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It's great fun to experiment with single-string alterations. They instantly mess up all your normal chord shapes, but
not so drastically that you can't figure out where you are. And if you don't like the sound, it is easy to make a small
adjustment and try something different. 'It's All Over Now, Baby Blue' has a capo at IV and the bottom string two
tones down.
Open Tunings
An open tuning is one where the strings have been tuned to the notes of a major or minor chord. This means that
when you lay a finger across the neck, the barre creates another chord. The other fingers can then add notes to that
chord. In an open minor tuning, a major chord can be played by identifying the string(s) tuned to the third and
putting a finger on that string one fret up.
Open major and minor tunings have certain things in common. For example, the chord on which the tuning is based
will repeat itself at the 12th fret. Chord IV is played as a barre at the fifth fret, and chord V as a barre at the seventh.
These, in combination with the open strings, will give you the three-chord trick. Minor open tunings are the same,
except IV and V will be minor. The fifth, seventh and 12th frets will also provide resonant harmonics.
Open G – D G D G B D – is a popular tuning, favoured by Keith Richards, that is suited to both electric and acoustic
uses. You can hear open G on 'Blackbird', 'That's The Way' (a semitone lower at open Gb) and 'Black Country
Woman'. Since the root note is on the fifth string, some players don't bother to tune the low E down to D but find it
more useful to leave it as is. Another option would be to tune the bottom string up three semitones to G. A tone
(whole step) higher, open G becomes open A – E A E A C# E – a tuning favoured by electric slide players. But be
careful, as this increases tension on the neck.
Open D – D A D F# A D – is a tuning used by Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan on Blood on the Tracks, and in its electric
version of open E – E B E G# B E – by Ron Wood. Open D has a deeper sound than open G because the root note is
on the