Tuning Description: Open Diminished Tuning

The "Open Diminished Tuning" is specifically crafted for players looking to explore complex harmonies and dissonant textures with remarkable ease. As its name suggests, this tuning immediately presents diminished qualities on open strings, making it a fantastic playground for jazz, blues, or experimental music where such sonorities are desired. The tuning facilitates easy diminished chords and open string hammer-ons, as highlighted in its description.

Verbal Analysis:

This is a highly characterful tuning that breaks away from conventional major/minor structures. Upon strumming the open strings, you'll be greeted with a rich, tension-filled sound that yearns for resolution or further exploration. It's not a tuning for strumming simple pop songs, but rather for creating evocative soundscapes, intricate lead lines, and distinctive rhythmic patterns. The open strings themselves offer a resonant, shimmering quality that can be manipulated through slides, hammer-ons, and pull-offs to produce unique sonic effects. It encourages an ear-training approach, pushing players to think beyond standard chord shapes and embrace more advanced harmonic concepts. The arrangement of notes, particularly the augmented fourths and diminished fifths, means that common major/minor scale patterns will feel different, opening up new melodic possibilities.

Technical Analysis & Open Chords:

The open string notes for this tuning are: E2, G2, D3, G3, A#4, E4.

Let's analyze the intervals and the implied open chord:

• 6th String (E2) to 5th String (G2): Minor Third (3 semitones)
• 5th String (G2) to 4th String (D3): Perfect Fifth (7 semitones)
• 4th String (D3) to 3rd String (G3): Perfect Fourth (5 semitones)
• 3rd String (G3) to 2nd String (A#4): Augmented Fourth / Diminished Fifth (6 semitones)
• 2nd String (A#4) to 1st String (E4): Diminished Fifth (6 semitones)

When all open strings are played, the notes present are E, G, D, A#, E. Rearranging these, we get E, G, A#, D. This precise combination forms an E half-diminished 7th chord (Eø7). This means the open tuning itself is a half-diminished chord, making it exceptionally easy to construct various diminished and half-diminished voicings across the fretboard. You'll find that barring across certain frets will yield different diminished qualities, and the tight intervals on the higher strings (G3-A#4-E4) make for very compact, rich voicings. The presence of the G (minor third) and A# (diminished fifth relative to E) immediately establishes the diminished quality. The D adds the minor seventh, completing the sophisticated Eø7 harmony.

This tuning also provides excellent opportunities for creating drones, especially on the lower E and G strings, against which melodic diminished scales or arpeggios can be played. Chords like Em7(b5) or Gdim will be very accessible. Experimentation with single-string melodies will reveal unexpected intervallic relationships due to the non-standard tuning.

Open String Notes:

• String 6 (Low E): E2
• String 5 (A String): G2
• String 4 (D String): D3
• String 3 (G String): G3
• String 2 (B String): A#4
• String 1 (High E): E4

How to Tune:

To achieve the "Open Diminished Tuning," follow these instructions for each string. We will specify the target note and describe the necessary movement.

• String 6 (Low E): Tune to E2. Keep as is; no change (0 semitones). (Assumes a starting E2)
• String 5 (A String): Tune to G2. This string needs to be tuned down 2 semitones from its standard A2.
• String 4 (D String): Tune to D3. Keep as is; no change (0 semitones). (Assumes a starting D3)
• String 3 (G String): Tune to G3. Keep as is; no change (0 semitones). (Assumes a starting G3)
• String 2 (B String): Tune to A#4. This string needs to be tuned down 1 semitone. Please note: To reach A#4 by tuning down 1 semitone, this implies starting from a B4. If your second string is typically B3, tuning it down 1 semitone would result in A#3. Achieving A#4 from B3 would require a significant pitch increase (11 semitones) and a different gauge string would be strongly advised in that scenario. However, based on the provided tuning instructions, the movement is a minor adjustment.
• String 1 (High E): Tune to E4. Keep as is; no change (0 semitones). (Assumes a starting E4)

Important Note on String Gauge: When tuning strings, significant changes in pitch (more than 4 semitones up or down) can put excessive stress on your strings and instrument. While most strings in this tuning require minimal adjustment according to the provided instructions, please be mindful if your instrument's current string setup significantly differs from the implied starting notes mentioned above, especially for String 2. Consider a professional setup or different string gauges for extreme changes.