C-F-C-F-A^b-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 G family, harmonic balance is brought by having the 5th in the bass.

 

The main point of difference from its better-known Gm transposition is the looseness of the strings: around 30% less tension vs. if identical gauges was tuned to Standard. This summons a radically different character to its higher counterpart, subtly recolouring intonation and calling for a delicate touch (or, alternatively, a heavy restring). Read on for some direct insights from Jon Gomm, a true altered-tuning hero…

Pattern: 5>7>5>3>4

Harmony: Fmin | 5-1-5-1-b3-5

• TUNING TONES •

• SOUNDS •

Used by British steel-stringer Jon Gomm for his multi-layered solo cover of Chaka Khan’s Ain’t Nobody (check out his heavy-strung acoustic take below). In his words: “When I was a kid, I played gigs in pubs in Blackpool, and often my audience was mostly elderly ladies spending their pension money on Bacardi! Quite often they’d tolerate my original songs and blues covers for only so long, and eventually a representative would be sent over to remonstrate with me. ‘Excuse me young man, please can you play something we can dance to?’ So this is my emergency disco song.”

 

Remarkably hard to trace elsewhere (in the words of BluesStudent on the JustinGuitar forum: “I have scoured the internet for a demo on how to tune in F minor, but it is so rare”). Greek guitarist Kotsos Mavromatakis uses it to play haunting folk instrumentals (O Thermastis: ‘The Stoker’) – as has Jack Hooker in New Zealand (Constellations: a “semi-improvised extended-length piece for solo acoustic”.

 

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• Ain’t Nobody – Jon Gomm (2012):

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“Altered tunings are a blank canvas. If I tune to Standard, I can see all the dots and shapes mapped out on the fretboard…If I re-tune, all those outlines evaporate, and I can use my ears and my imagination. I can still hear a certain scale if I really want to find it. Then the different tunings allow for easy reach to different keys or tonalities, or certain chords…” (Jon Gomm)

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—More from Jon Gomm—

I emailed Jon to find out more about his approach to tuning – here are the highlights from our discussion: “Basically all my songs have a specific origin tale – in fact, the reason I tell these stories on stage is because I have to retune between each song, so to keep the audience amused I use the time to talk! I try to balance providing context which will enhance the experience, and giving up to much ‘explanation’ which might stop someone finding their own meaning.”

 

“In terms of the tuning process itself, I like using intervals (generally 4ths and 5ths). So I’ll use open strings and natural harmonics to find those intervals between two strings. Natural harmonics are better for two reasons: 1) They contain fewer overtones, and more importantly 2) They are more ‘in tune’ – an open string will start sharp as the strong initial vibrations warp the string. Harmonics do this less…maybe because the nodes split the vibrating length of the string, so it can’t warp as far” [n.b. see ‘inharmonicity‘ for a more detailed explanation].

 

“Unisons and octaves are good too, but it’s harder to distinguish between the two strings: with 4ths and 5ths, you still get that ‘pulsing’, but you can tell which note is which more easily. And sometimes I have to use fretted notes, although it’s my least favourite option. Fretted notes are just not in tune! But then actually you can adjust for intonation imperfections by using a low fret, so you get a compromise between the intonation of the open string and that of the higher frets. So I do intentionally use fretted notes for that reason sometimes…”

 

“I don’t know what the first time was I tried an altered tuning – pretty young! At a guess, it would’ve been trying out playing slide guitar for the first time: I have a vague recollection of trying Open G first and not liking it, probably as I prefer my root notes to be on 6+4th string, rather than 5+3rd. So I tried Open D, and preferred that world. Some of the earliest open-tuned songs I learned were by Joni Mitchell, from my uncle’s chord book. He played guitar in his youth and gave me all his old books, mostly North American folk from the 1970s…”

 

“I never tried out the mid-song retuning tricks with regular guitar tuners, because it’s not really possible to do in a way I’d find satisfying. I love the way Adrian Legg incorporated them, and he’s the root of their usage on guitar as far as I know. But he’s more influenced by the sounds of the pedal steel, and his compositions reflect that. I want to use retuning like Jeff Beck uses a whammy bar!”

 

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• Montreux Set – Jon Gomm (2022):

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n.b. Jon also gave me a near-exhaustive list of all his tunings…

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• NUMBERS •

	6str	5str	4str	3str	2str	1str
Note	C	F	C	F	Ab	C
Alteration	-4	-4	-2	-2	-3	-4
Tension (%)	-37	-37	-21	-21	-29	-37
Freq. (Hz)	65	87	131	175	208	262
Pattern (>)	5	7	5	3	4	–
Semitones	0	5	12	17	20	24
Intervals	5	1	5	1	b3	5

• See my Tunings Megatable for further such nerdery: more numbers, intervallic relations, comparative methods, etc. And to any genuine vibratory scientists reading: please critique my DIY analysis!

• RELATED •

—Associated tunings: proximities of shape, concept, context, etc…

• Open Gm (this +2): the more common transposition
• Albert Collins: wailing bluesman’s own Fmin setup
• Zigzag Thirds: a narrowed, geometric Fmin sequence

• MORE INFO •

—Further learnings: sources, readings, lessons, other onward links…

• Jon Gomm: the Leeds legend is renowned for pushing the outer limits of multilayered playing, even installing banjo-style ‘hip-shot’ pegs to enable fluid mid-song retunes – check out more of his wizardry on my Altered-Tuned Artists page (“‘Be yourself’ is the most vague advice ever. But that’s what you have to do. Don’t be brash if you’re not brash…this isn’t a fucking management leadership seminar. Be yourself! Be shy if you’re shy. If you’re nervous, be nervous. Don’t try to hide…”)
• O Thermastis: delve into the history of Kotsos Mavromatakis’ ominous piece above – a Greek rebetiko (working-class folk song) composed by Yiorgos Batis in the interwar years, with original lyrics covering the hardships of life at sea (“The stoker is in the stokehold, he’s battling with six fires…Keep using your scraper and your lever…So I can moor, in the waters of Cardiff…And I have turned black on the inside, because of the sea…”)

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Header image: Jon Gomm live in action (Marek Zawrotny)