Sometimes it's difficult to play certain keys on the guitar. For example, it might be easy to play A b or C # on the keyboard. Of course, you can play barre chords but those are difficult for beginning guitarists and often people want an open sound. So how do we play open versions of strange chords?

We can use a capo. If you look on the guitar chord progression chart above then you can see some capo versions of certain chord progressions. For example, if you put a capo on the 1st fret and play the open G chord progression then you get the A b open chord progression. Of course, you must move each chord down 1 fret. The m and r fingers must be moved from the 3rd to the 4th fret. The i finger must be moved from the 2nd fret to the 3rd fret.

Explore the Chord Progression List for chords in any key. It has capo chords charted out too.

Alternate Tuning

Sometimes we can use alternate tunings to create more interesting sounds on the guitar or make chord formation easier. A common alternate tuning is known as open G tuning. How do we create open G tuning?

First, let's look at standard tuning. The strings are tuned to the following notes going from left to right.

E, A, D, G, B, E

We must change this tuning to D, G, D, G, B, D. Remember, always tune the strings down for alternate tuning. Tuning them up might break the strings.

Here are some chords in open G tuning:

G - 0 0 0 0 0 0

C - 5 5 5 5 5

D - 7 7 7 7 7

A m - 2 2 2 2 1 x