Tired of playing the same old licks? Looking for new sounds and combinations on the guitar? If your guitar playing feels stale, shake things up by experimenting with alternate tunings. Today, let’s examine Guitar Craft Standard Tuning or “GCST” (CGDAEG, low to high), used by Robert Fripp of King Crimson as his primary, all-purpose tuning.
Re-tuning your instrument
Guitar Craft Standard Tuning: Open string pitches
Here’s how to re-tune your guitar from Standard Tuning into GCST, from low to high:
- Low E down to C
- Low A down to G
- D string remains the same
- G string up to A
- B string up to E
- E string up to G
For more even tension on the neck and a more consistent playing feel, re-string your guitar with string gauges varied to suit the tuning. The down-tuned low strings will need heavier gauges to take up the slack, while the up-tuned strings will require lighter string gauges to reduce tension.
For steel-string acoustic guitar, try these gauges: 11p-13p-22w-32w-47w-59w
Electric guitars can handle a wider range of string gauges, but you can achieve a good general setup from this selection: 9p-11p-16p-26w-42w-52w
You may use standard string sets if you are just experimenting, but you risk warping the neck if you leave the guitar tuned in GCST for long periods without changing the string gauges, especially with acoustic guitars. Also, we recommend this tuning for steel-string guitars only—gut or nylon strings tend to snap or constantly stretch out of tune.
Range and Structure
Two-octave major scale pattern in GCST
Compared to Standard Tuning, GCST adds an extra Perfect 5th to the instrument’s total range—an extra Major 3rd on the low end, and an extra Minor 3rd on the high end.
The first five strings, CGDAE from low to high, are tuned in Perfect 5th intervals, with an additional Minor 3rd interval between the high E and G strings. Because of this consistent Perfect 5th interval structure between the first five strings—similar to cello tuning—GCST yields its own set of repeating, movable fingering patterns.
The Minor 3rd interval between GCST’s high E and G strings does allow for some interesting close-voiced patterns. But, because that area of the tuning represents its own special area of study, we’ll focus for now on the five strings separated by Perfect 5ths.
Fingering patterns
Generally, fingering patterns in Guitar Craft Standard Tuning cover much wider ranges and larger intervals within a single position than Standard Tuning.
For example, a common two-octave major scale pattern appears in GCST in this form:This pattern’s four-note groupings (or “tetrachords”) require a lot of stretch in your left hand so that each finger can take one note. Spend extra time with the first two tetrachords on the low G and D strings; these lowest two sets of fingerings will force you to develop the
stretch between the middle and ring fingers. (Yes, it can be done! Begin on the higher frets where the spacing is narrower, and gradually work your way down the neck as you gain relaxed finger control and the stretches become part of muscle memory.)
Now, let’s look at a fully-inverted C Major triad arpeggio that can be easily found in GCST.
Fully-inverted C Major arpeggio in GCST
“Fully-inverted” means that the root-position ordering of notes from low to high, C-E-G, has been flipped upside down. G is now the lowest note, with C moved up above E, while
the stacked Major and Minor 3rds of the root-position Standard Tuning form invert into Minor and Major 6th intervals. In this arrangement, the wider note spacing gives the C
Major triad a distinctive resonance not usually heard in Standard-Tuned guitar playing outside of classical guitar styles.
For comparison, take a look at the same fully-inverted arpeggio appears in Standard Tuning. As you can see in the image below, the same arpeggio in Standard Tuning is a bit more difficult to reach.
Fully-inverted C Major arpeggio in Standard Tuning
Follow your ears
As with anything else in music, your ears are king. If Guitar Craft Standard Tuning fits the way you think musically, go for it. If you are the type who enjoys music theory and unlocking musical puzzles, you can have a great time unraveling the logic of the tuning.In future blog entries, we’ll look at some more fingering patterns, check out a few exercises, and examine various strategies for exploiting GCST fingering ideas in Standard Tuning.
