For some of the songs, Dylan uses alternate or open tunings. An open tuning is a tuning where all the strings are tuned to a chord, whereas alternate tunings are other ways of altering the tuning.
Open Tunings
There were tuned instruments before the guitar’s ancestors. They were usually tuned in open fifths, usually with drone strings and one or two melody strings. The baroque lute was tuned as an open d minor chord (with additional bass strings). The main advantage of the fourths/third tuning that we use, is the possibility of creating simple fingering patterns for many different chords in the same position.
An obvious consequence of open tunings is that playing is more limited to the key to which the open strings are tuned. The benefits are quite simple chord shapes, at least for the basic chords, which makes it easier to do fancy things on top of those chords; furthermore, unless one produces the other chords by simply putting a barre across all the strings, there will usually be open, sounding strings in all chords, thus giving a handy set of fancy-chords-with-very-long-names.
The most common open tunings (and the only ones encountered in Dylan’s production) are open D, open E and open G.
Open D and E are basically the same tuning, only one tone apart. Open E gives a brighter sound, which may be preferable, but it has the nasty side-effect of also producing the sharp sound of a broken string more often, and of putting extra strain on the neck of the guitar, so it is recommended to tune to open D and use a capo on the 2nd fret. Open D/E is encountered in a number of the songs on Freewheelin’, and the entire Blood on the Tracks was originally recorded in this tuning. For a more thorough presentation of Dylan’s use of the open D/E tuning, I refer to my introductory notes on Blood on the Tracks.
Open D D A d f# a d’
Open E E B e g# b e’
Songs: Highway 51
In My Time Of Dying
Roll On John
Two Trains Running
Freewheelin’ (I shall be Free, Corrina Corrina and Oxford Town)
Gypsy Lou
Tomorrow is a Long Time
Standing On The Highway
Rambling Gambling Willie
Walkin’ Down the Line
Whatcha Gonna Do?
Ballad For A Friend
Blood On The Tracks (all the songs)
Open G is the most common slide guitar tuning, popular among delta blues players. Since Dylan was an old delta blues player himself in his early carreer, you’ll find a few songs in this tuning. The only song on this site, though, is I Was Young When I Left Home.
Open G D G d g b d’
Open A. Two songs uses a completely different tuning: the Freewheelin’ outtake Wichita, which I’ve written more extensively about in the blog, and One Too Many Mornings.
Open A
E A c# e a e’ (Wichita Blues) or
E A c# e a c#’ (One Too Many Mornings)
Alternate Tunings
Again, there are really only three different tunings to keep track of in Dylan’s catalogue: drop D, drop C and double drop D (to my knowledge he’s never played “drop dead”). They all involve the 6th and deepest string: in drop D, the 6th string is tuned one step down, and in drop C, two steps. In double drop D both the 1st and the 6th strings are tuned down to D.
Standard tuning E A d g b e'
Drop D D A d g b e'
Drop C C A d g b e'
Double drop D D A d g b d'
All these tunings have their own distinct sets of chords, always centering around the deepest bass tone. An example is the chord G. In drop D tuning, the central chord is D (000232). Thus the natural way to finger G is 020033. In drop C, on the other hand, the central chord is C (032010), and the most comfortable version of G is 220001. This is a G7 chord, and this is consequently the only tuning in which Dylan consistently uses the dominant 7th chord, which he usually shuns. Another instructive example is Desolation Row, where drop C is used on the album, drop D in the live shows of 1965/66.
The three tunings had their periods. Double drop D is a thing of the early days. Since the third in the D chord (on the first string) is gone, it’s a perfect tuning for modal, folky songs like Ballad of Hollis Brown or John Brown, or blues tunes like Rocks And Gravel, Motherless Children, West Texas and Quit Your Low Down Ways. Drop D is also favoured in the early days. It is not as insistently a D-ish tuning as double drop D — it is more versatile, used both as a folky, modal tuning as in Barbara Allen or Masters of War, and as a way of varying the sound of standard three-chord songs like Mr Tambourine Man. Drop C is the favoured tuning in 1965/66, both solo, with Robbie in hotel rooms and with the band on stage. It gives a very forceful fundament, thanks to the doubled C in the bottom.
The merit of all these tunings is the fuller sound they produce. This may be a need felt by a solo acoustic act, but in a band, there is a bass player to fulfill that function. Double drop D disappeared very early, and there are no drop C songs after the 1966 tour. But on two songs he has been faithful to drop D, throughout his carreer: “It’s alright ma” and “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”.
Songs
Double Drop D
Down the Highway
Ballad of Hollis Brown
John Brown
Rocks And Gravel
Motherless Children
West Texas
Quit Your Low Down Ways.
Drop D
Bob Dylan: Gospel Plow, See That My Grave is Kept Clean, Fixin’ to Die
Long Ago, Far Away
Freewheelin’: Masters of War, A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
Handsome Molly
Seven Curses
Cuckoo Is A Pretty Bird
Barbara Allen
I Rode Out One Morning
James Alley Blues
Bringing it all Back Home: Mr Tambourine Man, It’s Alright Ma
Live 1966: Desolation Row, Tell me Momma
House Carpenter
World Gone Wrong: Broke Down Engine
Drop C
The Two Sisters (1960)
Bringing it all Back Home: It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue, Love Minus Zero/No Limit
Highway 61 Revisited: Desolation Row
Blonde on Blonde: 4th Time Around, Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands, Absolutely Sweet Marie
Live 1966: Just Like a Woman
I Wanna Be Your Lover
Farewell Angelina
On A Rainy Afternoon/Does She Need Me?
What Kind Of Friend Is This?