January 3, 2025

Heading into the New Year I thought I would put together some thoughts on alternate tunings, particularly D-based ones. The hope is to show that it does not have to be as complicated as many students think to tackle songs that use one.

This Update starts in standard tuning with a bit of an original piece called Paprika, the continues into Dropped D, Double Dropped D, D6, and Open D, before heading into D5, or the Bruce Palmer Modal Tuning used frequently by Stephen Stills (who happens to turn 80 today). D-A-D-D-A-D is the most efficient way to tune the guitar for Stills’ songs, even though he used D-D-D-D-A-D.

Short excerpts of tunes included Harvest Moon, Don’t Let It Bring You Down, The Loner, Cinnamon Girl, Linus & Lucy, Poor Boy Long Ways From Home, ending with bits of Suite: Judy Blue Eyes, Love The One You’re With, 4 & 20 and Carry On.

Take the challenge of alternate tunings heading into 2025,

Neil