Welcome to the Open D#7 Tuning, a rich and resonant guitar setup designed to immediately evoke a bluesy, soulful, or even jazzy vibe. This tuning transforms your guitar into a powerful harmonic instrument, making it incredibly intuitive to play dominant 7th chords with simple fingerings or a slide.

Verbal Analysis

The Open D#7 tuning offers a full, vibrant sound that resonates beautifully with open strumming. It's particularly well-suited for slide guitar, as a single barre across any fret will instantly produce a perfectly voiced dominant 7th chord. Fingerstyle players will find new melodic possibilities, with the drone strings providing a rich harmonic bed. This tuning can lend itself to genres such as blues, R&B, rock, country, and even some world music styles where a strong, chordal foundation is desired. The unique arrangement of notes, including octave duplicates, creates a lush, full-bodied sound that feels both familiar and refreshingly new.

Technical Analysis

This tuning is based on the notes D# A# D G A# D, creating an open D#7 (D# dominant 7th) chord when all strings are strummed open. The constituent notes are D# (root), G (major third), A# (perfect fifth), and D (minor seventh). This is a classic dominant 7th voicing, providing a strong harmonic pull.

Key intervals between strings are:

• String 6 (D3#) to String 5 (A3#): Perfect 5th (7 semitones)
• String 5 (A3#) to String 4 (D3): Minor 3rd (3 semitones)
• String 4 (D3) to String 3 (G3): Perfect 4th (5 semitones)
• String 3 (G3) to String 2 (A4#): Minor 3rd (3 semitones)
• String 2 (A4#) to String 1 (D4): Perfect 4th (5 semitones)

The repetition of A# (String 5 and String 2) and D (String 4 and String 1) across different octaves provides a powerful, resonant sustain and depth to the open chord. This makes for a very full and chorused sound. The relatively tight intervals on the higher strings (M3, P4) make for interesting melodic possibilities and easily reachable voicings.

Accessible Chords & Voicings:

• Open D#7: Strumming all strings open yields a rich D#7 chord, perfect for immediate gratification and drone effects.
• Barre Dominant 7th Chords: By fretting all six strings at any given fret, you automatically create another dominant 7th chord. For example, a barre at the 1st fret gives you E7, the 3rd fret F#7, and so on. This is incredibly useful for playing blues progressions.
• Power Chords: Simple two or three-finger power chords are easily formed by muting strings or using specific fingerings on the lower strings, offering a heavy, driving sound.
• Creative Voicings: The unique intervals allow for interesting suspended chords or inversions by simply adding one or two fingers to the open shape. Experiment with omitting the D and A# duplicate strings for thinner, more delicate voicings.

How to Tune (from Standard EADGBe)

Standard guitar tuning is E2 A2 D3 G3 B3 E4. Please be mindful of string tension when tuning. For changes exceeding 4 semitones up or down (either higher or lower than the standard pitch), a different gauge string is generally advised.

• String 6 (Low E): Tune down 1 semitone to reach D3#.
• String 5 (A): Tune up 1 semitone to reach A3#.
• String 4 (D): Keep as is; no change (0 semitones) to D3.
• String 3 (G): Keep as is; no change (0 semitones) to G3.
• String 2 (B): Tune down 1 semitone to reach A4#.
• String 1 (High E): Tune down 2 semitones to reach D4.

Enjoy exploring the unique sonic landscape of the Open D#7 Tuning!

Here are the specific notes for each string in this tuning, from the lowest (6th) to the highest (1st):

• String 6: D3#
• String 5: A3#
• String 4: D3
• String 3: G3
• String 2: A4#
• String 1: D4