THE BEST TUNING FOR IMPROVISATION? | Why do I use 4ths Tuning? | TOM QUAYLE

[@tomquayleguitar]

Hi there everyone! I get a TON of questions about my 4ths tuning, so I thought it was time to do an updated video on this concept outlining the pros and cons of having a symmetrical fretboard layout. I hope you enjoy it - let me know if it raises any further questions and be sure to check out the links in the video description for more lesson content and info on this tuning and my playing style. Cheers! Tom

[@einarabelc5]

so, after watching this, When is your double neck signature guitar with one neck for cowboy chords and another for shredding?

[@luc8254]

Great video! I've used all 4ths tunning for about 3 years. I recently reverted back to standard for the repertoire but also because it's really impractical to do closed voicings (especially those containing major and minor 2nds), and I really like that closed voicing sound

[@dav_yodha]

what kind of strings gauge do u use tom?

[@commentfreely5443]

sounds like high e will break

[@commentfreely5443]

so: Eb Ab Dd Gg B E instead of: E A D G C F

[@cambioderumbo]

As a bass player it has a lot of logic... 😉😉

[@jumboshrimp5193]

Fuckin aye mate!

[@rudybigboote3883]

@@aniquinstark4347 guitars are already tuned in 4ths except for the silly B string who wants to feel special.

[@danepaulstewart8464]

CAMBIO - Exactly! Especially if you play a 5-string bass. 5 strings all in perfect 4ths makes “guitar standard tuning” seem even more pointless.

[@jumboshrimp5193]

@@rudybigboote3883 lmao 🤣

[@hissori2978]

That's how I see it too, I started on bass then guitar.

[@lukesaunders4776]

Been using all fourths myself for about 5 years now, I would never go back. We will convert them all in the end...

[@RedroomStudios]

never!

[@mkklmann]

May the fourths be with you!

[@Amurphybartlett]

If you tune in all 4ths-half step down (Eb,Ab,Db,Gb,B,E), you can always throw a partial capo on the top four strings and you'll have standard tuning for open strings and still keep the symetry of all 4ths, when you bar with your first finger you just do it at an angle and catch the last two strings a half step down.

[@HalJikaKick]

I played guitar for 32 years then tuned my guitar this way after watching your early videos. Never looked back.

[@AlexHutchingsMusic]

Bring on the 4ths..!!! 😉🤘Great video mate. I Hope all's well with you? I can't believe we've never had a 4ths off, 😂 we'll defo have to have a jam sometime.. Cheers for the mention mate and that app looks wicked. Nice one.

[@montelcarlos143]

woah Masta Alex hutching

[@2chordloops]

You two need to do a video together!

[@thekylegreene]

Going on 5 years of 4ths tuning ...can't see myself ever going back. I gig frequently playing improv-based music -the symmetry of the tuning allows me to think more musically and less with my hands.

[@matzer8846]

Well ... used to be a bass player half of my live and started playing guitar lately (like 2010). So i instinctively tuned to perfect quarts ... and of course my friends and co-musicians looked at me like "whot a dork". Later on i got more into KZbin and leaned about Alex Hutchings and you which made me feel less "alien". So thank you very much for sharing hints on this perfect 4ths tuning theme!

[@97guitarzan]

Great video...super interesting. I'm 66 years old and started playing when I was about 10. I'm also a guitar teacher and have learned scale shapes, arpeggios and chord patterns as well as teaching and reading sheet music....all with standard tuning. It may be too late for me! I do some stuff in open G and a couple of other open tunings. It's a great idea for a player such as yourself and like you said when you don't have to play traditional/standard stuff. You are an amazing player. By the way I bought a Wampler Dual Fusion overdrive pedal a few years ago, after viewing your demo of it!

[@4thstuning]

I really like your playing Tom and glad to see you objectively discussing 4ths tuning. That said, I disagree with your statement at the 14:00 minute mark about "chord melody" being much harder in P4. I've been playing P4 for almost 30 years and I've found P4 tuning makes things much easier because it forces me out of the now cliched idiomatic approaches std tuning encourages to look at the important harmonic information that the P4 mapping clarifies. Chord melody in P4 is different and doesn't rely or need bar forms. Instead one focuses on picking the right chord tones to go with the improvised melody. P4 also makes chord melody playing more independent of particular keys because the forms mostly remain the same across string sets.

