F-C-F-Bb-Bb-G • OVERVIEW • An odd DADGAD variant – it is transposed upwards 3 semitones, with 2str dropped into unison with 3str, and 1str raised by a further whole tone (equivalent to ‘DADGGE capo 3’). Showcased by My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields on Blown a Wish (with a 1fr capo), track nine from their droning […]
• Blown a Wish tuning •
• Iris tuning •
B-D-D-D-D-D • OVERVIEW • Unique droning layout created by John Rzeznik for Iris, the Goo Goo Dolls’ 1998 smash-hit power ballad. Balances purity and dissonance: 5-1str are all tuned to D, while the 6str is taken right down to a superlow B – giving a narrow, crunchy minor 3rd gap between the deepest pair. […]
• F Standard (‘Raise’) tuning •
F-Bb-Eb-Ab-C-F • OVERVIEW • Whether by accident or design, countless guitarists have ended up tuning a semitone sharp of Standard. Doing so raises overall tension by ~12%: not enough to necessitate a restring, but still sufficient to give a fantastic volume boost. It will, however, limit bends, barres, and general melodic fluency (as well as […]
• Magic Farmer tuning •
C-F-C-G-A-E • OVERVIEW • Another wide-spread tuning from steel-string wizard Michael Hedges, showcased on The Magic Farmer (1984) – the final track of his landmark Aerial Boundaries album. His pensive, gently-paced composition was dedicated to flautist Mindy Rosenfeld, his then-partner and the mother of his children (‘Rosenfeld’ means ‘field of roses’ in German). Degrees […]
• Ead-Gad tuning •
E-A-D-G-A-D • OVERVIEW • A high-slackened tuning, forming a ‘half-DADGAD’ arrangement (6-5-4str=Standard, 3-2-1str=DADGAD). This gives an ambiguous ‘open harmony’ – it can be seen as either a seventhless D9sus4, fifthless Emin11, thirdless G6/9, secondless Am11, or rootless C6/9 – or an A7sus4 from the parallel octaves on 5+2str. Great for creating complex chord […]
• Place to Be tuning •
C-G-C-F-G-E • OVERVIEW • Used to give life to the legato-tinged cluster voicings of Nick Drake’s Place to Be – the second track from 1972’s Pink Moon, his third and final album. Almost identical to his tuning for the title track: the only difference being that here, 2str is a full 5 semitones lower – decreasing […]
• Carnatic (‘Drake’s Drone’) tuning •
B-E-B-E-B-E • OVERVIEW • Distinctive drone used prominently on the acoustic by Nick Drake – and on the electric by ‘Guitar’ Prasanna, a South Indian virtuoso acclaimed for playing Carnatic classical ragas on his Epiphone (in Guthrie Govan’s words, “If you don’t know about Prasanna, prepare to be terrified…”). Highly versatile despite offering only two […]
• Coyote tuning •
C-G-D-F-C-E • OVERVIEW • Gives root to the sensual strums of Coyote, the first track from Joni Mitchell’s 1976 Hejira album – once described by literary academic Dr. Ruth Charnock as “either the most flirtatious song about fucking or the most graphic song about flirting ever written”. Her tuning is essentially ‘Hejira + Open C’ […]
• Hejira tuning •
C-G-D-F-G-C • OVERVIEW • Joni Mitchell’s setting for the divine arpeggiations of Hejira, released on her 1976 album of the same name. The title derives from an Arabic word (hijra / الهجرة), signifying ‘departure’ or ‘migration’ – particularly the Prophet Muhammad’s journey from Mecca to Medina. Joni came across the term while flicking through an […]
• Math Rock F tuning •
F-A-C-G-C-E • OVERVIEW • This gently undulating maj9 sequence doesn’t take much peg-twisting to reach – but the shifts (two single-semitone raises and one double-semitone fall) will immediately put fresh melodic motions on the menu. While the tension shifts are fairly subtle (no restring is required), you can still feel them: the 6+2str are […]
• Zigzag Thirds (Major) tuning •
