Tuning help

[Smitty]

Ok, bear with me here......
I think with all the theory I have been trying to learn lately I am just getting confussed...

I am trying to figure out how to tune to an Open E minor. Open E is easy enough but how do I make it a minor tuning?
Or, to go from an Open A tuning to an Open A minor.
Am I best to start in a certain tuning and use a capo?
Any explanation would be great. I really want to be able to figure these things out for myself.
Thanks for the help
Smitty

[smfulla]

well to make a minor chord, you have to use the formula 1 b3 5
I don't know about the tuning side of it
But A major chord is A C# E so it'll be A C E for A minor

[Smitty]

Thanks. I think I am pretty straight on the chords now. The tunings are what seem to be getting the best of me.

[The Fury]

Well I'm no expert, but here goes.

To tune to E minor you have to tune the 5th(A) string up a whole tone(2 frets). Tune it so that the 7th fret on the 6th(E) string sound the same as the 5th string open. Once youv'e done that, the next step is to tune the 4th string so it sounds the same as 5th string open.

This is an E minor, the notes are E B E G B E(6th string to 1st) so this is what you must tune the strings to.

e--0
B--0
G--0
D--2
A--2
E--0

For A minor, you could put a capo on the 5th fret(with the open tuning E B E G B E) or tune the open strings to E A E A C E (6th string to 1st)

I treid to explain it without using the word tune too much, but somehow I think I failed :D

[mullz]

If you are in Open E tuning, then one of the strings will be tuned to a G#; most likely it will be the 3rd string, or maybe even the 5th string... but whatever string(s) is/are tuned to G# just tune them down to G to get Open E minor.

Same goes for Open A minor - tune all C#'s down to C's.

mullz

[Smitty]

Thank you all for help. It is much appreciated!

SMitty