Ancient Sojourn Guitar Tuning Analysis

This tuning, named "Ancient Sojourn" after a beautiful song by Greg Joy from his "Celtic Secrets" album, sets a mood of deep resonance and melodic richness. It's a special purpose tuning designed to achieve a specific tonal character, often associated with folk, Celtic, and ambient styles. The instruction to use a capo at the 1st fret is crucial, as it shifts the entire tonality of the open strings, making the effective open chord F minor.

Verbal Analysis

At its core, Ancient Sojourn is a unique take on an E minor open tuning. The strings are tuned to E2 B2 G3 E3 B3 E4. This arrangement provides a powerful E minor triad (E-G-B) across the open strings, making it incredibly resonant and harmonious when strummed openly. It's an excellent tuning for creating rich, droning textures and for fingerpicking intricate melodies that utilize the natural resonance of the open strings.

The presence of multiple E, B, and G notes across the fretboard facilitates easy access to various voicings of E minor. The two E's (6th and 3rd strings), two B's (5th and 2nd strings), and the G (4th string) create a full, lush sound. The high E (1st string) then acts as a bright melodic anchor. This layout is particularly conducive to music that relies on sustained notes and modal harmonies, allowing for a deep, almost ancient soundscape.

With the recommended capo at the 1st fret, the *sounding* open chord becomes F minor (F-Ab-C). This instantly shifts the entire harmonic landscape up by a semitone, providing a new palette for exploration while retaining the structural benefits of the E minor tuning. This configuration is fantastic for exploring compositions in F minor or related keys, offering a unique tonal color that might feel less common than standard tunings.

Technical Analysis

The base open string notes are E2-B2-G3-E3-B3-E4, from lowest to highest string. This tuning spells out an E minor chord (E-G-B) spread across the strings:

• 6th String (E2): Root
• 5th String (B2): Perfect Fifth
• 4th String (G3): Minor Third (octave higher)
• 3rd String (E3): Root (octave higher)
• 2nd String (B3): Perfect Fifth (octave higher)
• 1st String (E4): Root (two octaves higher)

The intervals from the lowest E string (E2) are: unison (E2), perfect 5th (B2), minor 3rd + octave (G3), octave (E3), perfect 5th + octave (B3), and two octaves (E4). This arrangement provides a very strong harmonic foundation.

When using the capo at the 1st fret, the open string notes effectively become F2-C3-Ab3-F3-C4-F4, creating an F minor chord. This shifts all subsequent chord shapes and melodic possibilities up by one semitone from their E minor counterparts.

Chords and Playability

This tuning inherently provides an open E minor chord (or F minor with capo) with a full, rich sound. Barring across any fret will instantly yield a minor chord in the corresponding key (e.g., barring at the 2nd fret without a capo would yield an F# minor chord). This makes playing in minor keys exceptionally easy and resonant.

Due to the strong drone potential, this tuning is excellent for fingerstyle, folk, and ambient music. Chords like Em, Am (by fretting 2nd string at 1st fret, 4th string at 2nd fret, etc.), and C major (by fretting 5th string at 3rd fret, 4th string at 2nd fret, 3rd string at 2nd fret) can be found with relative ease, often using fewer fingers than in standard tuning and benefiting from the open string resonance. The structure also lends itself well to modal playing and incorporating open string drones against fretted notes.

How to Tune

To achieve the "Ancient Sojourn" tuning from standard E-A-D-G-B-e tuning, follow these specific string adjustments:

• 6th String (Low E): Keep as is; no change (0 semitones). The target note is E2.
• 5th String (A): Tune up 2 semitones to B2. This means raising your A string to B.
• 4th String (D): Tune up 5 semitones to G3. Caution: This is a significant increase in tension. Tuning up 5 semitones is beyond the recommended 4 semitones for standard string gauges. It is highly advised to use a lighter gauge string for the 4th string to prevent breakage or neck damage.
• 3rd String (G): Tune down 3 semitones to E3. This means lowering your G string to E.
• 2nd String (B): Keep as is; no change (0 semitones). The target note is B3.
• 1st String (High E): Keep as is; no change (0 semitones). The target note is E4.

Always tune carefully and check intonation after making significant changes.

6th String: E2 (Low E)

5th String: B2

4th String: G3

3rd String: E3

2nd String: B3

1st String: E4 (High E)