The open tunings I use on guitar to play bottle neck
slide are mostly open D & G. G tuning is also referred to as Spanish, Slack Key, Hawaiian or Sabastopol tuning. The
strings are tuned as follows:
D-G-D-G-B-D
Another tuning I use is open D
tuning, which is known as Vestapol tuning. Those strings are tuned as follows:
D-A-D-F#-A-D
If you want to play in the
key of A using open G tuning or the key of E using open D tuning, your guitar will better served by using a capo at the 2nd
fret respectively. More keys? Just move the capo up. In open D, I have learned to play in other keys depending
on voicings and licks I want to use. That's a lot of fun to do and it's practical in one regard because it adds dimension
to your voicings and it cuts down on hot swapping guitars during a show.
You'll find that using heavier gauge strings greatly benefit tone and general playability.
Heavier strings will add a bit more stiffness because of the lower string tension and will allow less string chatter against
a slide during inspired or heavy picking I have found. Stiffer strings keep you from crashing the frets with a slide too.
A slightly higher action is probably preferred by most players, but I have a pretty light touch and
I incorporate a lot of double stops and triads so I like my action low enough to fret. I use the following
gauges for electric guitar (open D & G):
.013-.017-.020w-.036-.046-.056
This is a typical jazz medium gauge set you'll find
in any music store. For acoustic resonator guitar wood or metal, biscuit or spider bridge style, I use a .016-.059 gauge phosphor
bronze string set. Though there is an endless stream of alternate tunings to be had, these are the two tunings I primarily
use.
