Open G Tuning on 6-String Guitar: Notes, Chords and How to Use It

Open G is one of those tunings that feels like a secret door. Retune three strings, strum without touching the fretboard, and your guitar rings out a full, shimmering chord. It's the sound behind a huge amount of slide blues and loose, swaggering rock and roll, and it's surprisingly friendly for newer players because so much of the hard work is done for you by the open strings. Let's get you into it and show you what to do once you're there.

Tuning Into Open G, Step by Step

The good news: only three strings change, and all of them go down. Strings 4, 3 and 2 (D, G and B) stay exactly where they are in standard tuning.

A quick term first. A half step is the distance of one fret. A whole step is two half steps, or two frets. Every change here is a whole step down.

1. String 6: E down to D. Loosen your thickest string slowly. Play your open 4th string (D) and listen. When string 6 sounds like a deeper version of that same note, you're there. Musicians call this an octave: the same note, higher or lower.
2. String 5: A down to G. Now that string 6 is D, press it at the 5th fret. That note is G. Loosen string 5 until its open sound matches.
3. String 1: E down to D. Your open 4th string is D, so tune string 1 until it sounds like a higher version of it. For a second check, press string 2 (B) at the 3rd fret: that's D too, and should match open string 1 exactly.

Tune down past the note slightly, then come back up to it. Strings hold their pitch better that way. A tuner is fine, but practising by ear like this trains you to hear when things are right.

Your strings, from the thickest (nearest your chin) to the thinnest, now read: D, G, D, G, B, D.

What Changes, and Why Players Love It

Strum all six open strings. That's a G major chord. A chord is just several notes sounding together, and a major chord has that bright, settled, happy quality. Look closely and you'll see open G only uses three different notes, G, B and D, repeated across the strings. That repetition is why it sounds so rich and full.

Here's why players reach for it:

• Big, ringing sound. With so many strings vibrating on notes from the same chord, the guitar resonates more. It sounds wider than standard tuning.
• Easy chord shapes. Lay one finger flat across all six strings at the same fret (a barre) and you get another major chord. Barre the 5th fret and you have C major; barre the 7th and you have D major. G, C and D are the three chords behind countless blues, rock and folk songs, and here each one is a single finger.
• Slide guitar. A slide is a tube you rest across the strings instead of pressing them down. Since a slide can only make straight lines, a tuning where straight lines are chords is perfect. That's why open G is a staple of Delta-style slide blues.
• Riffs with drones. A drone is a note that keeps ringing underneath while other notes move. In open G, you can play a melody on one or two strings while the open strings hum along, giving riffs a thick, gritty character.

The most famous open G player is Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, who used it on songs like "Brown Sugar" and "Start Me Up". He famously takes the 6th string off altogether and plays with five, so the lowest note is the G on string 5.

Understanding the Gaps Between Strings

The distance between two notes is called an interval. Here are the gaps between neighbouring strings in open G:

• D to G: a perfect 4th (5 frets)
• G to D: a perfect 5th (7 frets)
• D to G: a perfect 4th (5 frets)
• G to B: a major 3rd (4 frets)
• B to D: a minor 3rd (3 frets)

Those 4ths and 5ths are the most stable, open-sounding intervals in music, which is why the low strings sound so powerful together. The 3rds on top are what give the chord its sweet, major flavour.

How Scale and Chord Shapes Shift

This is the part that trips people up, so let's make it simple. Your familiar standard-tuning shapes won't work as-is on the strings you changed.

On strings 6, 5 and 1, every note now sits two frets higher than you're used to, because the open string starts a whole step lower. The G you used to find at the 3rd fret of string 6 is now at the 5th fret.

Strings 4, 3 and 2 haven't moved, so any small shape you know on just those three strings still works perfectly. That's a handy anchor while you find your feet.

Rather than forcing old patterns, think in a new way: open strings and straight barres are your home base, and you decorate them. Try a barre, then add one finger a fret or two above it on strings 2 or 3. You'll stumble onto the classic sounds of this tuning almost immediately.

Your First Thing to Try

Strum the open strings in a steady rhythm, four strums. Then barre the 5th fret for four strums, then back to open for four. Now barre the 7th fret for four, and finish with the open strings again. That's G, C, D and home: the backbone of a thousand songs.

Once that feels comfortable, keep strumming the open G but press string 2 at the 1st fret, then string 3 at the 2nd fret, letting everything else ring. Listen to how those small moves rub against the drone, then resolve back when you let go. That push and release is the whole personality of open G.

Spend ten minutes a day just playing around here, ears first. Don't worry about rules. This tuning rewards curiosity, and the moment you play something that makes you grin, you'll understand why players have loved it for generations.

More on the instrument itself: the 6-String Guitar guide.