Verbal Analysis

"Dropped Open F#" is a remarkably rich and powerful open tuning that immediately conveys a sense of grandeur and deep resonance. Its strong F# Major foundation makes it an excellent choice for expansive, ringing chord work, especially well-suited for slide guitar. The unique aspect of having a duplicated F# on the lowest two strings provides an incredibly deep, resonant bass foundation, adding significant weight and sustain to your sound. This tuning excels in genres like blues, folk, rock, and even heavier styles where a full, droning quality is desired. It encourages a less conventional approach to chording, often relying on barres and single-note melodies played over the open drone, creating a distinctive and atmospheric soundscape.

Technical Analysis

This tuning is structured as an F# Major open tuning, meaning that when all strings are strummed without fretting, they produce a full F# Major chord. The specific notes from the 6th (low E) to the 1st (high E) string are F#3, F#3, C#4, F#4, A#4, C#5. The interval structure is highly consonant, built upon the root (F#), major third (A#), and perfect fifth (C#) of the F# Major triad.

• The unison F# notes on the 6th and 5th strings create a powerful and exceptionally resonant low end, enhancing the fundamental F# root.
• From the 5th string upwards, the intervals are carefully selected to maintain the F# Major harmony: a Perfect 5th (F# to C#), followed by a Perfect 4th (C# to F#), then a Major 3rd (F# to A#), and finally a Minor 3rd (A# to C#).
• This arrangement provides a very strong and harmonically complete F# Major voicing across the entire open fretboard, making it easy to achieve a full, resonant sound.

Open Chords and Reachable Shapes

The fundamental characteristic of "Dropped Open F#" is that an F# Major chord is the default open sound. This offers several immediate advantages for chording:

• Any full barre across a single fret will automatically produce a major chord rooted at that fret. For example, a barre at the 2nd fret will yield a G# Major chord, while a barre at the 7th fret will give you a C# Major chord. This makes playing a variety of major chords very straightforward.
• Experimenting with muting strings or adding single fingers to a barre can create interesting dominant 7ths, sus2/sus4 variations, or minor chords. For instance, carefully flattening the third (A# to A natural) on the 2nd string (at the 1st fret if barring the open chord) would introduce a minor quality, though this might require precise finger placement due to the open tuning's inherent structure.
• The open C# notes (on the 4th and 1st strings) lend themselves exceptionally well to droning over various melodies and chord progressions, enhancing the sense of a dominant or perfect fifth interval and adding harmonic depth.

How to Tune

Here's how to adjust your guitar from standard EADGBe tuning to "Dropped Open F#":

• 6th String (Low E): Tune up 2 semitones to F#3. Please take care when tuning up more than a couple of semitones to avoid excessive tension.
• 5th String (A): Tune down 3 semitones to F#3.
• 4th String (D): Tune down 1 semitone to C#4.
• 3rd String (G): Tune down 1 semitone to F#4.
• 2nd String (B): Tune down 1 semitone to A#4.
• 1st String (High E): Tune down 3 semitones to C#5.

6th String: F#3 (Tune up from E)

5th String: F#3 (Tune down from A)

4th String: C#4 (Tune down from D)

3rd String: F#4 (Tune down from G)

2nd String: A#4 (Tune down from B)

1st String: C#5 (Tune down from E)