A blog for songwriters about songwriting

While many songwriters use the piano as their main instrument, I’d venture to say that, especially for performing singer-songwriters, the acoustic guitar is often front and center. If you’ve been writing for a while, you might long to break out of the same-old-same-old chords you use all the time — and that’s where alternate tunings can really be a great next step. Many of your favorite songwriters were — and are — alternate tuning mavens, from Joni Mitchell and Nick Drake to Ani DiFranco and Bob Dylan, and many of the sounds and tones you love arise from the voicings available through tunings such as DADGAD, open D and open G.

Personally, while I’ve started songs with alternate tunings several times, I’ve never finished one. But I remain enamoured of the idea of it — and will continue trying. One inspiration is my friend, songwriter Denise Jordan Finley, who also teaches workshops on alternate guitar tunings — she’s amazing! One of her “things” is getting students to “make up” their own alternate tuning chord shapes, not necessarily to use traditional alternate tunings. It can be hard to allow yourself to “fly blind” with new chord shapes that don’t even have a name (and are harder to visualize than if you did the same thing on the piano), but she inspires everyone she teaches to give it a try! I chatted with Denise about how songwriters can get started in the world of non-standard guitar tunings:

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