The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #63558   Message #1033003
Posted By: Janice in NJ
10-Oct-03 - 07:10 AM
Thread Name: Open tuning [what is it]
Subject: RE: Open tuning [what is it]
5-string banjo open tunings, particularly G major but also D major, are pretty standard. There is also a fairly common G "mountain modal" open tuning. It's actually a G chord in which the 3rd is replaced by the 4th (c). Since the 3rd (b or b-flat) determines whether the chord is major or minor, striking the open strings (g-dgcd) produces a chord which can be either.