Transwiki:Major thirds tuning



Among alternative tunings for guitar, a major-thirds tuning is a regular tuning in which the intervals between successive open strings are each major thirds. Another name for major-thirds tuning is all-thirds tuning.

In the standard tuning, the successive open-strings mix two types of intervals, four perfect fourths and a single major-third between the G (g) and B (b') strings:
 * E-A-d-g-b'-e'

In contrast, the major-thirds tuning
 * D♯-G-B-D♯-G-B-D♯

has only major-third intervals between successive strings. Its open-string notes contain two copies of the augmented C chord.

For guitars with at least six strings, every major-third tuning thrice repeats open strings at different octaves. With the repetition of three open-string notes, each major-thirds tuning provides the guitarist with many options for fingering chords. By having repeated open-string notes (at different octaves) and by having uniform intervals between strings, major-thirds tuning simplifies improvisation by advanced guitarists and learning by beginners.

An alternative to standard tuning


In the standard tuning, the successive open-strings mix two types of intervals, four perfect fourths and a single major-third between the G (g) and B (b') strings:
 * E-A-d-g-b'-e'

Neighboring the standard tuning is the major-thirds tuning that has the open strings
 * E-G♯-c-e-g♯-c'.

With the repetition of three open-string notes, each major-thirds tuning provides the guitarist with many options for fingering chords. Indeed, the fingering of two successive frets suffices to play pure major and minor chords, while the fingering of three successive frets suffices to play seconds, fourths, sevenths, and ninths.

A lower major-thirds tuning has the open strings
 * C-E-G♯-c-e-g♯,

which contain two augmented C chords in two octaves. These two major-thirds tunings share five open-strings
 * E-G♯-c-e-g♯,

and the tunings both appear in the following table:

The table also displays the open-notes for guitars with more than six strings, which also are used for major-thirds tuning. For the standard Western guitar, which has six strings, major-thirds tuning has a smaller range than standard tuning; on a guitar with seven strings, the major-thirds tuning covers the range of standard tuning on six strings. Even greater range is possible with guitars with eight strings. For the highest open-string note listed in the table g'♯, a steel-string having the diameter of 0.008 in has been suggested; for other strings (of steel and of nylon), gauges have been tabulated.

Other major-thirds tunings
In the above table, four consecutive frets display all of the major-thirds tunings. Again, the lower major-thirds tuning
 * C-E-G♯-c-e-g♯

assigns its initial open-strings the notes
 * C-E-G♯.

The other major-thirds tunings respectively assign their initial open-strings the notes
 * C♯-F-a,
 * D-F♯-a♯, and
 * D♯-G-b.

Russian guitar
In the above table, the third fret displays the major-thirds tuning
 * D♯-G-B-D♯-G-B-D♯.

This tuning is approximated by the open G tuning
 * D-G-B-D-G-B-D

of the seven-string Russian guitar.

Properties
Every major-thirds tuning is regular and repetitive.

Regular musical-intervals
In each regular tuning, the musical intervals are the same for each pair of consecutive strings. Other regular tunings include all-fourths, augmented-fourths, and all-fifths tunings. For each regular tuning, chord patterns may be moved around the fretboard, a property that simplifies beginners' learning of chords and that simplifies advanced players' improvisation.

Repetition
Unlike all-fourths and all-fifths tuning, major-thirds tuning repeats its octave after every two strings, which again simplifies the learning of chords and improvisation; This repetition results in two copies of the three open-strings' notes, each in a different octave. Similarly, augmented-fourths tuning repeats itself after one string, resulting in three copies of the two open-strings' notes, each in a different octave.

On the other hand, because major-thirds tunings have only three open-notes (occurring in each of two octaves), major-thirds tunings offer fewer open-chords. Furthermore, the geometry of the chromatic circle forces every major-thirds tuning to contain one (or two) open-stings having sharp (or flat) notes; thus, each major thirds tuning has at most two  natural-notes. Consequently, guitarists playing in major-third have fewer natural open-chords, that is, chords having a natural root-note on an open string. Such open chords are conventional in popular music.

In contrast, such natural open-chords can often be fingered using the natural open-notes of other tunings, of which there are exactly
 * five in the standard tuning E-A-D-G-B-E,
 * three in the Russian open-G tuning G-D-B-G-B-D-G,
 * six in the all-fourths tuning E-A-D-G-C-F,
 * five such notes for the new standard tuning C-G-D-A-E-G, which approximates the all-fifths tuning C-G-D-A-E-B, which has six such notes.

Translation of chords
For all guitar tunings, chord shapes can be shifted horizontally, up and down the fretboard. However, the regular repetition of the major-thirds tuning enable chord shapes also to be vertically shifted.

Four frets for the four fingers
Because the chromatic scale climbs from one string to the next after exactly four frets, major-thirds tuning reduces the extensions of the little and index fingers ("hand stretching"). For other tunings, the successive strings have intervals that are perfect-fourths, augmented-fourths, or perfect fifths; thus, the fretting hand must cover five, six, or seven frets respectively to play a chromatic scale. (Of course, the highest chromatic-scale uses the open strings and so requires one less fret to be covered.)