Open E7 Tuning: A Blues & Rock Powerhouse

This Open E7 tuning transforms your guitar into a rich, resonant soundscape, perfectly suited for blues, rock, and slide guitar. As the name suggests, all open strings together form a powerful E7 chord, making it incredibly intuitive for strumming and creating a full, open sound with minimal effort. The tuning is described in the provided JSON as "as near as possible to standard guitar tuning," which is true in that several key strings remain untouched, easing the transition for players accustomed to standard EADGBe.

Technical Analysis

The tuning for a 6-string Guitar is configured as follows:

• Low E String (6th): E2 (Root)
• A String (5th): G3# (Major Third)
• D String (4th): D3 (Minor Seventh)
• G String (3rd): G4# (Major Third, an octave higher than the 5th string's G#)
• B String (2nd): B3 (Perfect Fifth)
• High E String (1st): E4 (Root, an octave higher)

Playing Potential & Chords

This tuning is a dream for slide guitarists, as a straight barre across any fret will instantly produce a dominant seventh chord (e.g., barring at the 1st fret gives F7, 2nd fret gives F#7, and so on). This makes chord changes incredibly simple and fluid. Beyond simple barring, the open E7 chord creates a strong harmonic basis for improvisation.

Fingerstyle players will find the open G# notes on the 5th and 3rd strings, alongside the B and high E, conducive to crafting beautiful arpeggios and melodic lines within the E7 framework. The tuning encourages exploration of blues scales and pentatonics over the open E7, providing a rich backdrop for solos. With minimal fret-hand movement, expressive licks and riffs become highly accessible. The D string (4th) staying at D3 provides that crucial minor seventh, which is the soul of dominant chords, opening up avenues for blues turnarounds and resolutions.

How to Tune

Tuning to Open E7 involves only minor adjustments from standard tuning, ensuring ease of setup. Please note that for strings that remain unchanged, no action is required. For strings with movements, the changes are within a small range (max 1 semitone), meaning a string gauge change is generally not necessary.

• 6th String (Low E): Tune to E2. Keep as is; no change (0 semitones).
• 5th String (A): Tune to G3#. Tune down 1 semitone.
• 4th String (D): Tune to D3. Keep as is; no change (0 semitones).
• 3rd String (G): Tune to G4#. Tune up 1 semitone.
• 2nd String (B): Tune to B3. Keep as is; no change (0 semitones).
• 1st String (High E): Tune to E4. Keep as is; no change (0 semitones).

Since the maximum string adjustment is only 1 semitone, a different string gauge is typically not advised for this tuning, as it falls well within the safe range of standard string tension.

String 6 (Low E): E2
String 5 (A): G3#
String 4 (D): D3
String 3 (G): G4#
String 2 (B): B3
String 1 (High E): E4