The Summoning - Sleep Token Tuning: A Deep Dive

This unique 7-string guitar tuning, known as 'The Summoning', is famously associated with the band Sleep Token. It’s a highly specialized setup designed to achieve specific sonic textures and voicings, characteristic of their progressive and heavy sound. The tuning presents a complex landscape of intervals, featuring a notable re-entrant string arrangement that significantly impacts playability and harmonic possibilities.

Verbal Analysis

'The Summoning' tuning is built for power and atmosphere. Its dense harmonic structure and wide intervallic jumps create a dark, brooding, and expansive sound ideal for modern metal, djent, and progressive rock. The overall feel is one of immense tension and release, with the open strings themselves forming rich, somewhat dissonant, yet compelling voicings. The re-entrant string (String 2) is a defining feature, allowing for melodic lines to dip below the expected pitch order, adding a unique texture and surprise to arpeggios and riffs. This tuning encourages a percussive, chugging style on the lower strings while providing intricate melodic and harmonic options on the higher registers, perfectly suited for the intricate and heavy soundscapes of Sleep Token.

Technical Analysis

The tuning for the 7-string guitar is set to D#3 A#3 D#4 G#4 C#5 F4 A#5. This is a re-entrant tuning, meaning the pitch order does not strictly ascend from the lowest physical string to the highest. Let's break down the intervals between adjacent open strings:

• String 7 (D#3) to String 6 (A#3): A Perfect 5th (7 semitones). This provides a strong, foundational interval.
• String 6 (A#3) to String 5 (D#4): A Perfect 4th (5 semitones). String 5 is also an octave higher than String 7, doubling the root.
• String 5 (D#4) to String 4 (G#4): A Perfect 4th (5 semitones).
• String 4 (G#4) to String 3 (C#5): A Perfect 4th (5 semitones).
• String 3 (C#5) to String 2 (F4): A Major 6th descending (7 semitones down). This is the key re-entrant point where String 2 is tuned significantly lower in pitch than String 3. This non-linear pitch arrangement opens up unique melodic and harmonic possibilities, allowing for a lower voice on a physically higher string.
• String 2 (F4) to String 1 (A#5): An Augmented 11th (17 semitones up, equivalent to an octave plus a Perfect 4th). This is an extremely wide interval, creating a dramatic jump to the highest, brightest string.

The open strings D#3, A#3, D#4, G#4, C#5, F4, A#5 create a complex and powerful open chord. The notes present are D#, A#, G#, C#, F. This collection of notes can be interpreted as a type of D# minor 7 chord (D# F A# C#) with an added G# (the 4th, making it a D#m7sus4). This dense voicing provides a rich harmonic bed for heavy riffing or atmospheric pads without requiring extensive fretting. The consistent Perfect 4th intervals on strings 3-6 (`D#4 G#4 C#5`) make for familiar and easy-to-navigate shapes for scales and arpeggios in that range, while the re-entrant F4 and the wide jump to A#5 offer distinct melodic and voicing opportunities. This tuning is particularly well-suited for heavy, sustained chords and intricate melodic lines that leverage its unique intervallic structure.

How to Tune 'The Summoning'

To achieve 'The Summoning' tuning, carefully adjust each string according to the instructions below. Please note that most strings require significant upward adjustments (4 to 6 semitones) from a standard tuning reference. Tuning a string up by more than 4 semitones can put considerable tension on the string and potentially the instrument's neck. For optimal performance, stability, and safety, a lighter gauge string set is highly recommended for this tuning.

• String 7 (Lowest String): Tune up 4 semitones to reach the note D3#.
• String 6: Tune up 6 semitones to reach the note A3#.
• String 5: Tune up 6 semitones to reach the note D4#.
• String 4: Tune up 6 semitones to reach the note G4#.
• String 3: Tune up 6 semitones to reach the note C5#.
• String 2: Tune up 6 semitones to reach the note F4.
• String 1 (Highest String): Tune up 6 semitones to reach the note A#5.

Always use a reliable tuner and make small, careful adjustments. Due to the significant changes in pitch and tension, it's advisable to allow the guitar to settle and re-tune multiple times until stable.

• String 7: D3#
• String 6: A3#
• String 5: D4#
• String 4: G4#
• String 3: C5#
• String 2: F4
• String 1: A5#