Most alternate tuning resources hand you a list of chord boxes and scale patterns and send you off to memorise them. Which misses the point entirely.
The whole reason to explore alternate tunings is creativity — the way a different tuning forces you to hear the instrument differently, find new voicings you’d never stumble on in standard, and develop a sound that’s genuinely your own. Handing you a pre-defined set of shapes to learn defeats that purpose before you’ve played a single note.
These guides take a different approach. Rather than telling you what to play, they give you the raw material — chord, arpeggio and scale diagrams for seven of the most versatile alternate tunings — and let you discover the shapes yourself. What you find that way becomes yours. What you memorise from a chord book rarely does.
In over ten years of exploring alternate tunings, I’ve found this is far and away the most effective method. It’s also the most enjoyable.
The tunings covered:
Each guide is available individually as a PDF for $1.99, or pay what you want:
- New Standard Tuning — CGDAEG
- All Fourths Tuning — EADGCF
- Open G Tuning — DGDGBD
- DADGAD Tuning
- Open C Tuning
- Open E Tuning
- Dobro Tuning — GBDGBD
What each guide contains:
Around 40 chord and arpeggio types and 16 scales mapped across the fretboard in your chosen tuning — enough to keep you exploring for months, not so much that it becomes overwhelming. Blank chord and fretboard diagrams are included in each PDF so you can print them out and record your own discoveries as you go.
The full reference guide:
The complete collection — over 100 pages of diagrams covering six of the above tunings (everything except Dobro) — is available as a single PDF for $5.
Complete Alternate Tunings Reference Guide — $5 →
Want to learn more about the approach first?
How to Get the Most Out of Alternate Tunings explains the thinking behind the discover-it-yourself method in more detail.