Open D Tuning, Wow!

[not darth]

When I was at GR the other day, Jim put a 12-fret through the paces for me to enjoy. 
After playing around in standard tuning, he paused and started turning the tuning machines and pretty soon he strummed a nice sounding chord, open D (D A D F# A D). 
Like I've said before, I'm a guitar newb and was not familiar with that tuning. 
Had a great, relaxed, blue-grassy sound to it, and so yesterday I put my (brother's) Norma acoustic into open D and have been messing around a bit. 
I've always considered the Norma a pretty mediocre dreadnought, but I was pleasantly surprised how good it sounded in open D, plus, with the relaxed tension the high-action is not as much of an issue. 

Was poking around on YouTube and found a neat little video about playing "Vestapol" in open D, plus I've been trying a bit of "She Talks to Angels" (Robinson/Robinson) which is played in open E, by capo'ing open D at the 2nd (according to what I've read today).  I don't have them totally figured out yet, but I'm having a blast!  (Except I broke a huge chip off my R index finger nail today, opening a drawer.    )

I'm still learning EADGBE, but I'm really excited to be experimenting with open D, it's like a whole 'nother instrument in my hands.
What fun!
 
-Kris


(Aforementioned "Vestapol" lesson on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIm84L6GPmk )

[Steely Glen]

When I was at GR the other day, Jim put a 12-fret through the paces for me to enjoy. 
After playing around in standard tuning, he paused and started turning the tuning machines and pretty soon he strummed a nice sounding chord, open D (D A D F# A D). 
Like I've said before, I'm a guitar newb and was not familiar with that tuning. 
Had a great, relaxed, blue-grassy sound to it, and so yesterday I put my (brother's) Norma acoustic into open D and have been messing around a bit. 
I've always considered the Norma a pretty mediocre dreadnought, but I was pleasantly surprised how good it sounded in open D, plus, with the relaxed tension the high-action is not as much of an issue. 

Was poking around on YouTube and found a neat little video about playing "Vestapol" in open D, plus I've been trying a bit of "She Talks to Angels" (Robinson/Robinson) which is played in open E, by capo'ing open D at the 2nd (according to what I've read today).  I don't have them totally figured out yet, but I'm having a blast!  (Except I broke a huge chip off my R index finger nail today, opening a drawer.    )

I'm still learning EADGBE, but I'm really excited to be experimenting with open D, it's like a whole 'nother instrument in my hands.
What fun!
 
-Kris


(Aforementioned "Vestapol" lesson on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIm84L6GPmk )

Kris,

I found out about open D tuning after I got hold of Mumford & Sons Sigh No More about 18 months ago.  Most of their songs are in open D, with capo 2.  It's a great tuning to noodle over top of. 

Check out this video (not sure if you're a M&S fan): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REo7VnlenOA

[DMBfan41]

+1 to this thread and a link to a Mumford & Sons vid!

[not darth]

Kris,

I found out about open D tuning after I got hold of Mumford & Sons Sigh No More about 18 months ago.  Most of their songs are in open D, with capo 2.  It's a great tuning to noodle over top of. 

Check out this video (not sure if you're a M&S fan): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REo7VnlenOA

M&S are pretty good, I don't have any of their stuff, but I hear them on our local awesome radio station, 89.3 The Current.  This is a division of MN Public Radio, and they play a LOT of local and other small and independent label artists. 

Go have a listen, if you haven't.  Probably one of the best radio stations in the country, IMO.
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/radio/services/the_current/

-K

[mescobar]

I'm a big fan of this tuning. Sounds wonderful on my DN.

[byrd]

Open D and E are a lot of fun to mess around with.  They're great for getting the juices flowing when everything starts to sound the same sometimes.  I remember learning "She Talks to Angels" a number of years ago (can't remember a lick of it anymore).  It was a lot of fun and pretty easy to learn.  I've never learned Vestapol, but I'll have to add that to my finger picking list.  I bet it's a fun one too.   First on my list right now is "Hey Hey" by Big Bill Broonzy (see 2:45 of the video), but that's in standard tuning so it's a bit off the subject.

I tend to be a bit slow getting into open D and/or E, so I don't mess around with them as much as I'd like.  If I did it more often, my ears might get a better and making the change more quickly.  As it is, I can get close by ear, but inevitably I need to break out the tuner.  I suppose what this really means is that I'm lazy!   

[Guitar Rodeo]

byrd,

Open and alternate tunings were first invented by guitar shop owners. They told their customers that they needed to learn stuff in those tunings and the simplest thing to do was to own a guitar for each tuning so you would not have to "tend to be a bit slow" getting into those tunings. Simple, non?

[DennisG]

byrd,

Open and alternate tunings were first invented by guitar shop owners. They told their customers that they needed to learn stuff in those tunings and the simplest thing to do was to own a guitar for each tuning so you would not have to "tend to be a bit slow" getting into those tunings. Simple, non?

Haha!  That's magnificently devious.

[not darth]

byrd,

Open and alternate tunings were first invented by guitar shop owners. They told their customers that they needed to learn stuff in those tunings and the simplest thing to do was to own a guitar for each tuning so you would not have to "tend to be a bit slow" getting into those tunings. Simple, non?

Haha!  That's magnificently devious.

Nice!
I'm also using this as rationale to SWMBO as to why I 'need' another Taylor! 
 
-K