Help me, I think Ive got an idea

[Sprocket]

I got to thinking today about helping people who dont really have any musical skills to play along with all of US.
I guess I was thinking about learning something about open tuning, I have somewhat an idea bout it...I mean Ive studied what Ive seen Richie Havens do(love that guy!).

But I got thinking...Ive got several guitars, most of yall do too...and we all have friends who watch in amazement...you can see it in their eyes, theyed love to do what we do, even if we do it poorly.

So I got to thinking, what about "open E"??
If we are playing a song in the Key of A, we could just have them strum the 5th fret for A...and the iv, and the v(Im thinking) should be close by and easier...all they should have to do is strum with the timing...and we should be able to communicate the changes easily, "Bar the 7th fret now"...."now bar the 5th again but skip the top 2 strings"...

But Im imagining youd have to tune one string from the major or minor scale...Im sure there are other details Im missing...so today, Im wanting to learn a lil more about "open E"....can you help me fill in the details for my idea??

I think this as maybe another step for the guitar hero generation.

[Oldrottenhead]

you've given my secret away.

[SteveG]

Apparently, Steve Cropper wrote "Dock of the bay" for Otis Redding, and as Otis was a non guitarist tuned his guitar to open G so he could play along with one finger. If its good enough for them guys its good enough for me.

Another Cropper story ... he was doing a session with a young up and coming producer, who told him "That was pretty good, but can you do another take and try to sound like Steve Cropper from the Blues Brothers?". His reply, "Well, being Steve Cropper I will give it my best shot".

[Sprocket]

Apparently, Steve Cropper wrote "Dock of the bay" for Otis Redding, and as Otis was a non guitarist tuned his guitar to open G so he could play along with one finger. If its good enough for them guys its good enough for me.

Another Cropper story ... he was doing a session with a young up and coming producer, who told him "That was pretty good, but can you do another take and try to sound like Steve Cropper from the Blues Brothers?". His reply, "Well, being Steve Cropper I will give it my best shot".

Im following you...but why couldnt we use something a lil more universal, so we dont have to tune and retune after every song we want to play with our friends?
Id really like to focus on "open E" and why or why not this will work?
I certainly wouldnt mind changing the tuning of one string to go from minor to major...but I may just be kidding myself to think it would so simple?

[64Guitars]

I'm not sure how hard it would be for an adult beginner to barre all six strings evenly, but I remember that it was difficult for me when I was a kid learning to play the guitar. It takes a fair bit of strength to press down all six strings evenly, and it can be hard on the delicate skin of a beginner, especially when moving the barre up and down the neck. Once you've learned the major barre chord fingering in standard tuning, it's probably easier to play than an open-tuned barre across one fret because your index finger only has to fret the 6th, 2nd, and 1st strings, and you can use the strength of your whole hand instead of just one finger.

I think there's a reason that guitar instruction always begins with open chords. They are easier for beginners to play and they build up the player's strength so that the student will eventually be able to manage barre chords.

[Sprocket]

I'm not sure how hard it would be for an adult beginner to barre all six strings evenly, but I remember that it was difficult for me when I was a kid learning to play the guitar. It takes a fair bit of strength to press down all six strings evenly, and it can be hard on the delicate skin of a beginner, especially when moving the barre up and down the neck. Once you've learned the major barre chord fingering in standard tuning, it's probably easier to play than an open-tuned barre across one fret because your index finger only has to fret the 6th, 2nd, and 1st strings, and you can use the strength of your whole hand instead of just one finger.

Im kinda under the impression the newb shouldnt even have to do a complete barre with open tuning...if they hit 3 strings or even 2 that itd be pretty damn close and everybody would be having fun.

Lemme see if I can explain what I foresee.

We are in the key of A, youve never played before and Ive got the guitar in open E.
Thats A, D, and E. as the 1, 4, 5.
Now I want you to hit the top 3 strings at the 5th fret...and then I want you to skip 2 strings and strum the 5th fret...and then back to the 1....and now I want you to skip 2 strings like before but this time at the 7th fret, and then were gonna slid that to the 5th fret...and then back to where we started at the 1.

I want to know, what is wrong with what Im thinking? As I see this as easy and communicatable.
I even think that they would be able to play any combination of notes from those 3 chords I just showed them...Im assuming that would be a good scale.

I havent tried any of this...I got the idea on the way to work and wanna try and discuss this or research it further....alot of you guys are way more learned than me, so who better to ask??? 

[Sprocket]

Damn, the converstaion kinda stopped...I was hoping ORH might discuss his secret a lil further...or others would chime in.
Certainly we all could benifit others by simplifying it, if only briefly.

[SteveG]

Yeah, it would work. But sooner or later you are gonna have to teach 'em open chords, or power chords at least depending on the genre. So I don't really see the point except to let someone who cant play jam along to a bit of Dylan, and that could actually sound quite cool with a standard tuned guitar backed by an open tuned one.

[Sprocket]

Yeah, it would work. But sooner or later you are gonna have to teach 'em open chords, or power chords at least depending on the genre. So I don't really see the point except to let someone who cant play jam along to a bit of Dylan, and that could actually sound quite cool with a standard tuned guitar backed by an open tuned one.

You know, thats all I wanted to hear...that it could work.

Eventually the "guitar hero" is going to get bored...this step may inspire him/her to learn standard tuning or take the next step.

Now what about going from minor to major? Which string or strings would need retuned?

And at this point, I still dont know what open E looks like...but Im thinking E, B, D, G, B, E??

[SteveG]

You want to retune for each chord?

To change a major to a minor you drop the third by a semitone:

AM     A  C# E
Am     A  C   E

So, you could not use the open A tuning to play the minor off a one finger barre, as it would be difficult to drop the half tone. You could tune to Am and add the sharp third to make a major tho, but a novice would have more trouble with that than simple open chords.

OOps, you want open E. Same principle tho. (Assuming I have this right, not checked on a guitar)