Grateful Dead Music Forum

I just bought The Best Of Crosby, Stills and Nash songbook by Hal Leonard Publishing I went to play Suite: Judy Blue Eyes (the song I bought the book for) and I saw the song was in Open E5 Tuning. I have a cheap ($50 dollar) guitar and I have had problems with the bridge (it came up once) so I was wondering if tuning it to open E5 is a smart thing to do. P.S. I also don't know for Open E5(low to high: E,Eb,E,E,B,E) do you tune up or down? Please help!! Thanks.

Open E5 seems similar to open E, which I use a lot for Stones songs (and for that awesome song that Garcia gave to the Airplane, Comin' Back to Me!)

In Open E, you tune up, tune the A up to B, the D up to E and the G up to G#. For open E5, I would assume (someone correct me if I'm wrong) you tune the A down to Eb, the D up to E and the G down to E

Since you're only tuning the D up, it might not be too bad, but I would be careful and probably not do it if it was my only guitar. Open tunings can be fun, but you would only play that one song in that tuning, so it's a pain to retune every time or to leave your guitar in an odd tuning.

If you're worried about the tension on the guitar, tune everything down a whole step (I guess 1/2 step or any step would work). The tuning would include D's and an A but you would play it the same on the fretboard (plus it's easier to sing). You could also use a capo to get back to the key of E.

By the way, I do not believe there is an Eb in the tuning. (E E E E B E). Tune down the A and G strings, tune up the D string

Open e5 tuning, as used by Stephen Stills in Suite: Judy Blue Eyes, is E, E, E, E, B,E...you tune the A(5th) string down to E to match the low E(6th)...you tune the D string(4th) UP to E, and the G string (3rd) DOWN to match the 4th string...the B(2nd)string remains the same, as does the high E(1st).....
In "Love the One You're With", he also uses open e5 tuning, but down 2 steps...so, the tuning is C,C,C,C,G,C....

Don't get it mixed up wit open E tuning,...as I've seen it suggested on here, its really NOT that similar...an open e5 chord is built around ONLY the root , and the 5th...there is no 3rd, so therefore it is NEITHER a major or minor "chord" ....
In open E tuning, it is built around the triad, or chord of E, which is E, G#,B.... so you're tuning is: E,B,E,G#B,E....
(I, like others, have killed 12-strings with open E tuning...I now use open D, (D,A,D,F#,A,D) which has the same chord structure, & just capo up 2 frets...