Skip to main content
MusicRadar MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Drums Week 25
  • Synths
  • Guitars
  • Guitar Pedals
  • Guitar Amps
  • Keyboards & Pianos
  • Controllers
  • Artist news
  • Drums
  • Software & Apps
  • More
    • Recording
    • DJ Gear
    • Acoustic Guitars
    • Bass Guitars
    • Tech
    • Tutorials
    • Reviews
    • Buying Guides
    • About Us
More
  • Santana on Beck
  • Friday, I'm in Love
  • Knopfler's 4-note secret
  • 95k+ free music samples
Don't miss these
Jason Isbell plays a Martin dreadnought onstage in Norway
Artists Jason Isbell has some advice for any young player who has just bought their first acoustic guitar
native instruments
Music Production Tutorials "As nuanced as the real thing, but only if you know what you're doing": The ultimate guide to plugin guitars
Home studio
Music Theory And Songwriting You don't need to be a music theory expert to make electronic music, but it helps - here's our guide to the basics
Acoustic Guitars From Parlour to Jumbo: The beginner's guide to acoustic guitar body shapes (and which one is right for you)
MIDI
Digital Audio Workstation How to humanise your virtual acoustic instruments in your DAW projects
bon iver
Music Production Tutorials "It’s simple enough to create the perfect hard-tuned and harmonised effects within our DAW, providing you have the right software": How to harness hard-tuned vocals
Yungblud
Artists Yungblud reveals his secret to making acoustics sound massive – and hints at future signature model
Steven Wilson performs live onstage with his custom shop Fender Telecaster. The stage is illuminated in green stage lights.
Artists Steven Wilson reveals the $20 plugin he used on all the guitars on his new space rock epic
Circle of fifths
Music Theory And Songwriting The ultimate guide to the circle of fifths and how it can help you make better music
TC Electronic Polytune clip-on tuner on a Martin acoustic guitar headstock
Guitar Tuners Best clip-on guitar tuners 2025: Top headstock and soundhole tuners to buy right now
Overhead shot of electronic drum set plugged into a laptop running a VST
Drum Lessons & Tutorials “At certain points in music history it became fashionable to place accents on certain beats”: How to score a drum part
Paul McCartney
Artists The lesser-heard theory tricks that lay behind the magic of the Beatles' Yesterday
Brent Mason
Artists “You hear the record and they took you off!”: Ace session guitarist Brent Mason reveals how he made it to the top
Brent Mason performs at Guitar Town at Copper Mountain, Colorado on 29 July, 2007
Artists “I said, ‘Damn, I wish I'd cut that song faster!’”: How a master guitarist made a cult classic instrumental album
Adrian Smith on stage in 2025
Artists “He said, ‘Your upstrokes are weak!’ I’m like, ‘You effin’ what?’”: Iron Maiden's Adrian Smith never stops learning
  1. Tutorials
  2. Guitar Lessons & Tutorials

Acoustic Technique 101

News
By Guitarist ( Guitarist ) published 21 November 2012

Alternate tunings, using a capo and travis picking

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Technique 101

Technique 101

ACOUSTIC WEEK If you want to play the acoustic guitar effectively, then it’s worth adding some extra basic techniques and approaches to how you would play your electric guitar.

The following open tuning, picking and strumming exercises are aimed at beginners and improvers alike who are keen to explore the extra dynamic and tonal opportunities offered by the acoustic instrument.

Page 1 of 6
Page 1 of 6
Capo shapes

Capo shapes

The examples that we’ve put together here should act as a springboard for all kinds of styles and ideas – even the simple act of playing an open D shape with the capo at the seventh fret should remind you of a Sunny Beatles song! It’s a whole new world.

Page 2 of 6
Page 2 of 6
DADGAD

DADGAD

DADGAD tuning is generally regarded as the discovery of late, great English folk guitarist Davy Graham and is a revelation for many players.

While enjoying the distinction of being one of the few tunings you can actually pronounce, it’s unrivalled in its user- friendliness – all those D and A strings are brimming with drone and melodic potential.

It’s classed as a ‘modal’ tuning – neither major nor minor – allowing easy adaptability to various moods. Experiment; noodling in DADGAD can sound very flattering.

Page 3 of 6
Page 3 of 6
Open Csus2

Open Csus2

This is the rich and beautiful open Csus2, giving you CGDGCD, low to high.

