Verbal Analysis: The Hendrix Chord Unveiled

The "Hendricks Tenor" tuning delivers a truly iconic and highly expressive sound, placing the legendary 'Hendrix Chord' (a dominant 7#9) right at your fingertips in the open position. This isn't your everyday harmonious tuning; it's designed to evoke a bluesy, soulful, and somewhat raw sonic landscape. With its characteristic blend of both major and minor thirds within the same dominant chord, it creates a rich, dissonant tension that resolves beautifully into powerful rock and blues voicings. It’s perfect for players looking to inject that distinct, electrified edge into their tenor guitar playing, providing instant access to compelling dominant harmonies ideal for lead work, rhythm, and fills.

Technical Analysis: E7#9 Open Voicing

This tuning transforms your tenor guitar into a powerful sonic tool, centered around an E7#9 chord.

• E3 (Lowest String): The foundational root of the chord, providing a deep, resonant base.
• G♯4: This is the bright, driving Major 3rd of the E chord, essential for its dominant quality.
• D4: The Minor 7th, adding the characteristic dominant tension that pulls the ear forward.
• G4 (Highest String): This note introduces the 'minor third' (or augmented 9th relative to the root), creating the signature dissonance of the Hendrix Chord when played alongside the G♯.

When strummed open, these notes (E, G♯, D, G) form an E7#9 chord (missing the 5th, B, but still highly effective). This allows for immediate, impactful dominant harmonies. The close proximity of G♯ and G on adjacent strings (G♯4 and G4) is the key to its unique flavour, providing a built-in 'crunch' that defines its character. Sliding this open shape up the neck will yield other 7#9 dominant chords (e.g., slide up 3 frets for a G7#9). This tuning excels in blues, funk, rock, and jazz fusion contexts, offering fresh chordal possibilities and scale approaches.

How to Tune Your Tenor Guitar to Hendricks Tenor

To achieve the "Hendricks Tenor" tuning, you will need to adjust your strings as follows. Always tune carefully and in small increments.

• String 4 (Lowest): Tune up to E3 by moving up 2 semitones from its previous pitch.
• String 3: Tune up to G♯4 by moving up 1 semitones from its previous pitch.
• String 2: Tune up to D4 by moving up 3 semitones from its previous pitch.
• String 1 (Highest): Tune up to G4 by moving up 3 semitones from its previous pitch.

Important Tuning Advice: While the movements for this tuning are generally within safe limits, please exercise caution. When tuning a string up by more than 4 semitones (or down by more than 4 semitones), it's often advisable to consider using a different gauge string set to avoid excessive tension or slack, which could affect playability and string longevity. Always ensure your instrument is capable of handling the increased tension if tuning significantly upwards.

String 4: E3

String 3: G♯4

String 2: D4

String 1: G4