tonic chord question

[billkilpatrick]

strictly speaking this is more of a general music question than a mandolin question but if anyone can explain the following quote, i'd be very much obliged:

"as his tunings were not 'open' tunings, but rather were tuned to suspensions - in other words at least on(e) string must be fretted to reach the tonic chord..."

would i be correct in saying this means a partially open tuning in which one or more strings must be fingered to make a chord?

in any case, could you give an example which pertains to a guitar?

sincerely - bill

[Bruce Evans]

I don't completely understand the quote. I think the fragment you have posted is a bit out of context, but from what I see, you are correct. DADGAD is an example of "suspension" tuning. Open, it is a Dsus4 chord. Fret the 4th string at the fourth fret and the 3rd string at the second fret and you have a D chord.

[POB]

Hi Bill,

DADGAD would be an example. In its own right, it's a Dsus4 chord (because of the G note), but if, for example, you fret the G string at the second fret and the middle D string at the 4th fret, you get a D major chord.

The phrase "open tuning" often, but not always, refers to having all the open strings spell out a straight major or minor chord (such as DADF#AD or DADFAD) rather than a suspended. So, some would say DADGAD is not an open tuning, others would say that it is.

[POB]

Oops - my post crossed with Tocotodo's.

[Bruce Evans]

Oops - my post crossed with Tocotodo's.
Well, I least I can be first at SOMETHING. #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

I'm glad we agreed!

[billkilpatrick]

clear as a bell, thanks!