The 'F Lindley' tuning, famously associated with David Lindley's work, particularly for the song "These Days," transforms the standard guitar into a vibrant and resonant open chord. This tuning offers a rich, full sound that is exceptionally well-suited for slide guitar, fingerpicking, and creating expansive, droning textures. Its inherent harmony makes it an excellent choice for blues, folk, and roots music, providing a strong tonal center with minimal effort.

Technical Analysis

This tuning establishes an Open F Major chord across all six strings. The notes from lowest to highest are F2 C3 F3 A3 C4 F4. This arrangement provides multiple octaves of the root (F), the perfect fifth (C), and the major third (A), creating a very stable and harmonically complete sound when strummed open. The intervals between the strings are:

• String 6 (F2) to String 5 (C3): Perfect Fifth (P5)
• String 5 (C3) to String 4 (F3): Perfect Fourth (P4)
• String 4 (F3) to String 3 (A3): Major Third (M3)
• String 3 (A3) to String 2 (C4): Minor Third (m3)
• String 2 (C4) to String 1 (F4): Perfect Fourth (P4)

The beauty of an Open F tuning lies in its immediate harmonic gratification. Simply strumming all open strings yields a full F Major chord. By barring any fret across all six strings, you instantly achieve a Major chord in that new key (e.g., barring the 1st fret gives F# Major, 3rd fret gives G Major, 5th fret gives A Major, and so on). This characteristic makes it incredibly intuitive for playing in various keys while maintaining a consistent chord voicing. Furthermore, common major scale shapes and arpeggios relative to F Major are easily accessible, and the presence of the fifth (C) and fourth (Bb) in the F Major scale on the open strings makes it straightforward to imply dominant 7th and sus4 chords with slight adjustments.

How to Tune

To achieve the 'F Lindley' tuning from standard E Standard tuning (E-A-D-G-B-E), you will need to adjust your strings as follows. Please exercise caution when tuning, especially when increasing string tension. For string movements exceeding four semitones (up or down), consider using a different string gauge to prevent potential string breakage or neck damage.

• String 6 (Low E): Tune up 1 semitone from E2 to F2.
• String 5 (A String): Tune up 3 semitones from A2 to C3.
• String 4 (D String): Tune up 3 semitones from D3 to F3.
• String 3 (G String): Tune up 2 semitones from G3 to A3.
• String 2 (B String): Tune up 1 semitone from B3 to C4.
• String 1 (High E): Tune up 1 semitone from E4 to F4.

• String 6 (Low E): Tuned to F2, providing the root of the open F Major chord.
• String 5 (A String): Tuned to C3, providing the perfect fifth of the F Major chord.
• String 4 (D String): Tuned to F3, an octave higher root, reinforcing the F tonality.
• String 3 (G String): Tuned to A3, providing the major third of the F Major chord.
• String 2 (B String): Tuned to C4, another perfect fifth, an octave higher.
• String 1 (High E): Tuned to F4, the highest root note, completing the open F Major voicing.