How to Play in Open E Tuning
Open E tuning is another great alternate tuning that lends itself well to many different playing styles and applications.
Like with all open tuning, Open E involves tuning the open strings of the guitar to those of the chord from which the tuning gets its name. As the name Open E would suggest, the strings in this case are tuned to the notes of an E Major chord.
The notes, low to high are:
E B E G# B E
You’ll notice the low E, B and high E strings remain the same. The A gets tuned up a full tone to a B, the D goes up a full tone to an E and the G goes up a semi tone to a G#.
As the low E string is still at its standard tuning pitch, the references for chords remain the same. With other open tunings that change the pitch of the Low E string, you have to move the root notes around to find the same chords, but in Open E, you can still root your single finger chords from the usual frets:
This tuning also makes sus4 chords easy, by simply raising the note on the G# string by a single fret:
You can also use the 6sus4 extension by simply adding an additional note on your lower B string:
If you’re looking for an interesting way to combine Major chords with extensions like 6sus4 chords, you can look at the guitar style of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. Keith is mostly known for open G tuning, but he has dabbled in Open E from time to time. A big part of his rhythm style involves playing major chords and adding various extensions to them:
Now that you know the basics, let’s look at 4 great riffs that use Open E tuning:
The Black Crowes – She Talks to Angels
The original version was played on an acoustic, but in the accompanying video it is played on electric just for demonstration.
This uses major chords with 6sus4 chords and goes between rhythm and lead lines.
The Tedeschi Trucks Band – Midnight in Harlem
This is a finger picked riff that has some open strings droning against each of the chord changes.
Rolling Stones – Gimme Shelter
This bluesy rock riff uses double stops on the B, E and G# strings. It’s played as straight 8th notes but with plenty of Stones style attitude.
ZZ Top – Just Got Paid
This riff from ZZ Top is a great way to use Open E tuning in a more rock based context.
