{"id":116818,"date":"2022-09-22T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-22T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/?p=116818"},"modified":"2023-05-31T20:00:30","modified_gmt":"2023-06-01T03:00:30","slug":"which-alternate-tunings-are-most-commonly-used-in-blues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/which-alternate-tunings-are-most-commonly-used-in-blues\/","title":{"rendered":"Which Alternate Tunings are Most Commonly Used in Blues?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The two principal open tunings have old, vernacular American names that I still like to use: Vastopol and Spanish. Rather than conceptualize tunings by a letter name that corresponds to a particular key (i.e., \u201copen A\u201d or \u201copen D\u201d), it\u2019s useful to think of them in terms of the intervals of which they\u2019re composed. That\u2019s what these names are about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vastopol tuning, usually an open D or E major chord, is named for a popular 19th-century guitar instrumental called \u201cSebastopol.\u201d (It\u2019s a port on the Black Sea, the scene of a pivotal engagement in the Crimean War!) Here are the notes of the D and E versions of Vastopol, low to high, followed by the scale degrees for each note. The 1 refers to the tonic <\/em>or root <\/em>note of the chord, 5 is the fifth, and 3 is the third. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Vastopol<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Spanish tuning also takes its name from a parlor guitar favorite, \u201cSpanish Fandango<\/a>.\u201d Here\u2019s the most common G version, followed by the A version and the scale degrees:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Spanish<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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