Change up your guitar sound by experimenting with a whole new set of sounds using alternate guitar tunings. To dive deeper, check out Soundfly’s free course series Alternate Tunings for the Creative Guitarist.
That 12-string guitar is a difficult thing to tune! All those high-tension thin strings can be really difficult to deal with, especially the high G string, so this instrument doesn’t necessarily readily encourage alternate tunings. It is a lot of work, but if you take the time to explore the options for alternate tunings on a 12-string, it can…
The Drop B tuning has primarily two different variations, both of which have been used almost entirely in the post-grunge rock of the early ‘90s. Pentagram guitarist Victor Griffin is credited with inventing the tuning, and he makes a point to tell players that the tuning sounds great when played “gingerly” as opposed to “heavily.” Yet today, we’re…
We are not Spotify, nor are we Bandcamp, so people don’t typically come to Soundfly to hunt for their next favorite artist. But that all might change once you hear the incredible music that these Soundfly Alumni are making! Come hang out in our humble Brooklyn office any day of the week, and you’ll find us jamming out…
In Soundfly’s new multi-module course, Alternate Tunings for the Creative Guitarist, we’ve started the series off with an introduction to one of the most popular alternate guitar tunings for songwriters, Open D. In this tuning, you can strum all the strings openly, without touching any frets, to play a brilliant D major chord. And that’s…
Tired of constantly glancing down at the fretboard during your solos? Having trouble singing while you play? Maybe you’re just out to emulate all your favorite blues musicians, like Blind Willie Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Willie McTell, or Sonny Terry (also blind)… none of whom could even see their guitar, let alone the fretboard! But for…
The consensus amongst musicians seems to be unanimous: Led Zeppelin has written and performed some of the most high-intensity rock and roll music ever. Yet beneath the fuzzed out, thunderous madness of Valhalla and Middle Earth typically associated with rock’s golden gods, there is a wealth of musical ingenuity and innovation waiting to be uncovered by…
There’s a very good reason why the pentatonic scale is so generally pleasing, applicable, and capable of making neck hairs stand on end: It’s something humans have been perfecting for a long time, and can be found in cultures all over the world. As a guitarist, I’ve often wondered whether the guitar was in some ways…
By Kathy Dickson If you have been a guitarist for any length of time, you’ve no doubt heard about scales and how you need to know them. But let’s face it, the sheer number of scales to learn can be overwhelming. They smack of theory and are boring to play, right? In truth, scales are…
We’re thrilled to announce the launch of our latest free course series, “Alternate Tunings for the Creative Guitarist”! The first installment, new this week, explores the nearly endless creative possibilities of the Open D tuning. If you’ve ever played a guitar, you’re probably familiar with standard tuning. The six strings of the instrument are commonly tuned…
Break out of standard and add rich, wistful tones to your shoegaze guitar tone using alternative guitar tunings! Explore Open D, C Wahine, and more!