F-A-C-E-G-B https://ragajunglism.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/T62_CNC10s.mp3 • OVERVIEW • A ‘stack of thirds’, alternating between major and minor (i.e. semitone gaps of ‘4, 3, 4, 3, 4’). Proposed by Greek mathematician Dr. Costas Kyritsis as an ideal landscape for simplifying the shapes of all common diatonic chords – a logical point, given that much of Western harmony is built […]
• Ghost Reveries tuning •
D-A-D-F-A-E • OVERVIEW • A spacious Open Dm variant, which retains Standard’s E1str tone to give a minor 9th open harmony. Great for chord voicings which combine intricate high extensions with robust bass structures – with note-shuffling added by the tuning’s irregular interval sequence (a 4th, min. 3rd, and a maj. 3rd, sandwiched by two 5ths). […]
• Gothic tuning •
Eb-G-D-A-Bb-C • OVERVIEW • Introduced by Japanese solo star Ichika Nito to explore fresh avenues of his imaginative electric fingerpicking style. With a different tone on each string, it offers up a complex chordal canvas. Only 4str stays familiar from Standard. Try raking through the divine natural harmonics at <12fr>, <7fr>, &<5fr>, and sliding […]
• Ethereal tuning •
D-A-C#-F#-C#-D • OVERVIEW • Introduced by multi-tuning Japanese virtuoso Ichika Nito in 2019. His jagged configuration twists all but the 5str away from Standard – while never taking any of them more than 2 semitones from this starting point. Fantastic for fresh major-key melodies and extended chord shapes. Try teasing out the dissonance of the […]
• Mesopotamian tuning •
B-A-G-D-A-D • OVERVIEW • ‘I once met a mysterious musician from Mesopotamia, who would only play guitar in his local tuning…’ Pattern: 10>10>7>7>5 Harmony: D6(sus4) | 6-5-4-1-5-1 • TUNING TONES • • SOUNDS • The actual music of Baghdad spans a rich variety of sonic and social influences, both ancient and modern. Long renowned as a […]
• Cabbage tuning •
C-A-Bb-A-G-E • OVERVIEW • C-A-Bb-A-G-E is surprisingly tasty, if rather impractical. Forms a ‘crunchy’ C13 chord…with the root(s) at the bottom. Seems silly, and it definitely is – but it’s essential to just shuffle things up sometimes. Anyway, J.S. Bach – probably the G.O.A.T. of global harmonic development – did similarly, famously ‘signing’ his name in […]
• Karnivool tuning •
B-F#-B-G-B-E • OVERVIEW • A fascinating blend of Standard + ‘Drop D -3‘ (3-1str & 6-4str respectively), closely associated with Australian prog-rockers Karnivool. According to its creator, lead guitarist Drew Goddard, “It just made sense to have the low tuning, while keeping the first strings high. The best of both worlds I guess…I liked the sequence […]
• Papa-Papa tuning •
D-A-D-D-A-D • OVERVIEW • ‘Double-dad’ tuning is handily symmetrical, mirroring its ‘D-A-D’ pattern across the guitar’s centre line to form a stacked D power chord (like a ‘double-decker D sandwich, each filled with A’). Only one string differs from the famous DADGAD – 3str is lowered by a fourth, going super-slack to add psychedelic phasing […]
• Bruce Palmer (‘Judy Blue Eyes’) tuning •
E-E-E-E-B-E • OVERVIEW • Two-tone drone tuning known as ‘Bruce Palmer modal’ after its creator, Buffalo Springfield bassist Bruce Palmer (1946-2004). Famously showcased by his Buffalo bandmate Stephen Stills at Woodstock in 1969, anchoring David Crosby & Graham Nash’s soaring vocal harmonies on the rhapsodic, romantic Suite: Judy Blue Eyes. Forms a many-rooted E5 […]
• Cello (‘Haircut’) tuning •
C-G-D-A-B-E • OVERVIEW • While the highest two strings of this tuning are left as Standard, the rest are ‘widened’ in range to form a stack of perfect 5ths across 6-5-4-3str – thus matching the tuning of a cello. The treble side also gives open-string access to the next 5th in the sequence: between 3-1str […]