[@johnxaviermusic]

Video should be called "How a bass a player sees the fret board" GREAT VID

[@danepaulstewart8464]

Lolz! RIGHT??!!

[@QuistJam]

Super interesting Tom! Never experimented with this. Also , been enjoying the Guitar Hour loads, right now listening to the one w my old friend/mentor Wheato!!

[@TitoSilversax]

Love your backing tracks bro

[@commentfreely5443]

it's 12.11 am my birthday ended 11 mins ago been listening to music for past 7 hours 11 mins. on ipod shuffling. had a dream with paul mccartney at about 7am yesterday where he asked me which of his songs he should play for me. i said obladee. ipod shuffle with 11,000 songs and that just came on. time to finish beer and go to bed.

[@ibastratepi]

Went to 4ths tuning because of Tom, Stanley Jordan. Just makes so much more sense. You lose those big open jangly chords but the fewer chords you do have can be shifted all over the fretboard.

[@tomaszbaran]

Great video Tom! I think your closing comments at the end about the cons are spot on and can be a decisive factor for many players. I myself switched to the Major Thirds tuning nearly a year ago, which makes the instrument even more mathematically simple, as you basically have your 12 tones in a 4 frets x 3 strings box, that repeats all over the fretboard, which means, you basically have to learn 1/4th of the fretboard any the rest is copy paste. Still - same challenges apply, and as you mention, there are ways around playing chords, chord shapes get simpler, but it's not for every musician because of the already existing repertoire, that needs to be reproduced in a certain way. Great video!

[@LeonTodd]

The entire video I was thinking "why not tune the other strings down?" and then you mentioned Ant right at the end! Anyway, off to do aerobics in Drop C.

[@arpeggioblues5924]

TOM !! I am so glad that you have a channel for 4ths tuning guitar players. I converted to 4ths tuning in the last 12 months, I can play anything I hear now, and I'm playing prog rock/jazz fusion without batting an eye. I only had to learn 1/3 the number of scales, triads, chords, modes etc (ad nauseum) to master the guitar. Knowing where everything is at an instant. 4ths tuning increases your learning speed by 300% yes.. 3 times faster than EADGBE... USE only EADGCF and you will be amazed at your progress inside of 1 year that would have taken you 3 years

[@SamWhiting]

It's been about 4 years since I switched to 4ths tuning, and I'm proud to say that I only massively doubt my life choices about 4 times a day now XD Great video as always, Tom!

[@RobbenBanks153]

Haha, but why would you want to go back to std tuning? Just looked up your channel, you're a great player man!

[@leoarjuncrasto]

I have the auto tuners on the head stock, its a matter of a push of a button to start improving on 4ths and another push to go back to standard. 4ths tuning is amazing

[@kendrickjones1110]

Thanks for breaking down your 4ths tuning. I like the symmetry of 4ths tuning.

[@richarddabboussy2943]

Brilliant, great explanation. I’m using standard tuning for guitar and using 4th tuning for Middle eastern instrument Oud and couldn’t get my head around the difference and why, your explanation helps sooo much, thank you.

[@martinvanier249]

The new standard tuning from Robert Fripp Is another one very intersting,perfect fifth and a minor third for the last litle string. Low to high C,G,D,A,E,G very cool tuning

[@ayoungethan]

What do you like about it?

[@mkklmann]

