Tuning Name: ermooo

This unique guitar tuning, aptly named "ermooo" by its creator and described as an "emo thingy mabober," offers a distinctive sonic palette perfect for exploring emotional and atmospheric soundscapes. It diverges significantly from standard tuning, inviting players to discover new harmonic possibilities and chord voicings.

Verbal Analysis

"ermooo" evokes a sound that feels both raw and intricate. With several strings tuned down and some carefully placed upward adjustments, the tuning creates a landscape that can range from haunting and melancholic to surprisingly bright and expansive. The combination of low and high pitches, particularly the E, G#, and B, along with the repeated F# and B higher up, suggests a rich harmonic depth. It lends itself well to genres that value expressive melody, textured chord work, and powerful, resonant riffs. Think of it as a canvas for crafting moods that resonate with the introspection and intensity often found in emo, post-rock, or alternative genres.

Technical Analysis

The open strings of "ermooo" are configured as E2-G3#-B2-F4#-B3-F5#. Let's break down the intervals and potential chordal implications:

• The open tuning itself forms an intriguing extended chord. When all strings are strummed, the notes E, G#, B, and F# (with octave doublings) create an E Major 9th chord (E - G# - B - F#). This means a full strum provides a rich, complex, and major-key-oriented sound right off the bat, offering a surprisingly bright foundation despite the "emo" descriptor.
• The pairing of E2 (String 6) and B2 (String 4) creates a strong, low perfect fifth, giving the tuning a robust bottom end.
• The unique intervallic jumps, such as the Major Tenth between String 6 (E2) and String 5 (G3#), and the descending interval from String 5 (G3#) to String 4 (B2), mean that standard chord shapes will be completely recontextualized. Players will need to explore new fingerings to discover the inherent harmonies.
• The repeated B notes (B2 on String 4 and B3 on String 2) and F# notes (F4# on String 3 and F5# on String 1) provide excellent opportunities for creating resonant drones, melodic motifs that jump octaves, or interesting voicings by fretting around these stable points.
• This tuning encourages experimentation, leading to chords and melodic lines that would be difficult or impossible to achieve in standard tuning, opening doors for truly original compositions.

How to Tune

To achieve the "ermooo" tuning, start from standard E Standard tuning (E-A-D-G-B-E from String 6 to String 1) and adjust each string as follows:

• String 6 (Low E): Keep as is; no change (0 semitones). It remains E2.
• String 5 (A): Tune down 1 semitone to G3#.
• String 4 (D): Tune down 3 semitones to B2.
• String 3 (G): Tune down 1 semitone to F4#.
• String 2 (B): Keep as is; no change (0 semitones). It remains B3.
• String 1 (High E): Tune up 2 semitones to F5#.

All string movements are within a safe range, so a change in string gauge is not advised for this tuning.