Open E tuning

Open E tuning.

Open E tuning is a tuning for guitar.

low-high; E-B-E-G♯-B-E

Compared to standard tuning, two strings are two semitones higher and one string is one semitone higher. The intervals are identical to those found in open D tuning.

Probably one of the most familiar examples of Open E tuning is the beginning guitar part on the song Jumpin' Jack Flash by the Stones. This tuning is also used in Guns N' Roses' "It's So Easy," The Black Crowes' She Talks to Angels, Glen Hansard's Say It To Me Now and many others.

Open-E tuning is often used for slide guitar, as it constitutes an open chord which can be raised by moving the slide further up the next. Famous guitarists who use this tuning include Joe Walsh (in Rocky Mountain Way), Billy F. Gibbons (in Just Got Paid) and Johnny Marr (in The Headmaster Ritual). Open-E tuning also lends itself to easy bar-chording as heard in these songs and many others.

1980's session guitarist David Persons experimented by using multiple tunings in the same recordings, and he pioneered several revolutionary tuning techniques, including using standard six string and open tuning together (for instance, standard tuning playing in E major and Open E tuning) which produced, due to the natural intervals involved, complementary counterpoints which produced unique harmonies and dissonance. This can be heard on several of his early recordings. ^[1]

1. ^ Christian Musician interview article with Persons, January 1986