Try swapping the C in between A and E (G,D,A,C,E,G), you get an interval pattern of 5,5,m3,M3,m3 and if you shift it up a fifth (D-A-E-G-H-D) you will notice it being an inside-out-inversion of Standard Tuning. I like to call it Open Standard Tuning, just because I came about it myself and consider it an open standard (Joni Mitchell wrote at least two songs in this tuning based on searching her website, but to my knowledge doesn't claim copyright on any tuning), besides it's a pun on open tunings (because as you'll discover it has the chord value of a first inversion 13th chord). I've been using it as standard for five years, it lets me do chord inversions more proficiently, and gets a feeling of plaing a banjo, because all the interval jumps after the first fifth stack are unique and contains no repeats like on a 5-string banjo, and the fifth stacking (note that m3 + M3 = 5) you might know from mandolin/tenor banjo. Great for integrated melodic patterns on the four lightest strings, hence why I first called it Mellow-D (yes, it's a pun on 'melody' and drop-D, because it's also a double drop tuning, with the fourth string flopped, that in my experience lets you integrate bass bar "power" chords (made a single fifth) with third "mini" bars to harmonize on top of that, allowing to play more harmonized tunes as The Entertainer and Super Mario Theme sliding around thirds as a piano-like effect).

[@ravens01]

I play using 4ths tuning about a couple months ago thanks to Tom. Definitely got a handle on a bunch of the chord shapes now. The symmetry makes a lot of sense to me. On my seven string I drop the tuning on the thick low string and I can do some fun bigger chord shapes. Think I'm sticking with it.

[@John375PD]

Ive always played by ear, now 40 years later I want to learn notes, etc. This just blew my mind!

[@ninjaaron]

As someone who's been playing for 20 years and has tried 4ths tuning, I would add that this tuning is very seductive for beginners, since it cuts down on what you have to learn, but beginners are the last people who should be using this, because you don't yet fully understand what you're loosing by playing fourths tuning. It's a great tuning for playing leads and Jazz-style comping (better than standard), but you're giving up the main advantage of the guitar: It is the most portable instrument which is truly polyphonic (i.e. can play several different parts at once; fight me, accordion players), and having the instrument laid out in such a way that you can play a major chord in any position with just a barre (on the D, G and B strings), and having all the other open strings be notes in its scale is such a big thing for the kind of polyphonic effects the guitar is designed for. This is why it's such a perfect instrument for accompaniment, and also truly excellent for solo work (solo in the sense of playing alone, not in the sense of having the spotlight in an ensemble). 4ths tuning is very cool, but in terms of function, it's almost turning the guitar into a different instrument. You're going from the ultimate portable accompaniment and solo instrument to "yet another" portable lead instrument---and I don't think violins, saxophones, trumpets and all the rest can be said to be any less expressive than an electric guitar. If you love playing lead guitar and aren't that interested in polyphonic playing, there is a special feeling of freedom you get when playing lead in fourths that's hard to match, but to my mind, you're giving up a lot of what makes the guitar special. No offense to Tom, of course. He plays beautifully.

[@pcb8059]

Thanks you answered my question..Ive been fingerpicking 30 years and still looking for the best open tunings for solo acustic work, but i always go back to standard for more musical sounding applied theory

[@billyarsenault1970]

There are dozens of legitimate alternative tunings. Do you really think that the one you happen to favor is the one that makes the guitar special. Everything you said is all your opinion- but you make it seem like everything else but your way is less than. Everyone else’s way turns the guitar into just “Yet another” portable lead instrument. You must be a joy to live with.

[@ninjaaron]

@@billyarsenault1970 that's not what I was attempting to communicate, but you are free to read it however you like. There are plenty of tunings besides standard which are designed for polyphonic playing. 4ths tuning is not one of them. If your main interest in guitar is playing lead lines, 4ths tuning is very convenient, but it makes everything else harder. That is all.

[@pcb8059]

@@billyarsenault1970 Standard tuning just has better physical ergonomic lefthand advantages for fretting all chords, proper theory and playing the full range of keys and modes. Open tunings are great for other reasons but best used in one key or mode. The commenter was just saying 4th tunings removes the range of the guitar (which is its greatest asset), ergonomically speaking, he is right,you cant play more than one note at a time or a few octaves on a tuba for example

[@billyarsenault1970]

@@pcb8059 Sweet Jesus- what the hell is wrong with you people. Everything you just said is nonsense.

[@johnsmithers5044]

I`ve found the Bajo Sexto & Quinto Bible very helpful when learning chords in 4ths tuning- it`s got the lot.

[@marcosvilardi2085]

I have completely renounced standard tuning since I started using B,F#,B,F#,B,D# 12 years ago.

