Ostrich Tuning: how to tune your guitar to Ostrich + song

[PennilessandTired]

well i dont even know who lou reed is and a couple mounths ago, for some odd reason i tuned all my strings to E, so in a sense, anyone can "invent" a song, but not anyone one can syndicate one

[Desmessed]

Cool sound, wtf happende to your guitar? anyway, might be an idea to change the thickness of the strings if you do it alot. anyway nicely done!!

[Desmessed]

Hi cool sound, thanx!

[floftyAl]

Lou Reed made this famous. and probably wrote the first few songs with it

[usfunkmob17]

look at this nice red boy

[Beenyad]

@usfunkmob17 haha wtf

[dbingamon]

Sounds like you were jammin with the song "Miserlou".

[hanzimaster]

i use all Bb, all F# or all E

[Absonata]

Many thanks for the vid. I love this tuning. Im not sure if i belive that Lou Reed discouvered/invented the tuning. Hes to crappy on guitar to discover something cool like this.

[muninmatt]

@Absonata

well maybe somebody played it before him, but history definately gives him the credit. also, lou reed does suck at the guitar NOW, but when he played with the velvet underground he kicked ass

[AWTelevison]

@Absonata no it was lou reed it was back when he played as lou reed and theprimitives

[Jeremiahdvorak1]

The 5th string remains an 'A'? I thought that ALL the strings were tuned to D.

[muninmatt]

@Jeremiahdvorak1

yeah... technically its supposed to be all d's but i like it with the A because the top 3 strings can be played just like drop D

[freqazoidiak]

@muninmatt Yes, it's supposed to be all d's and even out of tune. It's a train wreck of a song (the ostrich) but that's why we all love it!! hahah And this tuning method was due to lack of skill but not ingenuity . strum the guitar for effect, not for showmanship. Nice breakdown, playing in d's is very fun.

[Co0jq500080style]

@muninmatt Cause the A is the 5th of the D. Technically, you could go DADADD and still get some sweet harmonies.

[CREDOABSURDUMEST]

Curious to know where you got this version of the Ostrich tuning. According to most books on the V.U., Reed's tuning, as Jsupe notes, as *all* D's. I'm not clear, from what I've read, whether they were unison D's or D's in various octaves, as Jsupe suggests. Where did you hear that Reed left the fifth-string A unaltered?

[jsupe]

@CREDOABSURDUMEST One massive unison D would be possible but using all light gauge strings is not practical, the tension exerted on the neck would be massive with a high D and would be too slack with a middle D. You would have to file the nut slots on the higher strings (G,B,E) and use all D/G gauge strings for all 6 slots tuned to a D. The mixed octaves are a good compromise to permanently modifying the nut. It can be done but you need a replacement nut should you decide you want to go back.

[Ghostman7777]

The song you played at 3:05 reminded me of the sand worlds in Mario bros.

[Emceetem]

Sorry i don't want to make a arabic song.

But it's sounds awesome dude.

I've been skimming through all these weird tunings.

:P

[jsupe]

Nice example of the use of this tuning. But the A string should be tuned up to a D or down to a D (assuming you have a thick enough string similar in gauge to a low E) All the notes should be the same but of course in different octaves. Try this tuning on a 12 string. Its quite intense.