It’s Friday in alt tuning land. This week we’ve looked at some interesting alternate tunings. Some new and some rarely used. Today, we’re going to dive into EG#D#EG#D# Tuning in the key of of G# Natural Minor. This is close to being E Major 7 tuning but the note B is not in our tuning. (The notes of E M7 are E, G#, B and D#).

Can we call this “Close to E Major 7 Tuning” for fun? Okay, thanks!

From the research I’ve done, this is a new alternate tuning which means the chord voicings will be unique. This is a real advantage if you’re hoping to play chords that sound different from what’s commonly heard in standard tuning and some of the more common alt tunings.

Here is a video of my song “Assurance,” written while I improvised in EG#D#EG#D# tuning today:

Here are fretboards showing the scale notes, numbers, scale degrees and intervals I’m playing:

This is a mellow song, mostly using drone notes while playing the melody on String 1. The progressions end with a challenging piece of music to play, focusing on the G# Natural Minor scale notes from Frets 7 to 10. The notes are played in a descending sequence (from high to low) while the open strings are being strummed.

May these daily alt tunings continue to inspire you as you explore songwriting beyond the limitations of standard tuning. If you’d like to learn more about making alt tuning a part of your songwriting, give me a call at 888-7-GUITAR or reach out to me here.

Until next time…

~Scott Quillin

Did you know? Scott started playing guitar when he was 14 years old back in 1982. A Pittsburgh native, Scott resides in Rhode Island where he teaches guitar, bass, music and songwriting. He also records and mixes songs for local bands and artists as well as his own music. He writes and records nearly every day and has a real passion to help others hear their “inner voice” and express that in songs.

You can listen to more of Scott’s music at https://soundcloud.com/scottquillin.