[@IIImobiusIII]

Solution: Double Neck Guitar with a standard Chord Neck and a Perfect Fourth Solo Neck... and Boom!

[@DaniToledoMusic]

I'd need a double brained head too :/

[@cheintz44]

@@DaniToledoMusic and a bass and a twelve string - QUAD NECK !!! although....would we need 2 twelve string necks also? One standard and one in 4ths? Fuck it - make it 5 necks and LETS GO!

[@johnmarquez333]

Very compelling. I've known for a long time that you tune in 4ths, but hearing you talk about the advantages and the type of player it's helpful for, I'm now curious to try it for myself.

[@AV-cx7ob]

Great video as always! You are among the most articulate and thoughtful instructors out there.

[@TheCandoheavy]

Nice. That's the same way a bajo sexto is tuned for texmex folkloric music. Great explanation for your use, it's always great to have ideas for experimenting. Thanks.

[@donindri]

I have a 7 string acoustic guitar (low B). Worth noting that when I tune the High B to C and the High E to F, I now have all the notes of C Major as open strings. Inspiring to play around with that! Thanks for posting

[@joegrant413]

Glad to find this! Looking at this now to answer the question of whether it makes sense to use P4 just for Melody and solo and to use standard tuning for everything else.

[@walterschock1270]

I have done that since 35 year because the same reason as Tom Quale - also build my own keyboards for the same reason - also change from the classical violin position to a much more comnfortable position for another reason.

[@krisnunney8030]

I’ve actually been using M3 tuning (i.e. major thirds) for a while now. It has pros and cons. I am as far from a professional guitarist as one can get but its symmetry appeals to me and I have found compromises to find chords that approximate the common ones that can’t be played.

[@castle6660]

Are playing octaves out of reach of M3 tuning?

[@krisnunney8030]

@@castle6660 The first octave is certainly within reach but two needs a barre and a stretch. One of the big cons is that you lose range so you need seven strings to be back to square. I play with six and adjust where I can. I’m a plodder but were you interested, a Jazz player named Ralph Patt (the doyen of this tuning) has a website and a chap named Tony Corman, who has a couple of KZbin videos that were very informative.

[@castle6660]

@@krisnunney8030 playing octaves is probably my favorite thing.. I sweep and I love Legato and tapping and I love my power chords and pedal tones...my single note rhythms. I love just shredding.. but I love octaves for some reason I create patterns with them.. octaves played like power chords without the fifth. I don't believe you can do that shape in major 3rd tuning can you? I've been looking at symmetrical tuning a lot the todayandyesterday.. M3 tuning P4 tuning P5 tuning I think P4 tuning is the only one you can do octaves in like that.. I'm not positive on that though. Thank you very much for your response I appreciate it. I have been playing guitar in standard tuning for 20 years.. and I accidentally discovered this tuning on my own yesterday and my mind is blownI

[@luc8254]

I've used all 4ths tunning for about 3 years. I recently reverted back to standard for the repertoire but also because it's really impractical to do closed voicings (especially those containing major and minor 2nds), and I really like that closed voicing sound..

[@SkepticalLlama]

Close voicings are really lovely, but there are b2s and 2s all over. It’s only one fret. My hands don’t stretch much and I can still play a C shape M7 chord in all fourths. I’m not invalidating what you said at all, only adding that things are possible with a little effort.

[@luc8254]

@@SkepticalLlama yeah, you can still play most of the voicings, but it takes more effort and if you're trying to play chords with melodies on top I found that all 4ths makes it harder. Cheers!

[@seenonyt2210]

@@luc8254 thanks for sharing your experience. Do you think M3 would be an advantage here?

[@willlacy112]

I've been going through the wonderful Alex Hutchings JTC content. But once I've gone through that there's not much other 4ths content out there. There are some videos like "here's an intro to 4ths", but I'd love to see some intermediate/advanced 4ths specific lessons from you with shapes you commonly use, etc.

[@schonbergsjazzadventures2961]

Nice :) I have been playing 4th tuning since 2009 almost exclusively except for teaching. Love it!. Much easier for jazz and related music with improvisation. Tom is great. I am so happy to know he is using it too.

