I'm a fan of DADGAD - has been well used, so easy to find reference chord shapes
ABCDEF
That's just a harp
Does that work?
One of my faves is C G D G B B, which Thurston Moore developed.
Supposedly, he based it on a tuning Stephen Malkmus came up with, which was itself based on something Moore came up with previously. A great case of what goes around, comes around!
EDIT: Loads more of Sonic Youth's tunings can be found here.
What is the benefit of this tuning?
Lots of cool chord voicings. The low two strings are a fifth apart, so it's a little like a drop tuning. But then with the low G and the doubled high B, you can do loads of cool drones, while using the familiar DGB from standard to do inverted chords.
Also, it's pretty easy to detune to from standard!
Best for what?
If you want to play baroque, go re-entrant like a ukulele and take off two strings.
If you want to play Hawaiian, take your pick of a bazillion slack key options. (Start with material from Jeff Peterson)
