Melodic techniques for open tuning on guitar.

This article in intended to share information about some of the techniques I have developed / borrowed with regards to open tuning on guitar. I am a self taught player, with about fifteen years of playing. About five years ago, I learned CAGED and chord inversion. About three years ago I took several melodic and Scruggs style banjo lessons. I combine some of these techniques in my fingerstyle guitar playing.
How I came to be interested in fingerstyle guitar.

For most of my musical life, I have been an instrumentalist, my early influences being Slint, Tortoise, and the like. As I began to delve into folk music, I became familiar with John Fahey's music, and subsequently Jack Rose, Robbie Basho, and Glenn Jones. I was also into bluegrass and country, so I really appreciated the playing of Chet Atkins and Doc Watson. I also particularly appreciate Davy Graham, especially his style of playing on Pretty Polly, which has a strong focus on picking the melody. I managed to catch Glenn Jones play with Jack Rose at a loft in Philadelphia. I was mesmerized but Jones' playing. I have since seen him at the Time of Rivers guitar festival in Portland Maine. I particularly appreciate his chord voicings, playing the melody on the lower string, and his dissonant tunings.

Finding chords in any tuning.

Although there is software out there that does a good job (such as Guitar Pro), I find the process of manually working out chords for tunings to be rewarding and it helps you understand the tuning better. The Theory

There are as many major movable three finger chord shapes are there are notes in the tuning.

Let's first take for example Open C Tuning. [C-G-C-G-C-E] from the lowest string to the highest this is a three note tuning [C-E-G], the notes that make up a C Chord and Open D Minor [D-A-F-D-AD] From the lowest string to the highest this is a three note tuning [D-F-A], the notes that make up a D Minor Chord

Roots are Red Thirds are Blue Fifths are yellow

Chord Construction in Open Tuning Open C

So, in an open or in a barred position, the root of the chord would be on the 2nd 4th and 6th strings. The 1st string is the 3rd of the chord so to get the first movable minor shape we simply flat the third. To get the next movable chord shape, I simply find a C, on any other string, ie the 1st 3rd or 5th strings. Because there is only one E in this tuning I will start on the 1st string. A C is the 8th fret on the 1st string, which is also going to make our root of the chord the highest note. Since we have the root, we now have to fine the 3rd and the 5th. Because we are finding the chord that the guitar is tuned to sometimes it is easy to just pick the open strings that you want to find, then try to find that note near where your root note is placed. The closest chord note on the 2nd string is the G on the 7th fret. So now we have to find our E which is the 9th fret on the 3rd string. So now we are playing E|-8 C|-7 G|-9 C|-x G|-x C|-x
E C G C G C

2 1 3

Because there are lots of octaves in the tuning we could play the 3rd or the 5th on a lot of strings E|-8 (root) C|-7 (5) G|-9 (3) C|-7 (5) G|-9 (3) C|-7 (5)
E C G C G C

2 1 4 1 3 1

to get the minor version of this shape we simply flatten the third E|-8 (root) C|-7 (5) G|-8 (3) C|-7 (5) G|-8 (3) C|-7 (5)
E C G C G C

2 1 3

Ok, now we have to find our movable shape based on the root being on the 3rd string. C on the 3rd string is on the 5th fret. The closest chord note on the 2nd string is E on the 4th Fret G on the 1st string is on the 3rd Fret

so here is the major chord shape with root on the 3rd string E|-3 (5) C|-4 (3) G|-5 (root) C|-4 (3) G|-5 (root) C|-4 (3)
E C G C G C

1 2 3

so for the minor shape, we just flatten the third E|-3 (5) C|-3 (3) G|-5 (root) C|-3 (3) G|-5 (root) C|-3 (3)
E C G C G C

[1] [1] 3

Open D Minor
The Next example will be open Dm [D-A-D-F-A-D], being a three note tuning of a Dm chord [D-F-A] The simplest chord shapes are of course the ones based on the barred positions. Here a full bar, is a minor chord with roots on the 1st, 4th, and 6th strings. To make a major chord, we simply have to sharp the 3rd string which in this bar shape is the 3rd of the chord. 1st Minor movable shape in Dm An F#m chord
D A F D A D

1 1 1 1 1 1

1st Major movable shape in Dm An F chord

D A F D A D

[1] [1] [1] [1] [1] [1]

We will base our second movable shape on having the root on the second string, ie the A in the tuning. D on the 2nd string is on the 5th fret The closest chord note on the first string is an F on the 3rd fret. The A on the 3rd string is on the 4th fret so now we have what looks like a Dm in standard tuning with the fretted notes moved up one step

D A F D A D

1 3 2

and the full chord is...

D A F D A D

(1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1)

4 2 3

We will base our 3rd movable chord shape with out root on the 3rd string. D on the 3rd string in on the 9th fret. The closest chord note on the 2nd string is F on the 8th fret. The A on the 1st string is on the 7th fret. This movable shape may seem familiar because it looks like the movable Am shape from standard tuning. In fact in this tuning, the first 3 strings are tuned down a whole step, so all the movable shapes on the first 3 strings in standard tuning apply but are one stop lower.

D A F D A D

1 2 3

The full barred version would look like this Barred A Minor
D A F D A D

[1] [1] [1] [1] [1] [1]

3 4 2

We get the 3rd movable major shape by simply sharping the 3rd of the chord which is on the 2nd fret.

D A F D A D

1 2 3

Again, this is a very familiar shape for those playing CAGED, especially when utilized in cross picking, ie Doc Watson uses this shape quite a bit in his cross picking leads. We can take an open version of this shape to make a cool G Chord

D A F D A D

0 4 3 0 2 0

Ok, by now, you probably have an idea of how to construct chords in any tuning. I am going to do one more example in a 4 note tuning, one of my favorites, Gm6. [Eb-G-D-G-Bb-D]

Next to come.... 4 note open tunings (eg Gm6 and CM7) Melodic Banjo style scales for guitar Scarborough Faire in Open C Minor, arranged