Many of the most recognizable sounds in guitar history don't come only from fingers or amplifiers, but from how the instrument was tuned. Several great guitarists built their signature tone by abandoning standard EADGBE for open or entirely personal tunings, unlocking resonances and fingerings that are impossible to get any other way.
In short: many famous guitarists built their sound with non-standard tunings. Here's a rundown by genre — blues and slide, fingerstyle, rock, and metal — with links to dive deeper into each one.
Why the greats change tuning
Changing tuning isn't a quirk — it opens up possibilities standard tuning simply doesn't offer. The most common reasons are:
- Open strings that form a chord, as in open tunings, perfect for slide playing and drones.
- Simpler fingerings, with full chords played using just one or two fingers.
- New resonances, because different strings vibrate in sympathy and enrich the tone.
- A personal, recognizable sound, hard to copy for anyone who stays on standard.
If you're not familiar with the general landscape yet, start with an overview of alternate tunings.
Blues and slide: open tunings
The genre most historically tied to alternate tunings is blues, especially slide blues. Many blues guitarists tune to an open chord — typically G or D — so that sliding the bottleneck across a single fret instantly produces a full chord. You don't need famous names to feel the appeal: it's a language shared by generations of musicians. You'll find the practical details in blues and slide tunings.
Folk and fingerstyle: DADGAD and personal tunings
In fingerstyle and folk music, non-standard tunings are almost the rule. The most famous is DADGAD (D A D G A D), a suspended, modal tuning loved for its evocative sound. Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin made it famous in rock, most notably on Kashmir, while French guitarist Pierre Bensusan has built nearly his entire career playing exclusively in DADGAD.
Joni Mitchell deserves a chapter of her own: over the years she used an enormous number of open and personal tunings, tailoring each one to the song and to her own voice. For more practical examples, see fingerstyle tunings.
Rock and metal: from Open G to low drop tunings
In rock, the most-cited example is Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, tied to five-string Open G: he removes the 6th string and tunes the rest to a G chord, getting the open, percussive riffs that are his trademark. Metal took the opposite road, tuning down for heavier riffs: tunings like Drop C and Drop B are standard practice in the genre by now. You'll find the details in metal tunings: Drop C and Drop B.
How to get started with these tunings
You don't need to be a virtuoso to explore artist tunings. The advice is to start with a tuning that changes just a few strings, like Drop D, before moving on to a suspended one like DADGAD. Always work with a tuner in front of you, since changing string tension easily throws off your intonation: with a chromatic tuner like EasyGuitarTuner, which runs right in your browser, you play each open string and bring it to the target note shown. Once you're comfortable, try rebuilding the sound of your favorite guitarists — often the secret isn't in the fingers, but in the open strings.