Open C tuning is an

open tuning Guitar tunings are the assignment of pitches to the open strings of guitars, including acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and classical guitars. Tunings are described by the particular pitches that are made by notes in Western music. By ...

for guitar. The open-string

note Note, notes, or NOTE may refer to: Music and entertainment * Musical note, a pitched sound (or a symbol for a sound) in music * Notes (album), ''Notes'' (album), a 1987 album by Paul Bley and Paul Motian * ''Notes'', a common (yet unofficial) sho ...

s form a

C major C major (or the key of C) is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. C major is one of the most common keys used in music. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative minor is A minor a ...

chord Chord may refer to: * Chord (music), an aggregate of musical pitches sounded simultaneously ** Guitar chord a chord played on a guitar, which has a particular tuning * Chord (geometry), a line segment joining two points on a curve * Chord ( ...

, which is the triad (C,E,G) having the

root note In music theory, the concept of root is the idea that a chord can be represented and named by one of its notes. It is linked to harmonic thinking—the idea that vertical aggregates of notes can form a single unit, a chord. It is in this sense ...

C, the

major third In classical music, a third is a musical interval encompassing three staff positions (see Interval number for more details), and the major third () is a third spanning four semitones. Forte, Allen (1979). ''Tonal Harmony in Concept and P ...

(C,E), and the

perfect fifth In music theory, a perfect fifth is the musical interval corresponding to a pair of pitches with a frequency ratio of 3:2, or very nearly so. In classical music from Western culture, a fifth is the interval from the first to the last of five ...

(C,G). When the

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

is strummed without fretting any strings, a C-major chord is sounded. By barring all of the strings for one fret (from one to eleven), one finger suffices to fret the other eleven major-chords.

Examples

There are several open C tunings.

Repetitive C-E-G-C-E-G

The

English guitar The English guitar or guittar (also citra), is a stringed instrument – a type of cittern – popular in many places in Europe from around 1750–1850. It is unknown when the identifier "English" became connected to the instrument: at the time of ...

uses a repetitive open-C tuning :C-E-G-C-E-G, which is approximately a

major-thirds tuning Among alternative tunings for guitar, a major-thirds tuning is a regular tuning in which each interval between successive open strings is a major third ("M3" in musical abbreviation). Other names for major-thirds tuning include major-third tun ...

, specifically :C-E-G-C-E-G=C-E-A-C-E-A.

"C5" variant C-G-C-G-G-E

This open C tuning was used by

Soundgarden Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil (both of whom are the only members to appear in every incarnation of the band), and bassist Hiro Ya ...

for songs including

Pretty Noose "Pretty Noose" is a song by the American rock band Soundgarden. Written by the band's frontman, Chris Cornell, "Pretty Noose" was released in March 1996 as the first single from the band's fifth studio album, '' Down on the Upside'' (1996). The ...

, Burden in My Hand, and Head Down. Chord sequences often omit the high E string, leaving the

power chord A power chord (also fifth chord) is a colloquial name for a chord in guitar music, especially electric guitar, that consists of the root note and the fifth, as well as possibly octaves of those notes. Power chords are commonly played on ...

ubiquitous to Grunge music.

C-G-C-G-C-E

: C-G-C-G-C-E. This open C tuning was used by William Ackerman for his "Townshend Shuffle", by John Fahey for his tribute to Mississippi John Hurt, and by

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are c ...

Jimmy Page James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the Rock music, rock band Led Zeppelin. Page is prolific in creating guitar riffs. His style involves various ...

for " Friends". It is also used by

Devin Townsend Devin Garrett Townsend (born May 5, 1972) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He founded extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad and was its primary songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist from 1994 to 2007. He has also h ...

for the vast majority of his work ( The Devin Townsend Project,

Strapping Young Lad Strapping Young Lad was a Canadian extreme metal band formed by Devin Townsend in Vancouver in 1994. The band started as a one-man studio project; Townsend played most of the instruments on the 1995 debut album, '' Heavy as a Really Heavy Thin ...

, Casualties of Cool).

Overtones C-C-G-C-E-G

:C-C-G-C-E-G Another open C tuning uses the harmonic sequence (overtones) of the note C. When an open-note C-string is struck, its harmonic sequence begins with the notes (C,C,G,C,E,G,B,C). The

is associated with a sequence of intervals, beginning with the

unison In music, unison is two or more musical parts that sound either the same pitch or pitches separated by intervals of one or more octaves, usually at the same time. ''Rhythmic unison'' is another term for homorhythm. Definition Unison or pe ...

interval (C,C), the

octave In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...

interval (C,C), the

(C,G), the

perfect fourth A fourth is a musical interval encompassing four staff positions in the music notation of Western culture, and a perfect fourth () is the fourth spanning five semitones (half steps, or half tones). For example, the ascending interval from C to th ...

(G,C), the

(C,E), and the

minor third In music theory, a minor third is a musical interval that encompasses three half steps, or semitones. Staff notation represents the minor third as encompassing three staff positions (see: interval number). The minor third is one of two com ...

(E,G); in particular, this sequence of intervals contains the thirds of the C-major chord .

C-minor open chord: Cross-note tuning

Flattening this open tuning's open-note E to E changes the open chord from C-major to C-minor, so producing the cross-note tuning :C-C--G-C-E-G which enables one-finger minor chords. Like other cross-note tunings, it also allows major chords to be fretted with one adjacent finger.

Relation to new standard tuning

Many of the notes from the harmonic sequence for C appear in the

new standard tuning New standard tuning (NST) is an alternative tuning for the guitar that approximates all-fifths tuning. The guitar's strings are assigned the notes C2-G2-D3-A3-E4-G4 (from lowest to highest); the five lowest open strings are each tuned to an i ...

(NST), which is a nearly

regular tuning Among alternative guitar-tunings, regular tunings have equal musical intervals between the paired notes of their successive open strings. ''Guitar tunings'' assign pitches to the open strings of guitars. Tunings can ...

based on

s; NST also has (D,A) from the

pentatonic scale A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five notes per octave, in contrast to the heptatonic scale, which has seven notes per octave (such as the major scale and minor scale). Pentatonic scales were developed independently by many ancien ...

on C: :C-G-D-A-E-G NST is used in

Guitar Craft Guitar Craft (GC) was a series of guitar and personal-development classes, founded and often presented by Robert Fripp, who is best known for his work with the rock band King Crimson. Guitar Craft courses introduced ...

(a school of guitar playing founded by

King Crimson King Crimson are a progressive rock band formed in 1968 in London, England. The band draws inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of classical, jazz, folk music, folk, heavy metal music, heavy metal, gamelan, indust ...

Robert Fripp Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946) is a British musician, songwriter, record producer, and author, best known as the guitarist, founder and longest-lasting member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has worked extensively as a session ...

). The open-C overtones tuning has the same range as NST, which can use extreme strings (.011 and .059 inches).

C-C-G-C-E-C

:C-C-G-C-E-C Using a high C rather than the high G of the overtone series, this open C tuning was used by Mick Ralphs for the songs " Can't Get Enough" and "Movin' On" on Bad Company's debut album. Ralphs said, "It needs the open C to have that ring," and "it never really sounds right in

standard tuning In music, standard tuning refers to the typical tuning of a string instrument. This notion is contrary to that of scordatura, i.e. an alternate tuning designated to modify either the timbre or technical capabilities of the desired instrument. V ...

Notes

References

* {{Guitar tunings, Open Open tunings