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Explore The World Of Open Tunings With These 5 Songwriting Guitar Lessons

Blair Dunlop

Experimenting with varied and open tunings can open a world of rich chord colors and new harmonic textures. Every time you become familiar with a new tuning, you provide the opportunity to create a fresh environment in which to immerse your audience.

In his Open Spaces edition of Songsmith, Blair Dunlop lets you in on how he uses some of his favorite open tunings. And, he helps you explore these tunings by showing you performance techniques that he uses to navigate them. So, you can employ these tunings and techniques in your own compositions.

Here are five video songwriting guitar lessons from the course. For the full course, check out Blair Dunlop’s Songsmith: Open Spaces on TrueFire!

Songwriting Guitar Lesson – Feng Shui: Overview


Download the tab & notation for this songwriting guitar lesson

An intimate song taking place in a memory-filled house. It’s underpinned by a cyclical riff which remains constant despite the changing root notes. Uses heavy muting on the right hand to help lock the groove in.

Songwriting Guitar Lesson – Feng Shui: Performance


Download the tab & notation for this songwriting guitar lesson

Here, I’ll perform the piece in full so you can hear how it sounds all together. Next, I’ll break each section down, and the techniques I am using in each.

Songwriting Guitar Lesson – The Verse Section: Breakdown


Download the tab & notation for this songwriting guitar lesson

First, let’s take a look at the verse section.

Songwriting Guitar Lesson – The Chorus Section: Breakdown


Download the tab & notation for this songwriting guitar lesson

Now, we’ll focus on the chorus.

Songwriting Guitar Lesson – The Form & Embellishments: Breakdown


Download the tab & notation for this songwriting guitar lesson

Finally, let’s put the pieces together and talk about the overarching form of the song.

Digging these free video songwriting guitar lessons? Check out Blair Dunlop’s Songsmith: Open Spaces.

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