[@shredd5705]

How can you manage 2 tunings simultaneously? Wouldn't that mess with your head

[@schonbergsjazzadventures2961]

@@shredd5705 Well... it happens ^^ Mostly when I switch tunings during a gig where a lot of reading is involved. But I play many different tunings (especially on acoustics) so you kind of get used to it and just 'switch'. But jazz or fusion kind of improvisation, I can only really do in 4th-tuning

[@shredd5705]

@@schonbergsjazzadventures2961 It sounds like a nightmare. All the sweep patterns that I have in muscle memory... gone. All scales, all big chords. The standard tuning is very illogical, it makes the guitar much harder than it should be. Whoever had the dumb idea of tuning EADGBE caused a disaster lol. I would want to tune to 4ths, but so many things are gone after it. Playing other people's music. Bass players have it better. I'm afraid 4s would mess with my head

[@0000song0000]

yours is the most beautiful ibanez ever. no flare, just a tool for efficiency. 😍

[@oliverbarry7160]

I've been using 4ths tuning for most things for a little while now. Although it's just another tool and a means to an end. I can still play well in standard and also frequently use other open tunings. Depending on the music I'll be playing, different tunings make more sense than others

[@matthewmedina1802]

Great info Tom! Really enjoy your insight and channel. I got that solo app too! Great App🤘🏽🤘🏽

[@themckeebrothers1368]

Thanks Tom, that was excellent. Another problem is that if you are an advanced guitarist, you have a lot of muscle memory that you would have to relearn. Also, after spending loads of time learning to sightread. you would have to relearn that. I might do it on one guitar as I get older, instead of crossword puzzles to keep my brain working:)

[@jeanenviedapprendre]

I don't feel like muscle memory is too problematic because I'm used to different shapes when I travel across the neck.

[@captainshiner42]

Dude, I JUUUUUST got into Bloodborne a couple days ago. That game is freaking brutal. Can't get enough!

[@AntLawGuitar]

Nice one T - very VERY clearly put. And now I know where to direct everyone who asks me about it! 🤙

[@barankaypakoglu7643]

Fascinating thing about all fourths is that, when you drop the lowest string to 5ths, which is drop tuning basically and you tune all the rest to 4ths, you can play 6 string barre chords super easily. I just discovered that and as a metal head, I am super happy about it.

[@felixlausch]

100k subscribers! Congrats Tom!

[@johnclark1925]

I’ve been using Perfect 4ths tuning out for around 12 years now and I do prefer it. As Tom says it has advantages and disadvantages. Playing in a tribute band I go standard tuning, but for my own music I can have the tuning I prefer... 4ths

[@Oscarrrrrrrrrrr]

Don't you find it difficult switching between them? I guess if the music is different enough then it's easier to keep them "compartmentalized"... I'm also worried about how long it would take to relearn everything (jazz) with the new tuning - been thinking about this for 16+ years now. :D Maybe I should just give it a shot for a couple of weeks.

[@johnclark1925]

@@Oscarrrrrrrrrrr Yes, as you say I tend to learn a full set in one compartmentalised show with the tribute act. I really don’t think about it at all these days. In terms of going from one system to another… For Chords: it is simple as you already know all the chord shapes and their inversions from the lower strings. No relearning just recycle the same shapes. The major 7th chord shape and it’s inversions on the lower strings are the same shape everywhere on the fretboard and up onto the higher strings. In that sense it is easier. For Solos: it depends upon how you prefer to solo. If you are jazzer then soloing using chords, wide intervals and arpeggios should be no issue as you already know the chords and inversions everywhere and it is pretty easy to get used to it If you play more diatonic rock/metal three notes per string scales then some of the patterns become very much easier because they line up underneath each other without the step, but others misalign. That can cause a little confusion. I think the only real difficulty is when you come to recycling well-known licks. Licks need a certain rhythm and sometimes that rhythm is dependent on moving from one string to another - you can’t quite get the same feel with them arranged differently. The flip side is you create completely different licks that are hard to do in standard for anyone copying you! Try it for a week. 🏆

[@Oscarrrrrrrrrrr]

@@johnclark1925 Wow John, thanks for the detailed rundown, highly appreciated! I guess there's only one way to find out how (and if) it works for me. I'll give it a week and see how it goes!

