Hey kid, what tuning is that?(GUITAR)

Why do we start kids off learning guitar in standard tuning? "Standard," as in most songs written and performed on the guitar are in this classically-based tuning: EADGBE. In order to be able to play and understand this huge catalogue of music, a player should have a grasp of this tuning. It's good enough for Slash, it's good enough fir Slash, it's good enough for Segovia, it's good enough for you! Or is it?

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Any kid who has a fascination for the guitar will at one point or another fool around with detuning the strings really low to sound like a bass or tune all the strings to one pitch and slide a kitchen knife across the neck. (Or, in …