But for the ease with which DADGAD can be pronounced as a word, we struggle to see why Csus2 tuning cannot share the popularity that its cousin has enjoyed.

It provides excellent scope for playing drone-like strumming accompaniment, open-string runs and deep, resonant bass notes. Some well-known exponents of the tuning include English folk legends Nic Jones and Martin Simpson, and US guitarist Steve Baughman.

Page 4 of 6
Page 4 of 6
Nashville tuning

Nashville tuning

While you can use the two tunings on the left instantly, this one takes a little more planning because you need to restring your guitar.

It sounds like a hassle, but by golly is it worth it! Nashville tuning uses what is, in effect, the thinnest strings of a 12-string set (for example, from low to high 0.027, 0.018, 0.014, 0.009, 0.016, 0.012).

As a result, it’s also called high-strung guitar tuning. A good few of our chums have a guitar set aside purely for Nashville tuning. It works wonders layered alongside a regular-strung guitar.

Page 5 of 6
Page 5 of 6
Travis picking

Travis picking

Inspired by the sound of ragtime piano as well as country, jazz and blues, country and western legend Merle Travis played alternating bass parts with syncopated melodies, wowing audiences with his ‘band-in-a-box’ style.

His tunes, such as Cannonball Rag and Blue Smoke, have become country-picking favourites, as played by modern-day masters such as Tommy Emmanuel and Richard Smith. This example shows the basics.

Page 6 of 6
Page 6 of 6
Guitarist
Guitarist
Social Links Navigation

Guitarist is the longest established UK guitar magazine, offering gear reviews, artist interviews, techniques lessons and loads more, in print, on tablet and on smartphones
Digital: http://bit.ly/GuitaristiOS
If you love guitars, you'll love Guitarist. Find us in print, on Newsstand for iPad, iPhone and other digital readers

The magazine for serious players image
The magazine for serious players
Subscribe and save today!
More Info
Read more
Jason Isbell plays a Martin dreadnought onstage in Norway
Jason Isbell has some advice for any young player who has just bought their first acoustic guitar
native instruments
"As nuanced as the real thing, but only if you know what you're doing": The ultimate guide to plugin guitars
Home studio
You don't need to be a music theory expert to make electronic music, but it helps - here's our guide to the basics
From Parlour to Jumbo: The beginner's guide to acoustic guitar body shapes (and which one is right for you)
MIDI
How to humanise your virtual acoustic instruments in your DAW projects
bon iver
"It’s simple enough to create the perfect hard-tuned and harmonised effects within our DAW, providing you have the right software": How to harness hard-tuned vocals
Latest in Guitar Lessons & Tutorials
Close up of a person holding an acoustic guitar bathed sunlight
Ignite your inner guitar god for just 27 cents a day with TrueFire’s July 4th sale - save 60% on online lessons
MusicNomad fret tuition
Can you fix your guitar's frets yourself? We try three innovative approaches from MusicNomad to investigate how they might conquer a major cause of fret buzz
George Harrison
How to play like George Harrison on The Beatles' Abbey Road
MusicNomad guitar fret cleaning
"You owe your guitar the chance to be its best": How to clean and polish your guitar frets a better way
Jimmy Page
Play like Jimmy Page! Exclusive video lesson
Music Theory
How learning and understanding chord symbols can prove a major benefit for sharing your musical ideas
Latest in News
Damon Albarn in 2001
“A crazy amount of falsetto… definitely related to the drugs I was taking”: Damon Albarn let slips secret about debut Gorillaz album
A selection of Waves plugins on a yellow and orange background
I've been through Waves entire Labor Day plugin sale and these 5 gems at $34.99 each are unmissable - plus get 2 free when you buy 2
Sonicware Liven Lofi-12 XT
Sonicware’s retro Lofi-12 XT sampler’s v1.5 update makes it more creative and versatile than ever
Ava Max performs during the 2024 ARIA Awards at Hordern Pavilion on November 20, 2024 in Sydney, Australia
“The doctor said, ‘I’ve never seen a miracle like this’”: Ava Max reveals how her vocal chords grew back – in a fortnight
A pair of Sennheiser in-ear monitors on a pink background
Three of our highest-rated in-ear monitors just got a massive discount in the Thomann In-Ear Days sale - IEMs starting from just £91
Artium Instruments The Doppler
The Doppler is a desktop FM synth designed for ‘ultra-tweakability’

MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...