[@ayoungethan]

@@Oscarrrrrrrrrrr did you do it?

[@Oscarrrrrrrrrrr]

@@ayoungethan Unfortunately I never got around to doing it. Don't have any good excuses either, except that it would feel like a huge disruption. :(

[@Sammywhat]

Great content! Thanks for taking the time to share this!! 🍻😎👍

[@vashumashu4359]

I've been doing it for maybe 3 or 4 years now, I love it. I'm feeling like Barry Harris would approve of it as a layout. 🙊

[@jasonlaing1827]

Very interesting. Too set in my ways myself! Read an interview with Alex Hutchings where he talks about having his guitars adapted (for playing with Steven Wilson I think) with a split nut - I think it involved moving the higher strings nut on to the headstock, giving him the standard open strings and the fourths on the fretboard.

[@steve_one]

Thanks Tom, I keep a guitar in all 4th tuning at home and occasionally play it to inspire my lead stuff. I'm conflicted with playing in a covers band where I can't really re-invent the songs without loads of forethought for the chords and lead breaks etc, so standard tuning for me seems to take over but I'm interested to know if you or others find it easy to switch from standard to all 4ths on the fly if needed. Great video Tom. Many thanks 🙂

[@DougErapps]

Very cool! Thanks, Tom!

[@lorencing]

Thanks for a very clear definition of 4ths tuning with all +s and -s.

[@thebreakfastmenu]

4:53 Stranger Things has entered the chat

[@ryanmiller9999]

I keep my acoustic tuned this way! Great tips!

[@JosePineda-jn8jk]

Started using 4ths tuning about a year ago after 15 years of standard tuning. Alex Hutchings turned me onto it when he did a video explanation of it and I was sold. I still got back to standard frequently for stuff but I am also in the process of teaching myself how to use 4ths last tuning to play all those same things. For the most part I have it down but the longer ago I learned it the harder the muscle memory is to break. But other than that it has been amazing and I typically just write my own music so this has helped my process a lot.

[@rewajamir9190]

I never realised this before....thank you sir...

[@Elias_Sotomayor]

In my opinion the advantages of 4th tuning outclass the disadvanteges by a lot. I switched a little over 1 year ago and never looked back. But i also just care about improvisation. Great video. :)

[@Fernandozada]

Basic what we do on bass guitar.. My new bass is a 6 strings EADGCF and I love it. In guitar I use standard tuning but in bass... amazing to play

[@Fernandozada]

actually I chage my guitar tunning to P4 and loving it. Sure I will not return to standard tuning....

[@axeaddiction796]

Finally it finally clicked what this tuning is all about

[@Atibu]

Hey Tom ! I would like to see your studio. Can you do a Studio tour type video ? Your general equipment, guitars, amps etc.

[@stevenolsen3162]

Thanks for this. Another approach to improv!

[@dr_b_composer]

im a six string bass player and have often used eadgcf on guitar, its perfect for cross-instrument skill transfer. ive also messed around with beadf#b on the six string bass, emulating the guitar tuning on bass, if anyone is interested

[@GuillermoSmyser]

as a guitar player with 6 string bass I use that f#b one for obvious reasons

[@dr_b_composer]

@@GuillermoSmyser good man! ive tried to track down a high F for my six string (bass) for years so i can tune to eadgbe, but never found anything affordable, would be cool for jazz/soloing especially

[@guitarsickness7064]

I love this! Bloody BRILLIANT. Thanks Tom

[@SketchEtcher]

It’s fairly easy for me to compensate for the B string when soloing, since it only moves the patterns up one fret, and it’s always perfectly consistent string-wise. I simply don’t play barre chords that aren’t rooted on the E or A string, so I don’t need to learn wacky fingering. If I want higher voicing then I use the “Stairway to Heaven” type fingering of triads on the high strings (AED). If I exclusively played lead I suppose it would be great to setup 4ths tuning and just hammer away at those octave milestones. But if I switched between different tunings I’m afraid it would just introduce bad habits. So I guess one has to be really committed to making the change.

