Why is the guitar tuned like it is?

Question

Why is there that funny tuning kink between the G and B string on a guitar in standard tuning? I.e., the (musical) gap between the rest of the adjoining strings is 5 frets (or a perfect fourth), but the gap between the G and B string is only 4 frets (or a major third). Why is that?

It seems to make more sense to tune it all in perfect fourths and end up with EADGCF. I understand that other string instruments have the same gap between all of their strings.

Answer 1

I've seen it argued that the instrument that became the guitar started with the major G chord set, the second, third and fourth string, probably in pairs, as the entire string set for the instrument. The first string was then added, and the lower strings were added in fourths to provide more bass harmony, much the same way we see the 7th string being brought in these days.

Man, I wish I could source that.

In a more practical manner, I play mandolin, which is tuned in fifths. For melodies, it makes great sense to tune in fifths. Scales that seem kinda haphazard on guitar just lay out so nicely on the mandolin. But chords are ugly hand-stretchers. David Grisman, a great bluegrass and newgrass mandolin player, suggests that if you have to play four-or-more-note chords, drop the root and let someone else play it. Guitars, being tuned mostly in fourths, make chords much easier.

Answer 2

I was under the impression it was more historical than anything else, although Wikipedia tells me:

• Standard tuning has evolved to provide a good compromise between simple fingering for many chords and the ability to play common scales with minimal left hand movement. Uniquely, the guitar's tuning allows for repeatable patterns, which also facilitates the ease of playing common scales.

Answer 3

I think it's tuned like it is to maximize the number of strings we can use in chord voicings.

If the guitar were tuned in fourths, barre chords would be out.

Answer 4

Actually there is an alternative. There are a few guitarists who tune their entire guitar in "straight fourths", such as

E A D G C F

or perhaps

Eb Ab Db Gb B E

There is an article on All Fourths tuning on Wikipedia.

Stanley Jordan is a famous jazz guitarist who uses this tuning exclusively.

Freddie Green, the famous rhythm guitarist with the Count Basie orchestra, effectively played only in all-fourths tuning by virtue of the fact that he only played on the bottom four strings of the guitar, moving up and down the neck a great deal, but virtualy never crossing over that major third to the high B and E strings.

Also the Chapman Stick, a unique 10-course instrument related to the electric guitar, uses straight fourths for the top five strings and fifths for the lowest five strings.

When I studied jazz guitar, I determined to teach myself to play in straight fourths. I believe it has many advantages. The more complex the chords and harmonic progressions you are playing, the more the straight fourths system makes sense.

But if you want to learn music by exactly copying your favorite solos and pieces transcribed from famous guitarists, you're going to need to use the same tunings that those guitarists used.

Answer 5

I should also make reference to the practice of tuning the guitar in 5ths. "Crafty" tuning, or "New Standard Tuning", popularized by guitarist Robert Fripp of the rock band King Crimson, is based on this principle.

In Crafty tuning, the lowest note on the guitar is the "C" below the usual low "E", as on the cello, and the strings go up in 5ths from there, except for the highest string. Special string gauges are required to get this to work correctly.

There was an active guitar education movement called Guitar Craft built around the "Crafty" system some years ago.

Answer 6

That little kink is essential if you're trying to play slide in standard tuning. If you play slide on EADGCF, you can't make any chords!

For folk guitar (with/or without a slide), it's often useful to make it a curve by dropping the E to D. It makes possible the stacked-thirds that piano players (and horn sections) are so proud of. And that minor third on top makes slide playing really fun.

Answer 7

In Bill Edwards, Freboard Logic books, I remember him explaining that the interval mix of EADGBE is pretty optimal if the goal is to find a compromise between easy scales and easy chords.