I like alternate tunings, in principle, anyway, but find that I seldom use them any more--One that I am fond of involves dropping the E to D and the A to G--it lets you play out of a four finger G chord and slide it up and down the neck, combine it with the open D and Dminor fingerings, and you can play a quick and dirty kind of chord melody. You can also play open position G or D scales with a great rolling bass underneath.