Overview: The Emotive E Major 13th Tuning

This intriguing open tuning, attributed to Adeeb Mohamed's theory of open tunings, transforms your guitar into a resonant E Major 13th chord. Known for its use by the Estlaxy emo band, this tuning offers a rich, complex harmonic landscape that can evoke powerful and expressive musical textures.

Verbal Analysis

Imagine strumming all six open strings and hearing a full, shimmering E Major 13th chord ring out. This tuning is designed for immediate harmonic gratification, providing a sophisticated sound that feels both bright and expansive. The inherent complexity of a 13th chord, with its extended harmonies, lends itself beautifully to genres that thrive on emotional depth and intricate soundscapes, such as emo, jazz fusion, or even modern pop and ambient music. The open strings resonate freely, creating a natural sustain and a sense of openness, allowing for sweeping arpeggios or powerful, layered chordal passages. It encourages exploration beyond traditional chord shapes, opening doors to new melodic and harmonic possibilities just by sliding a single finger or barring across the fretboard.

Technical Analysis

The tuning from low to high is E2-B2-D4#-G4#-C5#-F5#. Let's break down the intervals relative to the root (E):

• String 6 (E2): Root (E)
• String 5 (B2): Perfect 5th (B)
• String 4 (D4#): Major 7th (D#)
• String 3 (G4#): Major 3rd (G#)
• String 2 (C5#): Major 13th (C#)
• String 1 (F5#): Major 9th (F#)

These notes (E, G#, B, D#, F#, C#) indeed constitute a full E Major 13th chord. The arrangement is particularly interesting, with the root and fifth in the bass, followed by the major 7th, major 3rd, 13th, and 9th in ascending order. This creates a very wide voicing, spanning several octaves and delivering a rich harmonic density. The significant presence of higher octave notes (D4#, G4#, C5#, F5#) suggests a bright and ringing quality, allowing for complex arpeggiated figures that highlight the extended harmonies.

Open Chords and Reachable Shapes

The most obvious open chord is the E Major 13th itself. By simply strumming all open strings, you immediately have a complex, resonant chord. This tuning also facilitates easy creation of other Major 13th chords. By barring across a single fret (e.g., barring all strings at the 1st fret), you would achieve an F Major 13th (if all strings shifted up by one semitone, maintaining the same intervals). Similarly, barring at the 2nd fret would yield an F# Major 13th, and so on. This makes transposing the core harmonic idea very straightforward across the fretboard. The wide intervals between strings, particularly in the higher registers, also open up possibilities for interesting melodic lines and partial chords that emphasize specific extensions (e.g., playing just the top three strings could give you a G#sus2 chord, or specific voicings of the Emaj13). The unique arrangement of the D# and G# on strings 4 and 3 allows for creative dissonances or resolutions when exploring melodic movement.

How to Tune (Critical Information)

To achieve this tuning from standard E-A-D-G-B-E (low to high), follow these string movements carefully:

• String 6 (Low E): Keep as is; no change (0 semitones). The note remains E2.
• String 5 (A String): Tune up 2 semitones. The note moves from A2 to B2.
• String 4 (D String): Tune up 1 semitone. The note moves from D3 to D#3. Important Note: The target note for this string in the tuning notes is D4# (an octave higher). Tuning a standard D3 string up to D4# would involve a 13-semitone increase (+1 octave +1 semitone), which is a significant tension increase and likely requires a different gauge string to prevent breakage or damage. The provided tuning instructions only specify a 1-semitone increase. Please exercise extreme caution and verify your target note.
• String 3 (G String): Tune up 1 semitone. The note moves from G3 to G#3. Important Note: The target note for this string in the tuning notes is G4# (an octave higher). Tuning a standard G3 string up to G4# would involve a 13-semitone increase (+1 octave +1 semitone), which is a significant tension increase and likely requires a different gauge string to prevent breakage or damage. The provided tuning instructions only specify a 1-semitone increase. Please exercise extreme caution and verify your target note.
• String 2 (B String): Tune up 2 semitones. The note moves from B3 to C#4. Important Note: The target note for this string in the tuning notes is C5# (an octave higher). Tuning a standard B3 string up to C5# would involve a 14-semitone increase (+1 octave +2 semitones), which is a significant tension increase and likely requires a different gauge string to prevent breakage or damage. The provided tuning instructions only specify a 2-semitone increase. Please exercise extreme caution and verify your target note.
• String 1 (High E): Tune up 2 semitones. The note moves from E4 to F#4. Important Note: The target note for this string in the tuning notes is F5# (an octave higher). Tuning a standard E4 string up to F5# would involve a 14-semitone increase (+1 octave +2 semitones), which is a significant tension increase and likely requires a different gauge string to prevent breakage or damage. The provided tuning instructions only specify a 2-semitone increase. Please exercise extreme caution and verify your target note.

Caution on String Tension: Please be aware that the 'string_movements' instructions provided specify relatively small semitone changes (1-2 semitones up) from standard tuning. However, the 'tuning_notes' section lists the target notes for strings 1-4 as being a full octave higher than what these small semitone changes would yield from standard tuning. Tuning a string a full octave (12 semitones) or more up is an extreme change in tension and *will almost certainly require much lighter gauge strings* to avoid snapping, neck damage, or intonation issues. If your goal is to reach the exact notes specified in the 'tuning_notes' (D4#, G4#, C5#, F5#), you are dealing with very high tension and should consult a professional luthier and consider very light or even specialized string sets. If you follow only the 'string_movements' instructions, your strings 1-4 will reach D#3, G#3, C#4, F#4 respectively, which is a different (though still Emaj13 related) tuning.

The final tuning notes for each string, from the lowest (6th string) to the highest (1st string), are:

• 6th String: E2 (Low E)
• 5th String: B2
• 4th String: D4#
• 3rd String: G4#
• 2nd String: C5#
• 1st String: F5# (High F#)