The "Banana Pancakes" tuning for Guitar is a highly distinctive and musically adventurous setup.

Verbal Analysis:

As described by its creator, this tuning was discovered by ear and is currently favored for blues and folk music, notable for its "lovely resolved sound." This is particularly interesting given its technical construction. The tuning creates a resonant soundscape that, while built around an augmented chord, offers a unique sense of resolution, possibly due to the specific voicings and the interplay between the string octaves. It encourages a focus on open string drones, arpeggiated figures, and unconventional fingerings rather than standard chord shapes, lending itself to rich textural exploration in blues and folk contexts, moving beyond traditional major or minor harmonies.

Technical Analysis:

The open strings of the "Banana Pancakes" tuning are pitched as follows, from lowest to highest string: C3#, G3#, F3, G4#, C5#, F4. This configuration is built entirely upon the C# Augmented triad (C#, E# [enharmonically F], G#) spread across multiple octaves, making the open tuning itself an augmented chord (C#aug or C#maj#5). The intervallic relationships between adjacent strings are highly irregular and present a challenging but rewarding landscape for exploration:

• String 6 (C3#) to String 5 (G3#): Perfect 5th (7 semitones)
• String 5 (G3#) to String 4 (F3): Descending Major 3rd (G#3 down to F3 is 4 semitones)
• String 4 (F3) to String 3 (G4#): Ascending Major 10th (15 semitones)
• String 3 (G4#) to String 2 (C5#): Perfect 5th (7 semitones)
• String 2 (C5#) to String 1 (F4): Descending Minor 6th (C5# down to F4 is 9 semitones)

The unique voicings, such as the F3 being lower than G3# (on strings 4 and 5), and F4 being lower than C5# (on strings 1 and 2), create surprising harmonic textures. Due to the significant octave displacements and non-standard intervals, traditional barre chords are largely impractical. Instead, this tuning shines through:

• Open String Resonance: Leveraging the inherent augmented harmony for drones, sustained tones, and ambient soundscapes.
• Partial Chords: Exploring two- or three-string voicings that naturally arise from the tuning, such as the C# Augmented triad found across strings 6-5-4 (C#3-G#3-F3, an inversion) and 3-2-1 (G4#-C5#-F4, another inversion). Simple shifts of these shapes can yield other augmented harmonies.
• Melodic and Arpeggiated Playing: The unique intervals create interesting opportunities for melodic lines and arpeggios that would be impossible in standard tuning, offering fresh sonic colors for improvisation.

This tuning is an excellent choice for players seeking to break away from conventional harmonic structures and explore new sonic textures, particularly within experimental blues, folk, or ambient genres.

How to Tune:

To achieve the "Banana Pancakes" tuning, carefully adjust each string from its standard pitch as follows. When tuning up 4 semitones or more, particularly for such significant tension increases, considering a heavier gauge string is strongly advised to maintain optimal tension and prevent string breakage, and always tune slowly and carefully.

• String 6 (Low E String): Tune up 2 semitones to C3#.
• String 5 (A String): Tune up 4 semitones to G3#. Exercise caution; a heavier gauge string is advised for this significant tension increase.
• String 4 (D String): Tune up 3 semitones to F3.
• String 3 (G String): Tune up 1 semitone to G4#.
• String 2 (B String): Tune up 2 semitones to C5#.
• String 1 (High E String): Tune up 1 semitone to F4.