Open C Guitar Tuning  -  CGCGCE

I used to play quite a lot in Open C  -  from the bass up: CGCGCE.  It's a particularly lovely tuning, and consequently I found when I played out that I often used to get asked about it.  Because at one time there didn't seem much out there about it except lists of songs that have been or may be played in it, and the odd tab, I decided to pass on such knowledge that I have.

In what follows you're expected to be at the level of a competent guitarist in standard or other tunings, familiar with techniques such as sliding, and hammering on / pulling off.

Two things to note about the tuning if you've never tried it ...

• It's useful to have a second guitar for it.
  
  The 6th is down 2 whole tones and tends to slap, so you need a highish action and the heaviest strings you can find, or mix and match normal-ish top three getting heavier going down to the 6th  -  the heaviest I can get in local shops is D'Addario PB Heavy (0.014 - 0.059in, 0.36 - 1.5mm), but, for Open C, I would prefer 0.060in+ on the 6th.
  
  However, a stiff action set up like this may not be welcome in standard tuning, hence the usefulness of a second guitar.
  
  
• If you already play in Open G (DGDGBD), transposing between the two is particularly easy.

I originally needed a tuning that was good for pentatonic, traditional material and had discovered Open G was quite good on things in G and, capo-ed up, in A, but I found it wanting on such material in D.  Then the big cartoon light bulb came on about transposition between the two tunings, and almost without new learning I transposed a song, Matt Armour's 'The Isle Of May', that I had originally capoed quite a long way up in Open G, to Open C, thereby being able to improve the sound from the guitar and sing it more comfortably.  Open C capo-ed up was an answer for material in D.

While it's particularly good for traditional, pentatonic material, Open C is actually more versatile than that  -  I ended up having accompaniments for Bob Dylan and Mary Chapin Carpenter songs in it as well.

To work then ...

1. First, I'll simply list the basic chord shapes.
2. Second, I'll explain how I string some of them together into basic chord progressions.
3. Third and finally there are worked examples: 'The Mingulay Boat Song' / 'Atlantic Rollers'.