New Standard Tuning
Encyclopedia
The new standard tuning (NST) is a special type of guitar
tuning
(CGDAEG), introduced by Robert Fripp
of King Crimson
, who has stated that the tuning "flew by" while he was sweating in a sauna in September 1983. Fripp began using the tuning in 1985 after stepping out of the spotlight before beginning his Guitar Craft
seminars. Although used by a small number of players in comparison to the standard guitar tuning
(referred to as 'Old Standard Tuning' by NST players), it has gained some popularity among experimental
guitarists, and is the tuning taught at Fripp's Guitar Craft
. The tuning is (from low to high): CGDAEG, and can be remembered by the mnemonic
"California Guitarists Drop Acid Every Gig", according to the program booklet sold at the UK end of the Double Trio tour.
Robert Fripp has recently suggested the tuning be renamed to, "Guitar Craft Standard Tuning or C Pentatonic tuning".
, i.e. in fifths
from a low C. The next-to-highest string is another fifth up from the A to an E, and the first string is a minor third
up from the E to a G. Since the lowest five strings are tuned in fifths, typical fingerings for chords and scales used on the violin
, cello, and mandolin
are applicable here. The minor third between the top strings allow denser chords in the high range of the scale, and easier access to some elementary chord tones (typically the thirteenth
for chords with the root note
on the sixth string, and the ninth
and flat ninth for chords with the root note on the fifth string, see chord
). NST has a greater range than the Old Standard Tuning, approximately a perfect fifth greater (a major third
lower and a minor third higher).
Scales across two strings in NST also line up nicely into coherent tetrachord
s or four-note patterns that have a visually rational relationship (whole and half-tone relationships have a remarkable symmetry that can be easier to learn than the OST whose intervals
from 6 to 1 have the (inconsistent) major third thrown in the middle of the scale.
This fifths-based tuning does present a downside, however: wider harmonic
intervals between consecutive strings make certain closely voiced jazz chords
impractical requiring an interpretive voicing
on the part of the guitarist.
String swapping may also be advisable: the low C may be loose unless the gauge is increased and the high G may require something rather gossamer, thus many Guitar Craft participants use an .011-.058 set for acoustic.
At Guitar Craft seminars and courses, students work exclusively in NST. The education is not completely centered around the tuning; however, it was originally used as a tool to push students to begin from scratch, renew themselves and approach their playing in a different way. The idea is that with a completely different guitar tuning than the one you're accustomed to, none of your regular chords or licks will work, and you will have to find new ways of musical expression with the guitar.
The tuning is most notably used by Guitar Craft players including The League of Crafty Guitarists, the California Guitar Trio
, Bert Lams, Los Gauchos Alemanes, Gitbox Rebellion, BigTime Trio, Zum
, the Atomic Chamber Ensemble, the Seattle Guitar Circle, Tuning the Air, Curt Golden, Steve Ball (musician), Europa String Choir, Fabio Mittino, Lost Pedro, Tom McCarthy of Chicago's Luminance Ensemble, and thousands of Guitar Craft students around the world. In 1999, Fripp mentioned in his journal that King Crimson singer/guitarist Adrian Belew
had been experimenting with the NST for live and studio work centered around Crimson's then-current album, The ConstruKction of Light
. Trey Gunn
, Crimson's touch guitar player from 1994 to 2003, as well as Markus Reuter
of TUNER
use variants of this tuning on their 8- and 10-string instruments. Finnish musician Heikki Malmberg exclusively uses a 7-string guitar tuned in NST with an additional low F.
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
tuning
Guitar tuning
Guitar tunings almost always refers to the pitch of the open string, though some tunings may only realistically be attained by the use of a capo on an unmodified instrument....
(CGDAEG), introduced by Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp is an English guitarist, composer and record producer. He was ranked 42nd on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and #47 on Gibson.com’s "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time". Among rock guitarists, Fripp is a master of crosspicking, a technique...
of King Crimson
King Crimson
King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...
, who has stated that the tuning "flew by" while he was sweating in a sauna in September 1983. Fripp began using the tuning in 1985 after stepping out of the spotlight before beginning his Guitar Craft
Guitar Craft
Guitar Craft was a series of guitar and personal development classes, founded and often presented by Robert Fripp, who is best known for his work with King Crimson.-Courses:GC includes three ways of developing relationships:...
seminars. Although used by a small number of players in comparison to the standard guitar tuning
Standard tuning
In music, standard tuning refers to the typical tuning of a string instrument. This notion is contrary to that of scordatura, i.e. an alternate tuning designated to modify either the timbre or technical capabilities of the desired instrument.-Bowed strings:...
(referred to as 'Old Standard Tuning' by NST players), it has gained some popularity among experimental
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
guitarists, and is the tuning taught at Fripp's Guitar Craft
Guitar Craft
Guitar Craft was a series of guitar and personal development classes, founded and often presented by Robert Fripp, who is best known for his work with King Crimson.-Courses:GC includes three ways of developing relationships:...
