Best tuning for rock on a 6 string non-pedal guitar?

[Michael Johnstone]

If you had 8 strings and you should if you can,Junior Brown's C6 with a 7th on the bottom is a great tuning for blues,swing,jazz and any kind of country.
Hi>Lo G,E,C,A,G,E,C,Bb. Besides all the scalar stuff and the usual chords available on C6, if you use the 8th string Bb as a root tone there's some very useful extended & altered chords to be had like 13ths, 7b5s, maj7s and 7#9s. There's a reason Junior Brown uses that one. Ya need 8 strings tho.
I play that tuning on my CruzTone S-8 dropped down to A for more balls.

[b0b]

I've been playing around with your tuning bOb. I like it. All the chords one is likely to encounter in about 98% of popular songs are right under the bar and lots of nice hammers. Do you call it Gmaj 9th? That's what the online chord namers call it, but it really seems more of an Open D variation. The non major triad notes are on 5 and 6, easily avoided when you don't want them. Very nice. What is your 8 string version?

--Chase

I call it "D over G", and the 8-string version "D6 over G" - G B D F# A B D F#.

[Stefan Robertson]

Loads of choices and an overwhelming set of advice to nudge you toward the 6th tunings. If you are playing single note leads then the proximity of the notes i.e.the intervals is crucial. If it's just single note playing on one string solo like Lindley and Ben Harper then the tuning doesn't matter chord ally much. You can do that with any major tuning but beware as very thing sounds like blues. Once you start playing chords.

[Karl Fehrenbach]

I am surprised no one has brought up an old traditional E7 tuning:

Low to High: B-D-E-G#-B-E. This has been around a long time. Mel Bay publishes a book on it by Roger Filiberto. A very academic approach to the tuning.
I like the fact that it is an E based tuning so the geography of the neck is in keeping with a guitar, so finding my way around is not a problem. The 4,5,6 string combination yields a great dominant 7 chord sound. I lower the 5th string, D, to C# when I need to "cowboy up" and have the traditional 6th sound in the chord.

[Jim Wilmoth]

...If you are playing major chords, there is one string (F#) you have to avoid - the "Hawaiian bomb" as it is known but apart from that, it's really cool...

Overtime one learns enough hand and pick blocking to avoid the dreaded Hawaiian Dagobah note :-P

[Kirk Eipper]

You guys have been great so I bought a straight E set and a C6 set which will force me to get the tuners back on my old fender.
The old knobs just crumbled and I have some repro ones that I will use on my '48 deluxe guitar.
I guess it makes sense if you have two guitars to have a E7 or something and then the C6 for the more jazz type stuff.

[Ron Funk]

I also favor Open E on my LapDancer Tele

Keep in mind that Al Perkins can rock the house with "Crossroads" - and he uses dobro standard G tuning on his Fender steel

[Doug Finch]

I'm new at lap steel for what it's worth, but I'm having fun stealing licks from Elmore James and Duane Allman in open E tuning.

[Jim Wilmoth]

My pedal steel friend pushed me to C6th on lap steel when I started and I'm so glad he did. Having learned C6th now (and minor variations) there are so many possibilities once you get blocking down - a tuning rich with chords and lead runs.

Several years later going to learn open E for some rock situations has been interesting. From a single lead and double stop perspective Open E is quick, it's fast to learn and easy to find single lead lines.

On the other hand from a complex chordal and particularly harmonizing perspective it's just way to constricting.

Open E absolutely has it's place for Blues/Rock and even some Hawaiian but and 8 string C6th (and variations thereof) have a lot to offer.