Tunings have always fascinated me. Not because I think the right tuning will make a piece, but because each one opens a slightly different door into the instrument. Strings ring against each other in a new way, familiar shapes suddenly mean something else, and ideas you would never have written in standard tuning start to appear almost on their own.
In this post I want to walk through some of the tunings I keep coming back to, both on nylon string and on steel string guitar, and share a little about why each one matters to me.
Watch the video
Before reading on, here is the full video where I play through each tuning:
Tunings are something you really need to hear. Reading the notes alone does not tell you much. The video lets you feel the colour of each one.
Standard tuning
This might be a surprise, but my all-time favourite tuning is still standard tuning. I genuinely think there is so much left to explore there. Most of the time, when I compose in standard tuning, I try to make it sound as if it were an open tuning. Instead of thinking in chord shapes, I think about open strings, resonance, and letting notes ring into each other.
Drop D is a natural extension of that idea. It gives you a little more depth in the bass while keeping everything else familiar. Before changing your tuning at all, there is already a whole world to explore in those two.
Cello tuning: C G D G B E
This one I call the cello tuning. From standard, you drop the low E down to C and the A down to G. Everything else stays the same. The three lowest strings are now tuned the same as a cello, and you hear that immediately. A simple C major chord suddenly sounds deeper, almost orchestral.
What I love about this tuning is that you can take one shape and move it up the neck. Major chords have their own shape, minor chords have another, and you can travel through harmonies in a very direct way. It sits in this beautiful balance between something familiar and something completely new.
The B-string tuning: E B D G B E
This next one is subtle, but really beautiful. From standard tuning, you tune your A string up to B. If you are on a steel string guitar, please be careful. Depending on your string tension, it could break. A safer route is to tune the whole guitar a half step down first, then go into this tuning.
What you get is an open E minor 7 sound across the strings. Suddenly everything works together harmonically, and I only changed one string. The harmonics ring beautifully too.
I actually discovered this tuning while I was composing my piece Lucero del Alba. The chord voicings I was hearing in my head simply could not be played in standard tuning, so I had to tune the A string up to make the melody work. Later I realised it shares an atmosphere with Songe Capricorne by the French guitarist and composer Roland Dyens, which turned out to be in this tuning as well. It is dreamy, flowing, and one I keep returning to.
D B♭ D A B♭ E
This tuning comes from my former guitar professor in Dresden, Reentko Dirks. Again, if you are on steel string, the G string has to go up by a step, so please be careful. On nylon string it is fine.
I usually do not use very defined open tunings, because I do not like the atmosphere of a piece to be decided before I start composing. But this tuning captured me anyway. It still leaves enough harmonic freedom for the piece to find its own direction, while giving everything a mystical, deep, slightly dark colour. It is a tuning that suggests something rather than dictating it.
C G D G A D
The last one is a variation I love. I know many people are devoted to DADGAD, which is also a beautiful tuning, but I keep coming back to this one. It sits somewhere between DADGAD and the cello tuning.
I have not actually written a full piece in this tuning yet, but the harmonies you can find here are gorgeous. It really shines on a steel string guitar especially. There is an open, spacious, almost cinematic quality to it that feels like it is waiting for the right piece to arrive.
A note on exploring tunings
Tunings are not a shortcut to writing better music. A new tuning will not give you a piece. But they can shift your hands out of habits and reveal harmonies you would not have heard otherwise. I treat them the way I treat travelling to a new place. You go, you listen, you take what you find back with you, and sometimes a piece grows out of it months later without you quite realising why.
If any of these tunings speak to you, I would genuinely love to know which one. And if you have a favourite tuning I have not mentioned, please tell me. I would love to try it out.
Subscribing to my YouTube channel is the best way to stay up to date with new videos on composition, tunings, and life as a guitarist.
