This unique tuning, originally crafted by a user, transforms your guitar into a resonant soundscape perfect for dark, expressive, and melancholic music. It's an "Open F Minor" tuning, meaning that when strummed open, all strings combine to form a full F minor chord, providing a rich, immediate harmonic foundation. As described by its creator, the tuning is intended to be used with a capo on the first fret. This means that while the core tuning is in F minor, the playable sound will effectively be shifted up to F# minor, creating a slightly brighter, yet still deeply emotional, F# minor chord when played open with the capo engaged.

Technical Analysis

The open string notes for this tuning are F2, G3#, C3, G4#, C4, F4. This arrangement provides a powerful F minor chord (F - G# - C) across the instrument's range. The repetition of the minor third (G#) and the perfect fifth (C) in different octaves creates a dense, harmonically rich texture. The wide spacing between the low F2 and the high F4, combined with the inner voicings, makes this tuning excellent for droning and creating thick, atmospheric pads.

Because this is an open minor tuning, barring across any fret (relative to the capo, if used) will automatically yield a minor chord in the corresponding key. For example, without the capo, barring the first fret would produce a G minor chord. With the capo on the first fret, barring the first fret (which would be the second fret on the physical neck) would produce a G minor chord, and so on. This consistent minor third interval across the open strings facilitates easy exploration of minor keys and modes. While major chords will require more deliberate fingerings, the foundation of this tuning is firmly rooted in a compelling minor tonality.

How to Tune

To achieve this Open F Minor tuning, start from standard EADGBe tuning and make the following adjustments. All string movements are relatively small, with the maximum being 2 semitones, so your current standard string gauge should be perfectly suitable without needing to change to a different gauge.

• 6th String (Low E): Tune up 1 semitones to F2.
• 5th String (A): Tune down 1 semitones to G3#.
• 4th String (D): Tune down 2 semitones to C3.
• 3rd String (G): Tune up 1 semitones to G4#.
• 2nd String (B): Tune up 1 semitones to C4.
• 1st String (High E): Tune up 1 semitones to F4.

Once tuned, remember to apply a capo on the first fret to achieve the F# minor open chord as intended by the tuning's creator.

The open notes for this tuning are as follows (from lowest to highest string):

• String 6: F2
• String 5: G3#
• String 4: C3
• String 3: G4#
• String 2: C4
• String 1: F4