Faarehyrde Tuning: A Handpan Inspired Minor Landscape

This unique guitar tuning, aptly named "Faarehyrde" (meaning 'Shepherd' in Danish), offers a fascinating and evocative sonic palette. Its origin, discovered while jamming with a handpan player, immediately suggests a rich, resonant, and harmonically complex sound world, ideal for ambient, world, or even modern jazz explorations.

Verbal Analysis

The Faarehyrde tuning immediately evokes a sense of deep mystery and pastoral serenity, much like the image of a shepherd traversing a vast, open landscape. The blend of minor intervals and a resonant open chord creates a melancholic yet full sound. It's a tuning that encourages harmonic exploration rather than simple chord progressions, inviting players to discover melodic lines and drones within its unique intervals. The close proximity of some notes (like G and G#) across different strings can lead to intriguing voice leading and sustained, shimmering textures. It feels deeply rooted and resonant, likely to inspire improvisational and introspective playing.

Technical Analysis

The open notes of the Faarehyrde tuning for a 6-string guitar are F2 - G#3 - D#4 - G3 - C4 - F4, ordered from the lowest (6th) string to the highest (1st) string. When these notes are arranged by pitch, we get F2, G3, G#3 (enharmonically Ab3), C4, D#4 (enharmonically Eb4), and F4. This collection of notes remarkably forms a powerful and clear F minor 7 (add9) chord. Specifically, the tuning provides the root (F), the minor third (G#/Ab), the perfect fifth (C), the minor seventh (D#/Eb), and the ninth (G). This means that simply strumming the open strings will yield a rich, jazzy, minor chord, setting a distinct emotional tone from the outset.

The structure of this tuning lends itself exceptionally well to:

• Open Voicings: The presence of F, G, G#, C, D#, F across the open strings provides a ready-made F minor 7(add9) chord, allowing for immediate harmonic depth. Barre chords across any fret will transpose this entire chord shape, giving access to a full palette of minor 7(add9) chords along the fretboard, making complex voicings surprisingly accessible.
• Drone & Melodic Play: The low F (string 6) and high F (string 1) provide strong root notes for drones, allowing for melodic improvisation using the minor scale notes available. The G3 (string 3) and G#3 (string 5) offer a compelling half-step dissonance or a beautiful point of resolution depending on context, inviting intricate melodic development.
• Modal Exploration: Given its handpan inspiration, this tuning is perfectly suited for exploring modes and scales that complement the F minor tonality, such as F Aeolian, F Phrygian, or even F Dorian for a slightly brighter minor feel, by emphasizing certain notes or using specific scale shapes.

This tuning is less about standard major/minor triad shapes and more about exploring the intricate harmonic relationships within an F minor 7(add9) framework, encouraging players to think outside traditional chord boxes and discover unique fingerings and voicings for a truly expressive sound.

Tuning Notes Overview

Here are the specific notes for each string in the Faarehyrde tuning, from the thickest (low E string) to the thinnest (high E string:

String 6 (Low E String): Tuned to F2
String 5 (A String): Tuned to G#3
String 4 (D String): Tuned to D#4
String 3 (G String): Tuned to G3
String 2 (B String): Tuned to C4
String 1 (High E String): Tuned to F4

How to Tune Your Guitar to Faarehyrde

To achieve the Faarehyrde tuning from standard E-A-D-G-B-E tuning, follow these specific adjustments for each string:

• String 6 (Low E): Tune up 1 semitone from E to F2. (Tune up 1 semitones)
• String 5 (A): Tune down 1 semitone from A to G#3. (Tune down 1 semitones)
• String 4 (D): Tune up 1 semitone from D to D#4. (Tune up 1 semitones)
• String 3 (G): Keep as is; no change from G to G3. (Keep as is; no change (0 semitones))
• String 2 (B): Tune up 1 semitone from B to C4. (Tune up 1 semitones)
• String 1 (High E): Tune up 1 semitone from E to F4. (Tune up 1 semitones)

Important Note on String Tension: All string movements in this tuning involve changes of only 1 semitone up or down, or no change at all. These are minor adjustments and are generally safe for standard gauge strings. You should not need to change string gauge for this tuning.