Tune 6-string guitar

The classic six-string tuning is also called "Spanish". It is considered standard for all six-stringed instruments of this type, despite its appearance. Whether classical guitar with nylon strings, acoustic or electric guitar with metal strings - they all have the same tuning from the very beginning. What kind of tuning it is and whether it can be changed is described in this article. And let's start with the classic, that is, the Spanish type of six-string tuning.

The standard note (aka classic, aka spanish) tuning of a 6-string guitar looks like this:

• the first the (thinnest) string has the pitch of the "E" note of the 1st octave;
• next (second) the guitar string sounds with the note "si" of a small octave (hereinafter m. o.);
• third - "salt" m. O .;
• fourth - "re" m. About;
• the fifth - "la" of the big octave (further b. O.);
• sixth - "mi" b. O.

Below is an illustration of the classic six-string tuning in relation to a piano keyboard.

Remember that the six-string guitar part is recorded in the treble clef.

It is an international standard founded solely to provide easy sight reading for guitarists.... If you were to record the true sound of the instrument in the treble clef, you would need a large number of additional lines to the staff in the lower register. That is why on the staff we see that the first string is designated as the "mi" of the second octave (while its true sound is the "mi" of the first octave). The same applies to the musical notation of the remaining open strings.

In the letter designation of the classical six-string guitar, everything is very clear: each string (starting with the thickest one) is designated by a letter of the Latin alphabet, which corresponds to one or another note of the main scale. Here is this scale, well known to everyone since kindergarten, in the letters denoting each note:

• Before - C;
• Pe - D;
• Mi - E;
• Fa - F;
• Salt - G;
• La - A;
• C - B.

This situation is also accepted internationally. Therefore, the sounds of a standard guitar tuning look like this: EADGBE... But the presented type of recording of the scale does not reflect a complete idea of ​​the true sounding of the guitar strings, since the pitch of the notes relative to octaves is not indicated. Therefore, the letter designation of the scale with the form E2A2D3G3B3E4 will be most complete if we assume that the numbers 2, 3 and 4 mean major, minor and first octaves, respectively.

This is evidenced by the following image.

In addition, the standard tuning of a 6-string guitar is known in a more precise parameter - the vibration frequency of the open strings, measured in hertz:

• E2 82.41;
• A2 110.00;
• D3 146.83;
• G3 196.00;
• B3 246.94;
• E4 - 329.63.

All of the above parameters and designations will help novice guitarists to correctly tune the guitar in the right way.

Sometimes you have to re-tune a six-string guitar for a different sound of individual strings or completely change the entire tuning. These actions are either forced, or are performed at the guitarist's own will. It is then that the so-called lowered or raised tunings of the instrument appear.

For example, some pieces require you to lower the sixth string by 1 tone. Instead of the E note in a large octave, it should sound the D note in the same octave. Here you can cite a duet for two guitars known to almost all classical guitarists under the name "Brazilian Dance" by E. Villa-Lobos. In this case, the tuning of the guitar is called Drop D, that is - "Drop in D".

There is a well-known tuning, which is called among guitarists Drop C. In this case, the 6th string is lowered by 2 tones, and all the others - by 1 tone. The result is the following open-string sound of a six-string guitar: CGCFAD (starting from the 6th string).

Increased tuning of individual strings is less common, so there is not even a separate name for such tunings. But they are possible - all at the request of the guitarist. Much more common (especially among musicians who prefer an acoustic guitar with metal strings) raising the entire tuning by a semitone, a tone or more tones. However, this action is best done using a capo (portable nut), rearranging it to the desired place up the neck. If the capo is placed on the 1st fret, then the classical guitar tuning will rise by a semitone, on the 2nd fret - by 1 tone (and so on).

It should be noted that any increase or decrease in the tuning of a guitar from the standard by the same interval of all strings at once is also considered a standard tuning (high or low), since it corresponds to the standard principle of interval correspondence of strings to each other. When tuning your guitar to a low or high fret, you should remember the limitation for a standard set of strings - change the tuning no more than 1 tone higher or lower. In other cases, it is necessary to change the gauge of the strings: when increasing - to a thinner one, when decreasing - to a thick one.

An open tuning is considered to be such a tuning of a six-string guitar in which all 6 open strings as a whole create some kind of chord.

Here are 3 options for an open system. And so that they can be seen immediately, the word "Open" is added to the letter of the chord.

Has a tuning look similar to a seven-string Russian guitar:

• D - note "D" b. O.;
• G - "salt" b. O;
• D - "re" mo;
• G - "salt" m. About;
• B - "si" m.O.;
• D - "d" of the 1st octave.

This kind of open order is configured as follows:

• D - note "D" b. O.;
• A - "la" b. O.;
• D - "re" mo;
• F # - "F-sharp" m. About;
• A - "la" m. About;
• D - "d" of the 1st octave.

This is a minor variation of the D scale:

• D - note "D" b. O.;
• A - "la" b. O.;
• D - "re" mo;
• F - "fa" m. About;
• A - "la" m. About;
• D - "d" of the 1st octave.

The first open tuning of the above forms a G major chord, the second - D major, the third - a minor chord from the note "D". The D minor scale differs from the major scale only in the pure "F" sound.

In addition to the classical, you can name many more different options for the tuning of the guitar, but they are not so common.

Alternative views: including the same Drop D, Drop C, and Double Drop D. The latter differs from Drop D in that, in addition to lowering from the standard to the tone of the 6th string, the 1st string also decreases by tone. The result is two notes "D" instead of two "E" in the classical tuning. An alternative setting called "Cross A" has the formula EAEAEA, in which there are 3 notes "A" (major, minor and first octaves on the sixth third and first strings, respectively), resembles the sound of the Indian musical instrument sitar - one of the alleged ancestors of the guitar. Four strings in this tuning (1 through 4) have a heightened tone when compared to the classic sound. For such a restructuring, it is necessary to change the first and second strings to thinner ones, since a standard set of strings will not withstand such a load.

Systematic tuningsin which the strings are tuned to a specific interval (for example, minor or major thirds, clean fifths). The closest to the standard is such a system variety as tuning to all quarts: EADGCF. The four strings of the lower register match exactly the classical tuning. The fifth tuning of the strings resembles the tuning of a violin (or mandolin), only the guitar has two more fifths - above and below the violin range between the open strings.

There is even mirror classical tuning (EBGDAE against the standard EADGBE).

However, more interesting are the lowered or raised versions of the tuning, which have the standard (classical) principle of the interval ratio of strings to each other. Such settings are also considered standard, but only the word "Standard" is added to them: Standard D, Standard C and so on.

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