Experimenting With Your Loog Guitar Tuning

Let’s talk about guitar tunings! We promise it’s fun.

One of the great things about the Loog Guitar is that it only has three strings. Why is that great? As most of you know, it makes playing really easy but it also frees you up to experiment and try new things.

[Just a quick note for all of you out there: remember that we also offer a mini-headstock tuner at the Loog Store to help you tune your Loog, but any tuner will do!]

Enter how you tune your guitar. As you know, we have several tuning recommendations based on your expertise. First you should start with an Open A tuning, so just strumming the three strings would make a chord. Try it out: you just tune the guitar following A-E-A and fret the three strings in any position to get a full-sounding chord. Easy!

 

In level 2, we tune the Loog guitar as the 5th, 4th and 3rd guitar strings of a “normal” guitar: A-D-G. This lets you play power chords, that are great for rock music and for punk songs. Here, you play the same chords than before but using two fingers as bars. The same finger position makes different chords as you move along the fretboard, teaching beginners to keep the correct distance between fingers while playing.

Finally, in level 3 we suggest you tune your Loog as the first 3 strings of a guitar: G, B and E. This lets you play major chords (with your traditional D chord shape) and minor chords (with a D minor chord shape). With this tuning you can play literally any song that you throw at it! Except for those weird and strange Bossa Nova songs, of course

 

But that’s not even the tip of the iceberg! You can keep experimenting to try new ways in which to play the Loog and many of our fans have done it. Here are some suggestions you to try in your Loog guitar, on your own or with your kid.

 

NEW TUNINGS TO HAVE FUN EXPERIMENTING
Here’s something you can try: downtune your Loog half a step, or even a whole step. For instance, you can try changing the tuning from E-A-E to Eb-Ab-Eb. You will notice how your Loog will sound completely different: a bit “darker’. Less tension on the strings is just an added bonus that will make your Loog easier on the fingers to play. Liked the switch? Well, there’s more you can do.

GO METAL
You can even try to downtune a whole step – that would mean going from E-A-E to D-G-D. This is a favorite to unleash the inner metal head in you! With that tuning, the guitar will sound VERY dark. But be careful, because tuning the guitar so low will make the strings a bit flabby. Just try it out and see

OPEN MAJOR CHORDS
Want more options? Try this: You can tune the guitar so it makes a major chord when played open. For example: E-A-C# will get you a major A chord in the open position, that you can move all over your fretboard. Fun! You can try different chords and finger positions and see what you come up with.

THE BLUES
Rainy Day? Feeling the blues? Just listened to those battered old Delta Blues records? You’ve heard us tweet and post about how switching all major chords to minor chords in a song changes its sound to make a formerly ‘happy’ song ‘sad’. To hear this, try an Open minor tuning, like E-G-B. This will make everything you play in your Loog SAD, so try to keep it away from rainy Sundays.

Once you’ve tried all of those, experiment! Feel free to try odd and weird tunings. Not only is it loads of fun, you can also surprise yourself with every new twist.

Have any of you Loog enthusiasts tried out any another tunings? Tell us in the comments!