Open C tuning (CGCGCE)

Open C: the strings and their notes

Open C from standard

What open C is

Open C tunes the guitar to a wide-open C major chord: C G C G C E, low to high. Four strings move: the 6th goes down two whole steps (E to C), the 5th a whole step (A to G), the 4th a whole step (D to C) and the 2nd up a semitone (B to C). The 3rd (G) and 1st (E) stay. With roots and fifths on the four low strings and only one third at the top, it rings big and open.

It is a fingerstyle and ambient tuning more than a strumming one: the low C drones under melodies on the top strings, and the 5th and 7th frets give F and G for the three chords of a song in C. Players who use it often add a heavier 6th string, since the low C keeps only 63 % of its tension.

How to tune to Open C from standard

With the tuner above: tap Start, play each string the table changes and turn until the needle sits in the middle. By ear, without the tuner:

1. 4th string: D3 to C3. Its 7th fret should sound like the open 3rd string (G3).
2. 5th string: A2 to G2. Its 5th fret should sound like the open 4th string (C3).
3. 6th string: E2 to C2. Its 7th fret should sound like the open 5th string (G2).
4. 2nd string: B3 to C4. The 3rd string at its 5th fret (C4) should sound like this string open.

Then check the whole tuning once more with the tuner: retuning one string moves the neck, and the others drift a few cents.

On the same strings, tension follows the square of the pitch: the 6th string keeps 63 % of its pull; the 4th and 5th strings keep 79 % of their pull; the 2nd string goes up to 112 % of its pull, so tune it up slowly. Slacker strings buzz and read flat at the attack; for more than a whole step down, a heavier set (or at least a heavier low string) keeps the feel.

What one finger plays

Strummed open, the strings ring C. A finger or a slide straight across the 5th fret gives F, across the 7th G, and the 12th is C an octave up: the three chords of a blues in one straight line.

Playing in open C

• The low C is the deepest open-tuning note on a six-string; tune it with the string ringing and wait for the needle to settle.
• The 2nd string goes up a semitone to C: the only raised string, so tune it last.
• Related: drop C has the same low C under a whole-step-down standard; open D and open G are the brighter open tunings.

All six strings in standard and the other tunings: the guitar tuner. Any note at all: the chromatic tuner.

Then play something

The notes you tuned can go into Brumm as a short melody over a beat. Hum a line on top and it becomes an instrument.

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