The "rcg" tuning is a unique and highly experimental setup for the guitar, specifically designed for creating "dark instrumentals" and original soundscapes. As described by its creator, it's a departure from conventional tunings, offering a deeply resonant and often dissonant sonic palette.

Verbal Analysis

This tuning immediately sets a somber and intense mood with its significantly dropped lowest string to C2, providing a powerful, rumbling foundation. The combination of notes across the open strings – C, A#, C#, G, C, F – creates a complex and clashing sonic texture. It's not designed for strumming traditional open chords; instead, it encourages exploration of dissonant voicings, drone effects, and melodic lines that leverage its unique intervallic relationships. The presence of both C and C# side-by-side (albeit an octave apart) is a hallmark of its unsettling character, ideal for genres like doom, drone, experimental rock, or film scoring where a sense of unease or profound darkness is sought. This tuning feels less about harmony in the traditional sense and more about texture and atmosphere.

Technical Analysis

From the lowest to highest string, the "rcg" tuning is configured as: C2 - A#3 - C#4 - G3 - C4 - F4. Relative to a standard EADGBe tuning, this involves significant alterations. Analyzing the intervals from the lowest string (C2):

• String 6 (C2): Root
• String 5 (A#3): Major 7th (10 semitones above C2)
• String 4 (C#4): Minor 9th (13 semitones above C2 – effectively a minor 2nd across an octave)
• String 3 (G3): Perfect 5th (7 semitones above C2)
• String 2 (C4): Octave (12 semitones above C2)
• String 1 (F4): Perfect 11th (17 semitones above C2 – effectively a perfect 4th across an octave)

This configuration creates a non-symmetrical and highly dissonant open-string voicing, featuring intervals like the major 7th and minor 9th, which are key contributors to its "dark" character. The interval from C2 to F4 spans more than two octaves, offering a wide tonal range despite its inherent dissonance.

Chords and Playability

Given the open string structure, traditional major or minor open chords are not readily available. Instead, the tuning lends itself to:

• Droning Textures: The low C combined with the G and C octaves offers a powerful drone capability, particularly for the root and fifth.
• Dissonant Voicings: Strumming all open strings will yield a cluster containing C, C#, F, G, A# – a very rich and dissonant sound suitable for atmospheric passages.
• Power Chords: Simplified two or three-string power chords on the lower strings (e.g., C2-G3) will retain their characteristic power and depth.
• Single-Note Lines: The unique intervallic relationships between strings encourage melodic and arpeggiated playing to highlight specific dissonances or resolutions.

How to Tune

To achieve the "rcg" tuning from your guitar's current setup, carefully adjust each string as follows. Always tune with caution, especially when raising pitch.

• String 6 (Lowest): Tune up 1 semitone to C2.
• String 5: Tune up 1 semitone to A3#.
• String 4: Tune down 1 semitone to C4#.
• String 3: Keep as is; no change (0 semitones) to G3.
• String 2: Tune up 1 semitone to C4.
• String 1 (Highest): Tune up 1 semitone to F4.