comment at the end and so very true. Put the guitar in a strange tuning and just start exploring. That’s how I started almost sixty years ago. I played for nine months in an open “A” tuning before I came across a guy who showed me what standard tuning was. I thought he was crazy. LOL

One of my favourite tunings is what Jimmy Page used on the Rain Song : DGCGCD

Thanks so much for the nick drake, and equally thankful for the Mayfield, such a huge influence on so many great guitar players

This is possibly my favorite Reverb video ever. I honestly don’t remember how I got into alternate tunings (I think just fiddling with the tuning heads and growing up on so much blues 🤷🏼‍♂️), but I’ve found more and more of my very favorite musicians over the years have gone down this road. Keef, of course, Nick Drake and Joni Mitchell as you mention here, Richie Havens. No shortage of these sorts of pure explorers, and as Joe touches on, there’s something very *essential* (in every meaning of the word) to music in just stepping into the unknown and being led. Love it, love it, love it! 😄❤️

Yes Joe! Always the best topics!

Hey Joni, put it all behind you , Hey Joni, now I've put it all behind me too...

Pavement, Sonic youth, led Zeppelin...

Nick Drake- yes! Also should check out Tallest Man on Earth

The Fripp tuning is a “modified” cello tuning. Lots of fun.

Love the tuning from The Cure’s “Open” G-Bb-F-G-Bb-Bb 👌👌👌

It's always interesting to hear people's take on new tunings at different skill levels. Nice Reverend.

Great vid!! 3 of my very fave artists...Joni, Curtis, Fripp.

great video, vestapol (D maj), cross string (D min), and the Drake tunings are in my top 5 tunings. My favorite however, is Guy Clark's tuning. Capo every string on the 2nd fret, except the low E. This allows you to play drop D structures (in E). What makes it better than drop D (besides not having to actually touch your tuning pegs), is being able to still play open G, as well as every barre chord.

Alternative tunings are great! So inspiring 😎👍 My fretless bass is tuned in fifths (low A, E, B, F#), my acoustic has the Nick Drake tuning, and an electric uses Fripp's New Standard Tuning but I'm at a half step lower, as that is literally a lifesaver on your high string! 🤣🤣🤣 Fifths isn't too difficult to get your head around, people have used it for ages when playing drop-D for instance 😉 I was used to it already anyway, as I also play cello and Chapman Stick...

I've been using alternate tunings for about 30 years (on acoustic), but I still picked up some helpful insights here. Very well done. Joe, consider linking up with TrueFire or a similar company to do a more extended course on this topic (yes, I'll look on the Reverb blog for more). BTW, top-quality A/V work on the part of the Reverb media team. -Tom

I have my seven string tuned to CABBAGE

Joe you are great ,your demos are super interesting,the feeling that comes through is very positive and instructive!!Keep it up!!

Great sound! That Taylor and mic sound incredible!

so much great stuff to unpack in this. thank you. this is awesome.

Thanks for sharing ! I believe you could play songs in any tuning ! Your guitar whichever you choose is like an extension of yourself as it is a veritable part of your musical life and it is obvious you have explored many uncharted journeys musically with guitar in hand through many alternate tunings ! You are an inspiration to all guitarists at any level , I can't wait to try them out ! Thanks again for waking up the guitarist that has fallen asleep in my body !

I love Fripp's tuning because I come to the guitar from the piano/keyboard and it makes so much sense in terms of layout. I would have had a much easier time learning guitar had I started with new standard tuning. It would have sucked for learning other people's music, but great for exploring compositional ideas of your own (Sweet Child 'O Mine sounded hilariously like something from Larks Tongue in Aspic and not GNR). I also really liked Joni Mitchell's tuning too. BTW that Taylor sounded beautiful.

love the riff in open Dm on "Hard Time Killing Floor Blues" you played there momentarily... awesome song

Joe. Always bringing the knowledge.

Just love your videos Joe, everything about them

Fripp's tuning makes you sound like Holdsworth without having to learn a bunch of wonky chords.

Thanks.....great job as I am just trying to expand my understanding. Love the Fripp tuning.

That guitar you're playing during the Curtis Mayfield part is really nice! I love the pickguard shape

Loved Joe's initial reaction to the Nick Drake tuning. I do the same thing.

Absolutely do more of this please. 😊

Great upload!

New Standard Tuning is awesome! I used it for a year and expanded my sound a lot. Then I switched a "mirror" tuning (CGDADG) and that symmetry is quite interesting too.

