Guitar Tunings - Regular

Regular

Regular tunings
For regular guitar-tunings, the distance between consecutive open-strings is a constant musical-interval, measured by semitones on the chromatic circle. The chromatic circle lists the twelve notes of the octave.
Basic information
Other names	Uniform tunings
Advanced information
Advantages	Simplifies learning by beginners and improvisation by advanced guitarists
Disadvantages	Replicating the open chords ("cowboy chords") of standard tuning is difficult; intermediate guitarists must relearn the fretboard and chords.
Regular tunings (semitones)
Guitar tunings

Main article: Regular tunings See also: Interval (music)

With standard tuning, and with all tunings, chord patterns can be moved twelve frets down, where the notes repeat in a higher octave.

For the standard tuning, there is exactly one interval of a third between the second and third strings, and all the other intervals are fourths. The irregularity has a price. Chords cannot be shifted around the fretboard in the standard tuning E-A-D-G-B-E, which requires four chord-shapes for the major chords. There are separate chord-forms for chords having their root note on the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth strings.

In contrast, regular tunings have equal intervals between the strings, and so they have symmetrical scales all along the fretboard. This makes it simpler to translate chords. For the regular tunings, chords may be moved diagonally around the fretboard. The diagonal movement of chords is especially simple for the regular tunings that are repetitive, in which case chords can be moved vertically: Chords can be moved three strings up (or down) in major-thirds tuning and chords can be moved two strings up (or down) in augmented-fourths tuning. Regular tunings thus appeal to new guitarists and also to jazz-guitarists, whose improvisation is simplified by regular intervals.

On the other hand, some chords are more difficult to play in a regular tuning than in standard tuning. It can be difficult to play conventional chords especially in augmented-fourths tuning and all-fifths tuning, in which the large spacings require hand stretching. Some chords, which are conventional in folk music, are difficult to play even in all-fourths and major-thirds tunings, which do not require more hand-stretching than standard tuning.