I had a lot of fun with today’s alternate tuning, as it led me to rediscover a song I hadn’t listened to in years!
Today’s alternate tuning is C# M9 (minus G#). But why do I include “minus G#” in the name of the tuning?
The actual notes of the C# M9 chord are:
C# D# F G# C
But for today’s tuning, my open string notes are:
C# F C F C D#
When I tried to change String 5 from F to G#, it sounded great. But it changed the note location for the other notes on String 5, so I decided not to include it in the open chord I used. Since my tuning does not include the note G#, I named this tuning C# M9 (minus G#).
Here is the song/idea I came up with titled, “People Forget” as I improvised in Open C# M9 tuning:
FREE BONUS!
Here are the scale notes, numbers and intervals of the entire key of C# Natural Minor in Open C# M9 Tuning:
As I was jamming in this tuning, I found myself playing The Who’s song titled “Eminence Front.” But the original song was not played in this tuning.
Here is my (short) cover of “Eminence Front” in C# M9 Tuning:
Below is a live version of The Who playing “Eminence Front” on December 17, 1982. (This was 8 days before I got my first guitar!)
And I just couldn’t end today’s blog post without including The Who’s studio version:
Eminence Front Lyrics:
“Eminence Front”
The sun shines
And people forget
They spray flies as the speedboat glides
And people forget
Forget they’re hiding
The girls smile
And people forget
The snow packs as the skier tracks
And people forget
Forget they’re hiding.
Behind an eminence front
Eminence front – It’s a put on.
It’s Eminence front
It’s Eminence front – It’s a put on.
An Eminence front
Eminence front – It’s a put on.
Eminence front
It’s Eminence front
It’s Eminence front – It’s a put on.
It’s a put on
Come and join the party
Dress to kill
Won’t you come and join the party
Dress to kill.
Dress to kill.
The drinks flow
People forget
That big wheel spins, the hair thins
People forget
Forget they’re hiding
The news slows
People forget
The shares crash, hopes are dashed
People forget
Forget they’re hiding.
Behind an eminence front
An Eminence front – it’s a put on
It’s just an Eminence front
An Eminence front – It’s a put on.
An Eminence front
An Eminence front- It’s a put on.
Eminence front
It’s Eminence front – It’s a put on.
It’s a put on
Come on join the party
Dressed to kill
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 athttps://soundcloud.com/scottquillin.
