Well I did do the open tuning thing for The How and the Tao of Folk Guitar - but our first podcast using open G got a lot of weird feedback from people who thought that starting out in an open tuning was too simplistic.

(after what I went through learning the guitar, the idea of "simplistic guitar" sounds pretty sexy . . . but that's just me)

So I knocked out the first blues guitar workshop in standard tuning to see what the reaction would be - and so far the reaction has been surprisingly positive.

My personal advice would be to start out in an open tuning. It gives you easy chords to play and a chance to build up your picking technique. That said, if I'm going to reach people and get them playing I have to meet them partway on some things.

We'll have to see if holding an E chord while fretting the sixth string at the fourth fret makes folks rethink thier stance on open tunings. . .

-Patrick