Tuning for sound

– What some of the great guitarists have done.

Albert King one the early great blues guitarists often used dropped open tunings and also tuned as much as a tone and a half lower than Standard E. He used light gauge strings the lighter-gauge strings were a factor in King’s string-bending technique (0.009″, 0.012″, 0.024″ wound, 0.028″, 0.038″, 0.050″). Albert King was left-handed and played right-handed guitars upside down – pulling strings down rather than bending strings up. Below are some of the tunings he is reported to have used.

Low to High
C# G# B E G# C#
C B E G B E (open E minor – with low C)
C F C F A D (open F)
C B E F# B E
C F C F A D

Robert Johnson, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan & Slash are known to have tuned to Standard E Flat to get a richer bluesy sound. This is actually a very popular tuning to use… see more examples

Low to High
Eb Ab Db Gb Bb Eb

Dave Gilmour, Pink Floyd, has also used some open & alternate tunings notably open G in Fearless and open E minor in One of these days.

Low to High
E B E G B E (open E minor)
G G D G B B (open G)
D G C F A D (tuned down one whole step)

Jimmy Page, Led Zeplin, used a number of alternate tunings such as DADGAD, for example, which was used in Kashmir and DGCGCD in the Rain Song.

Low to High
DADGAD
DGCGCD

Kieth Richards is known to have favoured Open G (with the low string removed) for songs like Honky Tonk Woman, Brown Sugar and Start me up.

Low to high
X G D G B D