Midwest emo / math tunings FACGCE FACGBE DAEABE DAEAF#E DADF#AD To name a few

Great video I tend to use full step down standard D tuning, and DADGAD a lot, always nice to see alternatives and hear what they sound like

Joe your lessons are really great! Thank you

So good to see a decent exploration of alternate tuning . There is so much more to music than standard tuning and the same old junk played over and over, Nice work.

Great work dude!

This is wonderful. Thank you!

awsome, beautifull, it opens doors for all of us! thanks a lot!

Nice work. Joe.😁

Bit late to this, but thanks for this. Oddly I play in open F# a lot of the time (because I sing in F#) but had no idea that Curtis Mayfield used it. Big fan of the man.

Excellent video, thank you!

great choices. Great video.

I'm a huge fan of the tuning John Mayer uses for "In Your Atmosphere" and "Something's Missing." For those interested, it's E B E F# B E

You mentioned about the need to have the guitar setup for a tuning. It would have been nice to have gotten a hint of what that might entail. Thanks! Nice stuff.

I love these minor deviations from standard: "Am9" EACGBE and "6/9" EADF#BE

Great demonstration! Thanx.

Great choices on Joni, Nick, and Fripp! Steven stills and lee ranaldo would be super interesting for a part 2

Joe, congrats on a really well addressed video. Very good, thank you. The Fripp tuning takes the prize for originality, and the Nick Drake tuning sounds so different from it's kissing cousin, DADGAD. Drake's tuning is DADGAD, but all strings down a full step from that. One way to describe those tunings is a sus4. DADGAD is a Dsus4 open chord, and the Drake is Csus4. Try this one - EADGBD. It's called Fake G or Reverse Drop D, also the Memphis Minnie Tuning. It gives you the top four strings of open G while allowing you to play regular chords, power chords and blues shuffles. If you like to drop in and out of slide using open G, this is a real good one. I stumbled on it years ago and thought I "invented" it. Wrong! I saw Erin Harpe (Erin Harpe and the Delta Swingers) use it and she gave me the history. Very useful.

All sounds great!

I was actually expecting that "Sweet Child o' Mine" would magically turn into "Discipline" in the New Standard Tuning. :)

I also like Alex Lifeson's tuning for the song Hope. He uses DADAAD. Very haunting and melodic. Love it.

Learned information I needed to know. Subbed. Thank you, Man. :-) Ron

Thanks for a wonderful video - you highlighted different artists than a lot of open tuning demos I've come across and gave some nice sound examples. Could you guys consider bringing in an expert on the incredible world of Hawaiian slack key tunings? Unless Joe or Andy is already an expert... it wouldn't entirely surprise me. Also, I have to give props here to Richie Havens, who only ever used open D tuning and made an entire beautiful career out of it.

Joe is such an incredible player, wow.

excellent demonstration, thx.

Great video! Thanks.

Great vid, thank you!

Tuned to NST and damn I love it! Especially a half step down so it's B sounds awesome

This is a tuning I stumbled upon a couple of months ago and have really enjoyed using every once in a while A#F#C#FA#C (my band plays in drop A, so this is pretty easy to get to from there)

Brilliant - dont know who you are but i like you videos about tunings a lot ❤

Great video

Excellent!

I like a variation on the open D of Joni Mitchell/Skip James: open D2 - DADEAD

Daniel Rossen is amazing in using alternate tunings. Especially uncommon.

I keep a butterscotch Tele in open G in honor of Keith Richards.

You are a brave man on that guitar and your skill and understanding afford you that bravery. I'ma listen to you mo'.

Great job! Very enjoyable video! One word of caution to anyone new to open tunings. When re-tuning from open G back to standard, tighten the high E string VERY CAREFULLY! If you go too fast they break!

The weirdest tuning I’ve ever heard was from the Potent Pairings - Sonic Youth video, I still have no idea how they get those tunings but they sound awesome

If you all want some crazy tunings, check out Tim Collis from TTNG. Partial capos, switched G and B strings, you name it.

Fantastic.

