About 'The Sentinel' Tuning (7-String)

Named after its use in Car Bomb's track 'The Sentinel', this 7-string guitar tuning is a masterclass in modern metal dissonance and complexity. It's a highly unconventional and heavy tuning, designed for the intricate, often jarring, harmonic textures characteristic of progressive metal and djent. This tuning is not intended for traditional open chord voicings but rather for dense, low-register power chords, dissonant clusters, and specific melodic lines that define the band's sound.

Technical Analysis

The tuning establishes a very low and dark foundation with its lowest note at G♯2. The sequence of open strings from low to high is: G♯2, D♯3, G♯3, C♯4, F3, A♯4, F4.

• The lower strings (7th, 6th, 5th) establish a strong G♯ power chord (G♯2 - D♯3 - G♯3), providing a solid, guttural base for heavy riffing. This allows for easy access to thick, low G♯5 voicings across these strings.
• Adding the 4th string (C♯4) creates a G♯sus4 voicing (G♯ - D♯ - G♯ - C♯), adding a characteristic tension without resolving to a major or minor third. This makes for a wide, open sound in the lower register, suitable for open, ringing chordal riffs.
• The intervals become highly irregular and dissonant in the higher register. The 3rd string is tuned to F3, which is a minor 3rd lower than the 4th string's C♯4. This creates an inverted interval, preventing traditional open chord shapes but opening possibilities for unique arpeggios and dissonant clusters common in Car Bomb's style.
• The top two strings (A♯4 and F4) introduce further dissonance and complexity. The A♯4 forms a major 2nd (or major 9th) over the 5th string's G♯3, while the F4 creates a tritone (diminished 5th) with A♯4. This further moves away from simple open chords, encouraging fingerings for specific, often clashing, intervals to build dense, complex harmonies.
• The overall tuning prioritizes wide interval jumps and dissonant clusters, making it ideal for the percussive, complex, and often jarring soundscapes of Car Bomb's music. Playing traditional open chords is largely impractical, but simplified power chords and specific dissonant voicings are easily accessible, particularly on the lower strings.

How to Tune

To achieve 'The Sentinel' tuning, you will adjust your 7-string guitar from its standard (or previous) tuning as follows. Pay close attention to the direction and number of semitones for each string. Given the varying degrees of tuning adjustments, particularly the 7th string being lowered by 3 semitones, it's advisable to check your string gauge to ensure optimal tension and tone. While no single string exceeds a 4-semitone change in this specific tuning, significant drops like 3 semitones on a low string might lead to a looser feel, which could benefit from a heavier gauge string for better clarity and less fret buzz.

• 7th String (Lowest): Tune down 3 semitones to G♯2.
• 6th String: Tune down 1 semitone to D♯3.
• 5th String: Tune down 1 semitone to G♯3.
• 4th String: Tune down 1 semitone to C♯4.
• 3rd String: Tune down 2 semitones to F3.
• 2nd String: Tune down 1 semitone to A♯4.
• 1st String (Highest): Tune up 1 semitone to F4.

Here are the target notes for each string in 'The Sentinel' tuning:

• 7th String: G♯2
• 6th String: D♯3
• 5th String: G♯3
• 4th String: C♯4
• 3rd String: F3
• 2nd String: A♯4
• 1st String: F4