If you are new to alternate tunings or have never retuned your guitar from "standard" EADGBE, take note. If you significantly lower the tension on your strings to a tuning like DADGAD, you may find your guitar buzzes. This is probably because you need to go to a thicker set of strings, or your fret action is low. First, try a medium guage set of strings and see if that solves the problem. Having the action adjusted costs more than a set of strings. However, beware that your guitar may not be able to take a significant amount of extra tension on the top and could lead to neck warp problems should you keep the same medium guage strings on and retune to standard. Many guitarists have two guitars, one for the alternate tunings and one for standard. It's a great excuse to purchase another guitar. So, to reiterate, try slacking strings for tuning and if no buzz, great. If it buzzes try a thicker gauge but, watch out when retuning!!!

Choosing a Fingerstyle Guitar by S Boyke
published at rec.music.makers.guitar.acoustic recently

If your interest is fingerstyle, I would suggest this approach, in the following order:
1) Determine what wood combination(s) speak to your soul (regardless of brand of maker). Try the following combinations (at a minimum): - rosewood with sitka spruce - rosewood with englemann spruce - rosewood with sitkared western cedar - mahogany with sitka - mahogany with cedar - koa with cedar - koa with sitka spruce - walnut with cedar - walnut with englemann spruce - maple with german spruce - maple with cedar

2) You would need to be in guitar heaven to be able to try all these combinations on various body styles, but these body styles should be checked out in several of the above combinations: - OM - OOO - mini-jumbo 3) Now begin to think guitar maker, considering (mostly) the sound you heard from your search.

In my case I spent about a year playing all the above wood combinations in several body styles. I ended up choosing two guitars: a David Webber Koa/Cedar in his Webber body (kinda a deep OM/quaisi-000) and a Santa Cruz F German Maple/German Spruce: two very different sounding instruments which compliment each other very nicely. I'm planning soon to get a third, probably an OM rosewood/englemann.

There is no one guitar to suit all players or styles. For me the only solution is several instruments. -- SBoyke@AOL.com

Steve writes: The open tuning has been both a blessing and a scourge upon the guitar world. Anyone who has tinkered with alternate tunings knows the excitement of discovering the universe of possibilities that exists only beyond the standard formulation. But as more and more players venture beyond EADGBE, and as they record their discoveries, it becomes apparent that a grave danger accompanies the seductive lure of the open tuned guitar.

As scores of fingerstyle albums on the market confirm, the utter ease with which pleasing sounds spring forth from open tunings all too often acts as a substitute for creativity. Suddenly composing is easy. Put your guitar in a funny tuning and let your fingers do the walking, randomly. When you find a riff you like, write it down. When you've discovered five or six, string them together and come up with a name. Lo and behold, you've got a "composition."

The Yellow Pages method of guitar composition, all the rage since the open tuning explosion, turns the creative process on its head. Now the fingers, not the soul, create the music. By making available a selection of easily discoverable licks, the open tuning permits, even tempts the unwary, or lazy composer to substitute a mechanical process of riff hunting for what was once a creative endeavor. The tuning and a game of "hunt and peck" dictate the form and flavor of the composition. The guitar assumes the role of a one-armed bandit that if manipulated enough will produce a pleasing jingle. And like the slot machine, the open tuning eventually produces that pleasing jingle even if the player's brain is fully disengaged throughout the process.

With its reliance on digital search, the Yellow Pages method produces note patterns that the artist has discovered, not music that the artist has created. The distinction is not an academic one. Indeed, it explains precisely why so many open tuning compositions are entirely devoid of emotion. With riff hunting, the instrument is no longer the bridge between the listener and the artist's musical spirit. It is no longer the tool giving voice to the music within. Instead, the guitar is reduced to a stage upon which the player displays his digital discoveries. For the listener, the nourishing connection between himself and the guitarist is lost, replaced by finger food.

A parallel to poetry readings is helpful. A poet who discovers a clever rhyme may entertain, even amaze, but he will not move an audience. Likewise the guitarist who lets his fingers do the walking.

The most popular "alternate" or "open" tunings used in Celtic music include:

1. DADGBE "Dropped-D"
2. DADGBD "Double-Dropped D"
3. DADGAD A very popular tuning used by many guitarists in Irish session music for chords and For practical acoustic guitar tips and techniques and DADGAD info. Also, check out this DADGAD book in my book section.
4. DGDGBD "Taro Patch" My favorite tuning for playing Carolan's music and often used in Blues or Hawaiian Slack Key guitar as well.
5. DGDGBbD (Gm) tuning
6. DADF#AD (Another Blues-related tuning)
7. DADEAD used by Franco Morone and others, helps in playing in key of A
8. CGDGAD "Low C tuning" (rare)
9. CGCGCD Played by Ged Foley of the House Band and Patrick Street. Also Martin Simpson as a modal banjo tuning with an extra "C" note in bass.
   
   ORKNEY TUNING

   The Orkney tuning (CGDGCD) has become my favorite over the years. It is a wonderful tool for melodic (non-linear) playing, in which you avoid playing subsequent notes on the same string. This technique (Pierre Bensusan calls it "harp style,") allows for a very smooth and gentle delivery of the melody and avoids the staccato effect that marks many guitar arrangements of fiddle tunes.

   The Orkney tuning is also a great tuning for session back-up. I like it better than DADGAD. You get one extra note's range in the first position and when you're in C, (which in Orkney is often,) you've got a fifth in easy reach at the fifth fret of the first string. This allows for a nice ringy sound. In DADGAD you'd have to stretch your pinkie to the 7th fret to get the equivalent effect.

   Drawbacks are that the 6th string tuned down to a C note can sometimes become a bit spaghetti-like and hard to tune. I find, however, that using a heavy 6th string makes this problem quite manageable. Another possible drawback is that playing in D or A is best done with a capo at the 2nd fret. Some people prefer an, un-capoed sound. On the other hand, you may like the higher, ringy sound of the second fret D and A chords.

   In al, it's a great tuning. In fact, may theory is that the only thing keeping CGDGCD from overtaking DADGAD as the session player's tuning of choice is that its name has heretofore been impossible to pronounce. Accordingly, I hereby christen it "ORKNEY" to sharpen its competitive edge. Try it out and let me know what you think.
   
   

10. CGCGCE Played by Tony Cuffe formerly with Ossian and also Dougie Mclean
11. EADEAE- Rare (good for key of A)
12. DGDDAE
13. EGDGBE-Rare (Han Speek of Irish Bouzouki home page fame says Scottish guitarists use this tuning to get a G drone in the bass to imitate the sound of the bagpipes.)
14. FGDGCD play pipe tunes in F with this tuning
    
15. EADGBE--Standard Tuning (bass to treble)

Terry Blankenship