• José González tuning •
D-A-D-F#-B-E • OVERVIEW • A blend of ‘Open D + Standard‘ (or ‘Drop D + Lute‘), used by Swedish singer-songwriter José González among others. The lowest four strings provide a solid, stable Dmaj triad (1-5-1-3), while the high-end pair add ambiguity and intrigue (maj. 6th & 2nd) – forming a widened D6/9. Great for ‘vertical’ […]
• Gambale tuning •
A-D-G-C-E-A • OVERVIEW • A high-strung, Nashville-style reshuffle of the ‘Standard’ 5>5>5>4>5 sequence – the whole guitar is raised up by a perfect 4th, and 1-2str are then lowered an octave from there (in relative terms: akin to capoing at 12fr, but only across 6-5-4-3str). Developed by Australian fusion virtuoso Frank Gambale as part […]
• New Standard (‘Crafty’) tuning •
C-G-D-A-E-G • OVERVIEW • Robert Fripp, of King Crimson and Brian Eno fame, devised his fifths-based ‘New Standard Tuning’ (NST) in the 1980s – chiefly seeking to open up a broader range of melodic movements. He stacked up four perfect 5ths, completing the tuning with a min. 3rd at the top to balance out the extreme […]
• Icarus tuning •
D-A-D-G-B-C • OVERVIEW • Brings a mystical, floating resonance, resulting from the ‘clustered’ presence of four adjacent diatonic scale tones (4-5-6-b7 on 3-5-2-1str). Its intervals get progressively narrower as you rise in pitch (7>5>5>4>1), ending with a minor 2nd (2>1str) – a rare feature in the wide world of altered tuning (also see Ethereal, Gothic, […]
• Overtone Series tuning •
G-B-D-F-G-A • OVERVIEW • My basic setting of overtones 4 to 9 in the harmonic series – if ‘squashed’ to 12-tone equal temperament, they spell out a dominant 9th arpeggio as an ascent-ordered stack of thirds (1-3-5-b7-9). Also see Sethares’ variant: which keeps tension within more sensible bounds by adding a register-jump in the middle (C-E-G-Bb-C-D). […]
• Only Shallow tuning •
E-B-E-Gb-B-E • OVERVIEW • Though rare, this Esus2 layout’s distinctive ‘major 2nd in the middle‘ opens up unique melodic and harmonic possibilities. Most famously used for the droning shoegaze wails of My Bloody Valentine’s Only Shallow. Given the snappability of the raised 4+5str, acoustic steel-stringers are best advised to transpose everything down a tone to […]
• Nashville tuning •
Ė-Ȧ-Ḋ-Ġ-B-E • OVERVIEW • A part-transposition of Standard, which retains the same notes while raising 6-5-4-3str up a full octave. This halves the range (12 vs. 24 semitones), and also radically shuffles up the order of the tones (low>high: 6, 5, 2, 4, 1, 3str) – essentially like a 12-string with the lower of each pair […]
• C6 (‘Mauna Loa’) tuning •
C-G-C-G-A-E • OVERVIEW • A C6 known in Hawaiian kī hō’alu (‘slack-key’) as C ‘Mauna Loa’ – named after the world’s largest active volcano, which has erupted continuously since rising from the Pacific seabed over 400,000 years ago. The tuning’s regular stack of three perfect 5ths (6>5str, 4>3str, 2>1str) bring a similarly balanced solidity. Popularised by […]
• Keola’s C (‘Wahine’) tuning •
C-G-D-G-B-E • OVERVIEW • An quick-to-reach Open C variant mixing two 5ths and 4ths with a major 3rd. Popular in Hawaii, where it is known as ‘Keola’s C’ after modern slack-key legend Keola Beamer (or C ‘Wahine’. The Honolulu maestro – who hails it as “one of the easiest and most user-friendly” tunings – uses it […]
• Square-Neck Dobro tuning •
G-B-D-G-B-D • OVERVIEW • Dobros, resonators, banjos, and 7-string ‘Russian guitars’ often take ‘repeated’ open G tunings – such as ‘looping’ a G-B-D major triad sequence throughout all the strings in turn. Setting up this way narrows the open-string range to 19 semitones (like Standard minus a string) – but the cycling regularity simplifies the fretboard’s […]
• All Minor Sixths tuning •
