The E Minor 7 Open Tuning

This tuning transforms your guitar into an open E minor 7th chord (E-G-B-D), making it incredibly expressive and versatile for genres like minor blues, jazz, and soulful rock. When strummed open, the guitar rings out a rich, melancholic E minor 7th chord, providing an immediate harmonic foundation.

Verbal Analysis:

Imagine a deep, introspective sound with a hint of tension. The E Minor 7 Open Tuning offers a lush, full-bodied chord right off the bat, perfect for slide guitar or for creating spacious, ringing arpeggios. It simplifies playing minor 7th chords across the neck; by simply barring all strings at a higher fret, you instantly get another minor 7th chord (e.g., bar at the 3rd fret for G minor 7). This makes it easy to explore modal harmonies and create evocative chord progressions with minimal effort. Its inherent bluesy character shines through, allowing for easy access to dominant 7th and minor pentatonic scales over the open tuning.

Technical Analysis:

• The open strings are tuned to E2-B2-E3-G3-B3-D4.
• This arrangement directly spells out an E minor 7th chord:
• E (Root): Found on the 6th and 4th strings.
• B (Perfect 5th): Found on the 5th and 2nd strings.
• G (Minor 3rd): Found on the 3rd string.
• D (Minor 7th): Found on the 1st string.
• The intervals from the lowest E are: Root (E), Perfect 5th (B), Octave (E), Minor 10th (G), Perfect 12th (B), Minor 14th (D). This stacking creates a rich, resonant chord.
• The tuning involves relatively minor string adjustments from standard tuning, generally within 2 semitones up or down. This means your current string gauge should handle the tension changes without issues, though always exercise care when tuning up.
• Because of the symmetrical nature of some intervals (e.g., E-B on 6th and 5th strings, E-G-B-D across 4th to 1st strings), finding chord shapes that extend beyond the open position is intuitive, often requiring just a single finger or a barre.

Tuning Notes & How to Tune

Target Notes:

• 6th String (Low E): E2
• 5th String (A): B2
• 4th String (D): E3
• 3rd String (G): G3
• 2nd String (B): B3
• 1st String (High E): D4

How to Tune (from Standard E-A-D-G-B-E):

• 6th String (E2): Keep as is; no change (0 semitones).
• 5th String (A2 to B2): Tune up 2 semitones. (Care should be taken when tuning up, especially if string gauge is light).
• 4th String (D3 to E3): Tune up 2 semitones. (Care should be taken when tuning up, especially if string gauge is light).
• 3rd String (G3): Keep as is; no change (0 semitones).
• 2nd String (B3): Keep as is; no change (0 semitones).
• 1st String (E4 to D4): Tune down 2 semitones.

Important Note: All string adjustments for this tuning are within a range of +/- 2 semitones. While these are relatively minor changes, always tune carefully and ensure your guitar's neck relief is stable. For tunings requiring more extreme changes (exceeding 4 semitones up or down), a different string gauge might be advised to maintain optimal playability and string tension.