Guitar tuning

Open A Tuning

E·A·C#·E·A·E

Tonal centre A major Also called E A C# E A E, slide open A Difficulty Easy shapes, relaxed tension

Open on the Canvas → Explore chords in the app

Open A tunes the strings to an A major chord, arranged E, A, C#, E, A, E from low to high. The bottom two strings stay where standard tuning left them; the middle three come down to fill in the chord. Strummed, it rings as A major with its fifth in the bass.

It is one of the classic country-blues slide tunings. Several Robert Johnson recordings usually written out in Open G are now thought to have been played in Open A instead. Elmore James, Son House and later players like Rory Gallagher used it for the same reason they used Open D or G — a slide laid flat across the strings sounds a full chord at any fret.

How to tune to Open A

From standard tuning:

6th (lowest) E — unchanged
5th A — unchanged
4th D → C# (down a semitone)
3rd G → E (down a minor third)
2nd B → A (down a whole step)
1st (highest) E — unchanged

Open—Shape’s tuner listens for one string at a time and tells you which string it is and how far off — including in alternate tunings like this one.

What Open A does well

An open A major. The five strings above the low E spell A major — strum them for the tonic with nothing fretted.
A relaxed feel. Three strings tune down from standard, so this arrangement sits at lower tension than Open E — it is comfortable to fret and bend.
Straight-barre majors. Barre the top five strings at any fret for another major chord — 2nd fret B, 5th fret D, 7th fret E.
Slide vocabulary. The open major chord makes it a natural slide tuning, and it sits behind a large part of the Delta-blues repertoire.

Common chords in Open A

The shapes below are the easiest voicing the engine finds for each chord in Open A. The A shape mutes the low string — the five above it are the chord. Tap any chord to browse the rest.

A x 0 0 0 0 0 1 of 806 → D x 5 5 5 0 5 1 of 255 → E 0 7 7 0 7 7 1 of 282 → E7 0 2 1 0 2 4 1 of 340 → F#m 2 0 0 2 0 2 1 of 393 → Bm x 2 1 2 2 2 1 of 165 → A7 x 0 0 0 0 3 1 of 696 → Dadd9 x 5 5 0 0 0 1 of 506 →

Numbers read low string to high; 0 is open, × is muted.

A progression to try

A I–IV–V loop in A, letting the open strings ring between changes:

A→D→E→A

Songs in Open A

Much of the Delta and electric slide-blues repertoire
Several Robert Johnson recordings, now thought to be Open A rather than Open G
Slide work by Elmore James, Son House and Rory Gallagher

Players who use Open A

Robert Johnson (on some recordings), Elmore James, Son House, Rory Gallagher, Joey Landreth, and slide players who want a brighter key centre than Open G.

Open a Open A canvas — a tuning module already set, wired to a starter progression, every shape recalculated for you.

Open on the Canvas → Explore chords in the app

Open A tuning FAQ

What are the notes in Open A tuning?

From lowest to highest: E, A, C#, E, A, E. The 6th and 5th strings stay in standard tuning; the 4th comes down from D to C#, the 3rd from G to E, and the 2nd from B to A. The 1st string stays at E.

Is Open A the same as Open G?

They are cousins — both take the open strings to a major chord for slide playing. This arrangement of Open A keeps the low E and tunes the middle strings down, which sits at an easier tension than Open G raised to A.

Why is Open A used for slide?

Like every open tuning, the strings already form a chord, so a slide laid flat across them sounds a full major chord at any position. Open A puts that chord a comfortable step above Open G in key.

Was Robert Johnson playing in Open A?

Possibly, on some tracks. Several recordings transcribed in Open G sound a whole step high, which some researchers attribute to Open A tuning rather than to tape speed.

Is Open A hard on the guitar?

No — this arrangement tunes three strings down and leaves the rest, so the overall tension is a little below standard. Retune gradually and check your intonation afterwards.

Related tunings

Open G Open D Open C Open E