F-Db-A-F-Db-A • OVERVIEW • A ‘regular’ stack of minor 6ths – i.e. 8 semitones separate each string. This produces an expansive augmented sequence, starting from any of its three notes: whichever string you begin on, playing the two below will give 1-b6-3 (=an 1-3-#5 augmented triad: but one which cycles through the same notes in […]
• All Fifths tuning •
A-E-B-F#-C#-G# • OVERVIEW • In many ways, tuning to a cycle of perfect 5ths is very logical. After all, much of the world’s music is constructed via stacks of 5ths – an interval which enjoys natural prominence as the first non-root overtone in the harmonic series (overtone #3 = 1902 cents above the fundamental, a.k.a. […]
• All Major Thirds tuning •
E-G#-C-E-G#-C • OVERVIEW • A ‘regular‘ stack of major 3rds (i.e. 4 semitones separate each string) – forming an augmented triad (1-3-#5) from any of its three notes, regardless of which string you start on. These symmetrical properties arise because our 12-semitone octave divides neatly into 4*3 with no remainder – meaning that sequences of […]
• All Minor Thirds tuning •
G-Bb-Db-E-G-Bb • OVERVIEW • A ‘regular’ stack of minor 3rds (i.e. 3 semitones separate each string) – forming a diminished 7th arpeggio [1-b3-b5-bb7] regardless of where you start. These odd symmetrical properties arise because our 12-semitone octave divides neatly into 3 with no remainder – meaning that sequences of 3-fret jumps will always ‘orbit’ back […]
• Open Fm tuning (& Jon Gomm interview!) •
C-F-C-F-Ab-C • OVERVIEW • A rare, slackened transposition of Open Gmin: the same interval pattern is lowered by a whole tone. Qualifies as a species of ‘cross-note’ tuning – as you can easily ‘cross over’ to playing in Fmaj (e.g. ‘0-0-0-0-1-0’: whereas the inverse maj-to-min flip in Open Fmaj/Gmaj is less straightforward). As is characteristic for the extended Open […]
• Open F tuning •
C-F-C-F-A-C • OVERVIEW • Open F takes the interval pattern of Open G, and lowers everything by a whole tone. So, while you can use it to play anything from the vast Open G repertoire, it’s worth focusing on its distinctive quirks too. Most importantly, it is much looser (~30% less tension than if the […]
• Open A (‘Spanish’) tuning •
E-A-E-A-C#-E • OVERVIEW • Matches the structure of a Standard-tuned Amaj shape (‘0-0-2-2-2-0’). Open A is like Open G’s ‘electric counterpart’ – it has the same interval sequence, but everything is raised up a whole tone (electric strings are thinner, so can go higher). Also popular amongst acoustic bluesmen of the pre-amplified era, who often […]
• Open Em (‘Cross-note’) tuning •
E-B-E-G-B-E • OVERVIEW • Takes the same interval pattern as Open Dm, raised two semitones higher: thus mirroring the exact note sequence of our familiar ‘0-2-2-0-0-0’ Emin chord from Standard (…as if you’d tuned to its notes rather than fretting them). Best suited to the lighter strings of electric guitars, due to the high wind […]
• Open E (‘Vestapol’) tuning •
E-B-E-G#-B-E • OVERVIEW • Open E follows the interval structure of a Standard-tuned Emaj chord (‘0-2-2-1-0-0’), thus making it a whole-tone-higher transposition of Open D – a general pattern sometimes known as ‘Vestapol‘ (after its use for an earnest 1854 folk song about the Crimean War, popular in ‘learn guitar’ manuals of late-19th-century North America: […]
• Open Csus (‘C Modal’) tuning •
C-G-C-G-C-F • OVERVIEW • Csus4 tuning, also known as C ‘Modal’, is the ‘suspended’ variant of the Open C family, with a perfect 4th at the top. This gives each side of the guitar a very different physical feel – unless you re-string, the high end gets tight and loud, while the low end falls looser […]
• Open Cm (‘Wide Minor’) tuning •
