Charlie,

I heard you about not knowing music theory, but it isn't all about theory. If you know the notes of a chord, and can count frets, you can make your own chords. Open G is DGDGBD on your guitar. Obviously the G triad is composed of G, D, and B. The C triad is C, G, and E. So your guitar is in open G. Well, you have the G for the C chord on strings 3 and 5. Now comes the tricky part. You need a C and the second string is the best place to look, 'cause one step (fret) up on the second string is C. Now, we need an E. Well there are three D's here and E is just two steps (frets) up on any of those three. The joy of open tuning is you don't need to fret all three strings, just pick the 4th string and fret it up two. This little two finger chord is sort of a C (it even looks a little like a C chord). The ringing D's on strings one and six just provide a "little" different tone.

I know this seems laborious at first, figuring the triad and looking for it on the fret board, but it works.

The other joy of open tunings is to make your own chords. Put your fingers down and fiddle around. You can make some nice noises that way.

Good luck!

Roger in Baltimore