Fun Vid. I love exploring open tunings. Got started chasing them trying to learn a bunch of Lindsey Buckingham songs. My current favorite is an open Amaj7sus4 that I bumped into on someone's KZfaq channel. Other artists well worth checking out that I'd recommend are Michael Hedges and virtually anything from the Slack Key Hawaiian masters!! What Fun!

one alternate tuning that I like is EAEGBE, just taking the D string and tuning it up a whole step. it's not a tuning that anybody that I know plays, I just think it's a sweet one, makes sus2/add9 voicings very accessible while still making more regular voicings a breeze :+) also minor 2nds and lydian chords like C lydian (regular Cmaj shape)

I think that open minor tuning is an excellent idea and I don't know why it isn't more common, because until today I had never given it any thought, and the more I think of it the better the idea sounds. To be able to swap between major and minor chords, and even sus chords with 1 finger and 1 or 2 frets is much easier than attempting to finger a minor chord in open major chord, because to be perfectly honest I don't know how to play a minor chord in open tuning. I know that open minor tuning probably makes slide guitar that bit more difficult but we can't have everything can we? Besides, it's still easier than playing slide in regular tuning. What a revelation open minor tuning is !! 😎👍

Great lesson, of course Open G by Keith Richards and Jimmy Page does so much! Stephen Stills has a couple of interesting tunings and Dylan on Blonde on Blonde did Drop C, low E string tuned to C.

Never used alternative tunings but this is very cool I will explore. Would have loved to hear u explore Phil Keaggy n his tunings. Thanks

Listening to Bob Dylan's "Blood on the tracks" and Joni's Mitchell's "Both Sides Now" got me into open tunings. I agree with what the guy says at the end. Forget about the theory and just explore the tuning by the sounds. If it caresses your ears, then it's good.

I'd say you picked the best people to illustrate open turnings, Joni and Nic in particular. I use open C and open D on and off to get out of a playing rut. The other tuning that's good to try is open E, same intervals as D but somehow sounds and feels very different. Finally I have just set up a guitar with a Nashville string set which is the high six strings of a 12 string set, again this sounds very melodic. Great video and lovely playing.

great vid- but a discussion of open tunings without a mention of open G??? That last tuning is crazy cool- thanks!

4:05 Hard Time Killing Floor Blues :)

AWESOME stuff! I've always dug on. Nick Drake tuning let alone Joni Mitchell etc... Btw those guitars at the end. What make are those? I need my glasses haha.

I would have mentioned Kevin Shields.

Totally different world of music, but when you started to play around with the Fripp tuning (around 10:45-ish), I immediately started to hear Sampha's 'Plastic 100 c', he even had a similar tone set on his keyboard in a couple of his live performances... Love the Nick Drake inclusion, couple of really interesting ones there (also has a couple of BEBEBE-s - what!?:D), many times he uses tunings so he can create some amazing clusters (very under-utilized thing imo). However I found the Fripp one the most beautiful tuning. Loved the math-y sounding thing at 11 mins with those amazing sounding chord!

Thank you

Awesome!!!

I use a LOT of alternate tunings (mainly open tunings). But my faves are DADF#AD (Open D), DADGAD (Dadgad), CGCGCE (Open C), DADF#BE (D6/9, I think?), EADEBE (Idk if this tuning has a name, but its a tuning I picked up from Ed Sheeran), and my all time favorite, DADEAD. Idk, I just love alt tunings.

All those are so cool.

Loved these - especially the Nick Drake one - thanks. How about a look at open G? Side two of Led Zeppelin III and a whole heap of Keith Richards tunes come to mind straight off...

nice video! kinda hurt that you didn't mention Derek Trucks, Duane Allman, Elmore etc when you mention slide playing in Open D, but I get it, it's a rabbit hole of names that you'll have omitted haha Thanks Joe!

There needs to be one of these videos for Rich Robinson. Dude is an open tuned mastermind.

Hi, great video. What Taylor model is that you are playing?

Every time I think of open tunings I mainly think of Delta Blues guitarists like Robert Johnson, Blind Blake, and Ry Cooder, and Elmore James and Johnny Winter. But when it comes to other alternative tunings, the first person I think about that I believe could have been included is Johnny Rzeznik of The Goo Goo Dolls. Although most wouldn’t consider him a guitarist more than he is a singer-songwriter, I’ve read that a lot of his material had been recorded using many various and unorthodox guitar tunings, even their most famous song “Iris”. Another guitarist I believe should have been included is Jimmy Page. Songs like “The Rain Song”, “Kashmir”, “Traveling Riverside Blues”, “In My Time of Dying”, “Bron Yr Stomp” had utilized different and unorthodox open tunings

Interesting video. I would have appreciated naming some of the tunes that the artists used these tunings on.

Joni's open D kept giving me vibes of "light and day " by the polyphonic spree.

I once brought five guitsrs on tour but I had seven tunings! At least I had them in tuning 'families', similar tunings that only require changing one string.