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Non standard tunings can be very interesting for song writing, in particular the use of droning notes, or when using playing styles like travis picking. Some of

Non standard tunings can be very interesting for song writing, in particular the use of droning notes, or when using playing styles like travis picking. Some of the American primitive players like Fahey, or Rose, and more recently players like Nathan Salsburg, put together really great sounding stuff. > If you’re not doing chord/scale/mode transitions standard tuning is optimized for, you’re putting a lot of cognitive load either on your playing or your practice. I actually find that once you learn something in standard that there is relatively little cognitive load involved. It's more about refining very fine motor skills and coordination between shapes/fingerings. At a certain point the motions become instinctual and the "cognitive load" simply disappears. You just play. It's when I transition between tunings that I feel (initially) very uncomfortable, because I'm relearning those fine motor skills in new patterns to fit the tuning.

rrrrrrrrrrrryan 5y ago
With regard to songwriting specifically, I've found that strange tunings are an easy way to knock myself out of my comfort zone. I think a lot of guitarists find themselves in a rut where they're accidentally writing stuff that sounds very similar over and over. All of a sudden it's a bit difficult for me to predict what a chord will sound like before playing it, and as I'm getting aquatinted with the new tuning I run into little happy accidents that might not have been terribly ergonomic (or even possible) in a standard guitar tuning.
- eyelidlessness 5y ago
  So much this. The most absurd tunings I’ve worked with have helped me rethink even familiar progressions and explore new ideas that wouldn’t occur to me.
eyelidlessness 5y ago
> I actually find that once you learn something in standard that there is relatively little cognitive load involved. It's more about refining very fine motor skills and coordination between shapes/fingerings. This is actually the cognitive load I’m talking about. I can do that, and I have, but playing the music I want to play is really challenging because I have to adapt free strings or polyharmonic positions to positions my hands can and will do (and can adapt to do better) but still keep me focused on whether I’m getting the sound out of my instrument the way I want. (Thanks for the name drops, I have a couple artists to check out! Since I’m here talking tunings, my biggest influences are Kelli Rudick and Kaki King)

rrrrrrrrrrrryan 5y ago

With regard to songwriting specifically, I've found that strange tunings are an easy way to knock myself out of my comfort zone. I think a lot of guitarists find themselves in a rut where they're accidentally writing stuff that sounds very similar over and over. All of a sudden it's a bit difficult for me to predict what a chord will sound like before playing it, and as I'm getting aquatinted with the new tuning I run into little happy accidents that might not have been terribly ergonomic (or even possible) in a standard guitar tuning.

eyelidlessness 5y ago
So much this. The most absurd tunings I’ve worked with have helped me rethink even familiar progressions and explore new ideas that wouldn’t occur to me.

eyelidlessness 5y ago

> I actually find that once you learn something in standard that there is relatively little cognitive load involved. It's more about refining very fine motor skills and coordination between shapes/fingerings. This is actually the cognitive load I’m talking about. I can do that, and I have, but playing the music I want to play is really challenging because I have to adapt free strings or polyharmonic positions to positions my hands can and will do (and can adapt to do better) but still keep me focused on whether I’m getting the sound out of my instrument the way I want. (Thanks for the name drops, I have a couple artists to check out! Since I’m here talking tunings, my biggest influences are Kelli Rudick and Kaki King)