[spiked]

for some of my songs I use open tunings and some people consider it cheating....what do you guys think about it?

i dont use it cause its easier, but because its a better sound.

[captain_rock]

if you are using it becuase it sounds better then it is not really cheating.
If you are playing songs using an acoustic guitar, the odds are that it will sound better if they are played using open chords.

[pimp_vince]

my music teacher told me i was cheating when i tuned to CACGCE for bron-yr-aur... i think he's insane, that and he doesn't play guitar.

[dadfad]

Cheating? That's ridiculous. Some tunes absolutely cannot be played any other way. Whoever says that is a music ignoramus. I suppose their solution is you just can't or shouldn't play that kind of music.

[halfmoonbay]

Dropping the low-E down to D because you can't play power chords properly is a bit of a cop-out. Tuning to DADF#AD or Open-G or whatever so you can use different chord voicings etc is a whole different barrel of trout.*



*like a kettle of fish, only bigger.

[goldrush]

Guitars have always been tuned to different tunings. Just because EADGBE is considered "standard" doesn't make alternate tunings "cheating". DADFAD is right: anyone who thinks it's cheating is an ignoramus.

[evileye]

Tuning a guitar to a different tuning is allmost like a whole new instrument!

[randomorwhat]

Cheating? That's ridiculous. Some tunes absolutely cannot be played any other way. Whoever says that is a music ignoramus. I suppose their solution is you just can't or shouldn't play that kind of music.

True

Tunings just give diversity

[igorski]

Like the drop D thing, if you retune to play stuff you can play perfectly well in standard tuning, but want to do with one finger, and not change the original part, well that veers towards 'cheating'

however retuning to achieve notes or creating different intervals that aren't possible in standard tuning AND ACTUALLY USING THAT seems like a perfectly natural thing to do, to me.

[Volitan]

Ok... I say if you are playing all the right notes at the right time.. you are playing music.. should it matter how you are doing it?