[@image30p]

I found the same problem with lowering my tuning. I have an acoustic that I will always try different tunings. I find it worth the trouble. But that's very good advice about aspirations of making a living.

[@drj602]

Ha! I used this tuning when I first started playing because I didn't know any better. Alternating between “Standard tuning” and I called it “Tuning for Lead”. I can remember feeling a bit spoiled for it.

[@MultiGuitarDave]

Tom, I love your style and playing technique. Unfortunately I haven't had time to take your lessons until now. Hopefully that time will come soon!

[@psteffensen]

I also play all 4th. Great! A lot of benifits. I actually like the equivalent to a bar chord on all4th tuning, omitting the deep 5th. Jazz chords are also easy to play. Also taking a solo idea down an octave could not be easier.

[@CollegeKiddKelvin]

I’m definitely gonna try this out

[@SomethingUnprofessional69]

I love using 4ths tuning, except I use Eb 4ths. Hitting a low eb and letting it ring out sounds so good in some jazz contexts.

[@davelanciani-dimaensionx]

I'll have to check out Ant Law now, due to the variant on the 4ths tuning - my 4ths tuning is D, G, C, F, A#, D#, with .010 to .052 strings.

[@jdvine]

i was doing chromatics yesterday,and even straight pentatonic,i notice many times i am "behind" the root note-and sometimes i seem too cross "x" into major scale-been nikin 'tommy bolin'-he was cool

[@frankiecalabro2617]

Tom. Of you do t feel well lately, start taking walks, getting some exercise every day and soon you’ll feel way better. We got to keep you with us! Love ya bro!

[@Xenbjorn]

“A Hunter is a Hunter... even in a dream...”

[@pablop.a.7275]

Hi Tom! Great explanation. Did you finally make a video with Jens Larsen?

[@IamtheActionman]

Brilliant explanation Tom. Thanks a bunch

[@NavarreAnthony]

Hey Tom, great video, does Solo have an Android store release date?

[@-k-b-]

This tuning but lower is so much fun! I play a Danelectro in C#, F#, B, E, A, D. Also I play a bass vi tuned to d# all 4ths. A really fun thing to do is playing stacked 4th triads on the high strings

[@williamduartemusic]

Nice, Tom. I would have loved to see how the 4ths tuning helps you when you're the developing the typical longer legato lines that you usually play. Maybe in a further video? 😊

[@Lovely_Lizard]

Always great content Thanks Tom

[@banparlous2552]

This vid was playing when i woke up in the middle of the night. It came to me like a dream. 😆 Don’t play cowboy chords? Check. Hate playing in cover bands? Check. Write my own weird material? Check. The more he went on the more it made sense. Also, been studying circle of fourths lately so maybe this would streamline all that for me?

[@timbeaton5045]

Sadly at 65, I'm way past being flexible enough to switch, even though i have adapted to a 5 string bass (in 4ths, of course) and started out way back when on violin, in 5ths. But kudos for having gone down this path. I can see the advantages, adn disadvantages, quite clearly. Sorry, but I think i will have to rely on standard tuning!

[@fxaarchable]

TOM: Thanks for this. I'm going to give it a go.

[@PaulPoGoaIndia]

Congrats for 100 k subs ❤️ 🎉 cheers love and greetings From Goa india

[@pedalscapes]

Awesome - thanks for sharing...

[@lllazarrr]

For me, spending a month in all forths tuning made me understand the fretboard in standard tuning much better.

[@milt3663]

Tom, your teaching skills are only surpassed by your playing. My thoughts: I almost switched to 4ths a few years ago, but I imagined that the “ease” would be supplanted by more repetition since you aren’t forced to change patterns. However, I now believe that because standard tuning is soo “standard”... that most of the variations achieved have already been popularized. In other words, standard tuning might force us to play a greater variety of “shapes”... but because soo many guitarists have used standard tuning (and for soo many years), most of the variations have already been played. Again thanks for all the incredible instruction and music. Best wishes, milt

[@Tripple-L432]

awesome stuff. thanxTom !!!

