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For something over a year, I've been playing my guitar with an alternate tuning I invented, having found myself unable to get anywhere using conventional tuning since my fingers would always brush up against strings they're not supposed to. Unlike some "novice tunings" which e.g. allow major chords to be played easily but make minor chords just about impossible, or which require ten-fret shifts when going between certain chords, this tuning allows all major, minor, and seventh chords to be played easily within a reasonable range (first nine frets, with the first finger confined to the first six).

If anyone's written about or discussed this tuning before, I'd like to read about it [hence the question https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/9456/has-anyone-encountered-g-d-d-f-g-b-tuning-guitar which I hope is on-topic as written]. If nobody's ever written about this tuning before, I'm curious what the most appropriate way would be to solicit opinions about it. I don't wish to be overly vain, but the fact that a novice (myself) could in 48 hours go from not being able to play anything, to being able to play Mermaid Song [Lloyd Weber] and Amazed [Lonestar] would suggest that the tuning does offer some unique advantages which many people may find useful.

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From our FAQ:

You should only ask practical, answerable questions based on actual problems that you face. Chatty, open-ended questions diminish the usefulness of our site and push other questions off the front page.

...

If your motivation for asking the question is “I would like to participate in a discussion about ______”, then you should not be asking here.

Soliciting opinions is not what we do; this is a site for concrete questions and answers that help someone with a concrete problem.

If you have a specific question about tunings in general or a particular tuning, you should ask it directly.

  • My original question sought to ask two things: (1) whether anyone had encountered or written about the tuning before; (2) what forums would be suitable for discussing such tuning, if it is not already being written about elsewhere. The former question would be answerable in the affirmative if anyone has heard of it or similar tunings, and could be somewhat answered in the negative if people who would likely have heard of it have not done so. The second question would also seem to be answerable, and directly relates to an "actual problem" [seeking a suitable forum]. – supercat Jan 23 '13 at 4:59
  • @supercat We're not a directory for other sites. If you know something isn't suitable for us, here (Meta) or Music: Practice & Theory Chat is the best place to ask where else you can look. – Matthew Read♦ Jan 23 '13 at 17:56
  • Would the question be on-topic if I reworded it to ask what tunings people knew of that had certain features of mine (even if nobody happens to use my exact tuning, I would expect that some people might e.g. use a non-Ostrich 6-string tuning which includes a pair of strings an octave apart, or use a group of minor-third-tuned strings to allow chords like a closed-form 7th.) There are a number of times I've invented something, gone through the trouble of writing it up, and then discovered someone else had invented the same thing earlier and... – supercat Jan 23 '13 at 18:39
  • ...explored its possibilities so much better than I'd yet managed that my write-up was basically a wasted effort. Whether or not this would be the appropriate venue for figuring out what to do with anything I write up, trying to make certain that my work is not redundant before I put too much time in would seem a bona fide "problem", would it not? And if the question were somewhat more general, answers could be of use for anyone seeking to e.g. play a melody in doubled octaves. – supercat Jan 23 '13 at 18:43
  • @supercat Sure, I would think something like "Are there any guitar tunings where I can play all major/minor/7th chords with at least 5 strings?" would be a good question. – Matthew Read♦ Jan 23 '13 at 20:20
  • Fair enough. How should I handle answering it, since I know that at least one such tuning exists? – supercat Jan 23 '13 at 20:28
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    @supercat Providing your own answer is actually something we encourage, just do so in an answer rather than the question. – Matthew Read♦ Jan 23 '13 at 23:03

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