Open Tuning | Acoustic Guitar

‘Spanish Fandango’: Learn a 19th-Century Acoustic Classic in Open-G Tuning

BY STEVE JAMES This arrangement is excerpted from Roots and Blues Fingerstyle Guitar Explorations. The story of “Spanish Fandango” begins in 1825, when Henry... Read More...

Video Lesson: Learn to Play Like Memphis Minnie in Open-G Tuning

Memphis Minnie’s guitar playing has gone mostly underappreciated through the decades, but for many blues-inspired fingerpickers she is a crucial link in the chain of Delta blues through to Chicago blues.

‘Midsummer Moon’ – Watch Al Petteway Perform an Atmospheric Open-C Instrumental

From the May 2018 issue of Acoustic Guitar | BY ADAM PERLMUTTER Some 20 years ago, Al Petteway tuned his guitar to an open Csus2 chord—low to high, C G C G C... Read More...

Kelly Joe Phelps sitting outside with his resonator guitar

Video Lesson: Exploring Kelly Joe Phelps’ Slide Work in Open Tunings

Prewar blues is just a stepping-off point for Phelps’ intricate fingerpicking and soulful vocals. In this lesson, you'll adapt his open-D ideas to bottleneck style.

Meet Joan Shelley: Folk’s Rising Star Talks Open Tunings, Influences, and Working with Jeff Tweedy

From the August 2017 issue of Acoustic Guitar | BY JEFFREY PEPPER RODGERS There’s a kind of clarity and calm in Joan Shelley’s music that feels especially ... Read More...

Video Lesson: Reimagining Bluesman Robert Johnson in Open-G Tuning

Take a look at some of the songs Robert Johnson played in open tunings and learn how to use his melodic and rhythmic ideas in any 12-bar blues.

Collings CJ45 T acoustic guitar closeup showing the soundhole, strings, and sunburst finish

Country Blues Guitar in Open C

One of the great beauties of the minor pentatonic scale is the way the same phrases seem to work over all three chords of a blues progression.

Lesson Up-The-Neck Octave Exercises for Acoustic Guitar Players

Learn to Play in Dropped-D Tuning

Excerpted from Alternate Tunings Guitar Essentials One of the things that prevents many guitarists from experimenting in altered tunings is the hassle of re... Read More...