C-G-C-G-C-E • OVERVIEW • Open Cm (unlike Open Dm, Gm, and Em) doesn’t really match with any of our familiar Standard-tuned minor shapes (it’s closest to the ‘x-x-0-2-3-1’ Dm chord – or more precisely, it’s a ‘Dm shape in Drop D, then dropping everything 2 semitones’). Another ‘cross-note’ tuning – as you can easily ‘cross-over’ […]
• Open C (‘Wide Major’) tuning •
C-G-C-G-C-E • OVERVIEW • Open C (unlike Open D, G, A, and Emaj) doesn’t quite correspond to any of our familiar EADGBE chord shapes – although the interval sequence is closest to the classic ‘x-x-0-2-3-2‘ Dmaj (more precisely: it’s like a ‘Dmaj shape in Drop D, then dropping everything 2 semitones’). For me, this isn’t […]
• Open Gsus (‘Sawmill’) tuning •
D-G-D-G-C-D • OVERVIEW • Resembles a Standard-tuned ‘0-0-2-2-3-0’ Asus4 chord shape in terms of interval structure, giving an open, balanced sound (a sus4 is essentially ‘a root + the perfect 5ths above & below it’). Note the narrow maj 2nd interval at the top (2>1str) – useful for dropping open-string ‘cluster tones’ into your melodising. […]
• Open Gm (‘Banjo Minor’) tuning •
D-G-D-G-Bb-D • OVERVIEW • Resembles a Standard-tuned Amin shape (‘0-0-2-2-1-0’) in terms of interval structure. Thus qualifies as a ‘cross-note’ layout: as you can easily ‘cross over’ to a Gmaj voicing with just one finger, as ‘0-0-0-0-1-0’ (something much less straightforward in the other direction, i.e. making Gmin voicings in Open Gmaj). Note the 5th in […]
• Low Drop C tuning •
C-G-C-F-A-D • OVERVIEW • The same interval pattern as Drop D, but everything is moved down two further semitones. Brings a loose, chaotic, imperfect texture: total string tension is lowered by around 25% – equivalent to a ~40lb/18kg drop on a steel-string acoustic (an instrument on which EADGBE tension can exceed 180lb/82kg…hence you need the […]
• Drop C (‘Neon’) tuning •
C-A-D-G-B-E • OVERVIEW • Dropping the 6str down four frets is simple – but will give you a different perspective on how the other open-string tones can fit together. Swapping the low E to a low C turns EADGBE’s somewhat vacant-sounding Em7(add11) open chord into a sultry, jazz-laden Cmaj9(13) voicing. This drop makes it significantly […]
• Double Drop D (‘DDD’) tuning •
D-A-D-G-B-D • OVERVIEW • ‘Double-dropping’ both the top and bottom strings to D provides you with strum-friendly open drone tones, while leaving the middle four strings intact from Standard. Like Open D, 6-5-4str form a straight-line power chord (D-A-D), and like Open G, the 3-2-1str give a G major triad (G-B-D) – with the famous […]
• B Standard (‘Baritone’) tuning •
B-E-A-D-Gb-B • OVERVIEW • ‘Baritone’ guitars – around 10-20% longer than normal – take correspondingly deepened tunings, typically set 4 to 9 semitones below Standard. Among the most popular is this ‘low B‘ layout, which drops everything down 5 frets (a perfect 4th): thus extending the bass by an ‘extra string’s worth’ (while subtracting the […]
• C Standard tuning •
C-F-Bb-Eb-G-C • OVERVIEW • Tuning ‘four semitones down’ from Standard opens up a radically slacker feel (~35% lower tension). Subtler, quieter, and easier on the hands, with a messy expressive freedom – but without a restring, you’ll probably encounter some fret-buzz and pitch instability (…use them to your advantage!). Ideal for C-rooted music, as well […]
• Standard Tuning (+ a brief history of the guitar!) •
E-A-D-G-B-E • OVERVIEW • No tuning is the ‘best’ – but the popularity of our modern ‘standard’ makes sense, balancing geometric clarity, harmonic versatility, and physical convenience. The perfect 4ths-based layout gives a curiously vacant-sounding ‘open chord’ of Em7(11), ripe for multidirectional expansions in many global genres. Its most distinctive quirk is the irregular major […]
