5 famous songs in open E tuning - easy to advanced

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In this video

We check out 5 great songs which you might never have played before as they are in Open E tuning! This is the time to embrace an awesome sounding new tuning that actually makes learning these songs easy!

Open E tuning low to high - E - B - E - G# - B - E

00:00 - Video overview

00:54 - Tune to Open E tuning from standard

02:12 - Something in the Air - chords

05:06 - Big Yellow Taxi - chords

09:50 - Can’t Always Get What You Want - chords

13:29 - Jumpin Jack Flash

18:47 - Gimme Shelter

21:49 - Where to go from here

Key moments

  • Looking into how to tune the guitar to Open E and how the tuning offers advantages for playing the guitar, such as making bar chords easier & providing unique chord shapes.

  • "Something in the Air" by Thunderclap Newman is a great song for beginners in open E tuning, with simple chords and a catchy strumming pattern.

  • "Big Yellow Taxi" by Joni Mitchell introduces barre chords in open E tuning, allowing beginners to practice this technique as it just uses 1 finger!

  • "Can't Always Get What You Want" by The Rolling Stones uses capo, giving players the opportunity to experiment with different sounds but the shapes are all the same

  • "Jumpin' Jack Flash" by The Rolling Stones is a great intermediate challenge as the barring still uses just 1 finger for the chords but the other fingers are needed for quite big stretches

  • "Gimme Shelter" by The Rolling Stones is an awesome way to end this video as it really showcases open E tuning & it's distinct sound!

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