[@johnong2655]

I played so much bass that coming back to guitar is so hard. I might try using a perfect 4ths tuning

[@blissmaster71]

I've thought about buying a tenor guitar; you get a symmetrical tuning, but by tuning in 5ths, you can have (almost) as much melodic range with only 4 strings. Most people, even when playing chords with 9ths or 11ths only play 4 notes of the chord, so four strings should do the trick, provided you can reach the voices (which is I think why tenors have a short scale length). I've just never had the opportunity to try a tenor in person.

[@matthewmargetts8516]

Thanks for another excellently presented video. I have been meaning to try your tuning for a while but never liked the idea of putting the top two strings under increased tension. Going G flat, D flat, A flat, E flat on the lower four instead is a great idea, especially since, as you say, the open shape chords as we know them are gone. One other downside strikes me: the "kink" of the major 3rd in standard tuning forces you to use compensated shapes for chords, but also often forces you to arrive at different voicings. In fourths tuning the shapes stay constant and so do the intervals between chord tones. I'm not saying you can't have other voicings, but you perhaps won't discover them so organically.

[@scivanpoon]

4th for both bass and lead. Standard for rhythm. It seems specialization expedite learning for each role and could depends less on TAB and more on clefs.

[@alexisrosalesruiz7334]

Glad to see your back with Ibanez. I like your technique (left hand) Holdsworth like technique. I am more of a Frank Gambale style player, but I a am getting into the Holdsworth like technique also. Can you recommend any videos or books on it? Cheers!

[@adamkaidunnaustralia5158]

nice vid, i'm recently returning to playing guitar more regularly, after not picking one up for around 10 years, and this helps alot to refresh my understanding of tuning lol. I mainly played rythym and my own music before I stopped, and I'm still in the process of retraining my grip strength n building back up the calouses. It seems that with 4th tuning you might go through a few more top strings? however tuning using ant law's method for 4th sounds like it might reduce the need to replace as many strings... I used to burn through 2-3 strings every 2-3 weeks while playing alot of metal/punk/grunge/heavy rythym all the time, but picking it back up i've been focused mainly on widening my knowledge base and playing more pieces in the mind of more properly understanding scales, and higher chords. This should be a big help before my fingers build those harder to lose habits again 😎

[@jeffmckinnon5842]

I see the learning aspect here and it's a very interesting concept. Also you can play part chords or arpeggio's all day long so you really aren't losing much at all. It's definitely not for me because I have 45 years of standard tuning playing stuck in me and I wouldn't want to lose that at my age. It might not come back!

[@castle6660]

It might not...but it may open new doors you didn't know existed. You never know. I've been playing for 20 years in standard...I just discovered this tuning on my own yesterday. I was trying to get octaves the same fingering on all 6 strings...and I love it. When I come up with patterns...I naturally play them symmetrically. Always sounded good in standard...sounds much better in 4th tuning...almost like I was playing the wrong notes for 20 years and I didn't even notice it until now.

[@chrishandley]

This is the video I could've done with when I asked about tuning in fourths on the Guitar hour podcast's FB page the other year or was it last year? Blues licks were a pain in the ar.. When I tried them in fourths!

[@spotmfd9431]

Great video and concept. Unfortunately I have the fretboard and almost every scale memorized too much work to relearn.

[@crestfallenGuitarist]

(Actually, you can play some bar chords, shifting the index finger and placing it kinda sideways, that takes a bit of practice but isn't the most convenient thing to do) Fun fact, in december 2023 I discovered the world of microtonality, and - what a coincidence - started using P4 tuning on all guitars. After that I just HAD to build some 19 and 31 EDO guitars/basses. These things really go together.

[@JohnL2112]

It’s so funny, I play 6 string bass, and this totally makes sense. I also play guitar and just can’t play in 4ths (and can’t tune a bass like a guitar and make sense of it) - and I can transition back and forth without getting confused. But I just... can’t do this. Kudos to Tom to be able to do it.

[@jeffmckinnon5842]

There are a few guys who play the C tuning and after time they can't change back and forth very well. I imagine this would be very much the same in that aspect. I think you have to choose one and just stick with it. At the end of the day you still have to hit all of those notes, where ever they are located. I imagine shreding would be easier for sure, but I'm not really into that anymore...