Ostrich guitar

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Ostrich Guitar is an alternative guitar tuning in which all the guitar strings are tuned to the same note (often D). The term was coined by The Velvet Underground's Lou Reed after the pre-Velvet Underground song The Ostrich by Lou Reed and The Primitives, on which this tuning was first used, and applied on the album The Velvet Underground and Nico.

  1d  ----- * downtuned to d (from e to d)
  2d  ----- *   uptuned to d (from B to d)
  3D  ----- * downtuned to D (from G to D)
  4D  ----- * left at standard
  5D  ----- *   uptuned to D (from A to D)
  6D  ----- * downtuned to D_(from E to D_)

According to an interview with drummer Maureen Tucker in What Goes On? No.4, Reed's ostrich guitar was a guitar that had had its frets removed, and was stolen shortly after the album sessions.

[edit] References

1. Liner notes of the Velvet Underground album, The Velvet Underground and Nico

2. Internet Movie Database Biography for Lou Reed URL: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0715563/bio

3. Chicago Reader article "Have Sitar, Will Travel" URL: http://www.chicagoreader.com/TheMeter/060414.html