. The tuning is (from low to high): CGDAEG, and can be remembered by the mnemonic
Mnemonic
A mnemonic , or mnemonic device, is any learning technique that aids memory. To improve long term memory, mnemonic systems are used to make memorization easier. Commonly encountered mnemonics are often verbal, such as a very short poem or a special word used to help a person remember something,...
"California Guitarists Drop Acid Every Gig", according to the program booklet sold at the UK end of the Double Trio tour.
Robert Fripp has recently suggested the tuning be renamed to, "Guitar Craft Standard Tuning or C Pentatonic tuning".
Characteristics
The lowest four strings are tuned just like a celloCello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
, i.e. in fifths
Perfect fifth
In classical music from Western culture, a fifth is a musical interval encompassing five staff positions , and the perfect fifth is a fifth spanning seven semitones, or in meantone, four diatonic semitones and three chromatic semitones...
from a low C. The next-to-highest string is another fifth up from the A to an E, and the first string is a minor third
Minor third
In classical music from Western culture, a third is a musical interval encompassing three staff positions , and the minor third is one of two commonly occurring thirds. The minor quality specification identifies it as being the smallest of the two: the minor third spans three semitones, the major...
up from the E to a G. Since the lowest five strings are tuned in fifths, typical fingerings for chords and scales used on the violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, cello, and mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
are applicable here. The minor third between the top strings allow denser chords in the high range of the scale, and easier access to some elementary chord tones (typically the thirteenth
Thirteenth
In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the interval between the sixth and first scale degrees when the sixth is transposed up an octave, creating a compound sixth, or thirteenth. The thirteenth is most commonly major or minor ....
for chords with the root note
Root (chord)
In music theory, the root of a chord is the note or pitch upon which a triadic chord is built. For example, the root of the major triad C-E-G is C....
on the sixth string, and the ninth
Ninth
In music, a ninth is a compound interval consisting of an octave plus a second.Like the second, the interval of a ninth is classified as a dissonance in common practice tonality. Since a ninth is a larger than a second, its sonority level is considered less dense.-Major ninth:A major ninth is a...
and flat ninth for chords with the root note on the fifth string, see chord
Chord (music)
A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...
). NST has a greater range than the Old Standard Tuning, approximately a perfect fifth greater (a major third
Major third
In classical music from Western culture, a third is a musical interval encompassing three staff positions , and the major third is one of two commonly occurring thirds. It is qualified as major because it is the largest of the two: the major third spans four semitones, the minor third three...
lower and a minor third higher).
Scales across two strings in NST also line up nicely into coherent tetrachord
Tetrachord
Traditionally, a tetrachord is a series of three intervals filling in the interval of a perfect fourth, a 4:3 frequency proportion. In modern usage a tetrachord is any four-note segment of a scale or tone row. The term tetrachord derives from ancient Greek music theory...
s or four-note patterns that have a visually rational relationship (whole and half-tone relationships have a remarkable symmetry that can be easier to learn than the OST whose intervals
Interval (music)
In music theory, an interval is a combination of two notes, or the ratio between their frequencies. Two-note combinations are also called dyads...
from 6 to 1 have the (inconsistent) major third thrown in the middle of the scale.
This fifths-based tuning does present a downside, however: wider harmonic
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
intervals between consecutive strings make certain closely voiced jazz chords
Jazz chords
Jazz chords are chords and chord symbols which are commonly found in Jazz music and harmony.-Intervals:Each chord is described as a series of intervallic relationships to the root of the chord...
impractical requiring an interpretive voicing
Voicing (music)
In music composition and arranging, a voicing is the instrumentation and vertical spacing and ordering of the pitches in a chord...
on the part of the guitarist.
String swapping may also be advisable: the low C may be loose unless the gauge is increased and the high G may require something rather gossamer, thus many Guitar Craft participants use an .011-.058 set for acoustic.
Artists who use NST
Robert Fripp exclusively uses the New Standard Tuning in his guitar playing. He started using it in 1984 and has used it on all recordings since then, both as solo artist and within King Crimson, among others.At Guitar Craft seminars and courses, students work exclusively in NST. The education is not completely centered around the tuning; however, it was originally used as a tool to push students to begin from scratch, renew themselves and approach their playing in a different way. The idea is that with a completely different guitar tuning than the one you're accustomed to, none of your regular chords or licks will work, and you will have to find new ways of musical expression with the guitar.
The tuning is most notably used by Guitar Craft players including The League of Crafty Guitarists, the California Guitar Trio
California Guitar Trio
California Guitar Trio is a band of threeguitar players founded in 1991. Paul Richards of Salt Lake City, Utah, Bert Lams of Brussels,...
, Bert Lams, Los Gauchos Alemanes, Gitbox Rebellion, BigTime Trio, Zum
Züm
Züm is a bus rapid transit system for the suburban city of Brampton, Ontario, Canada, northwest of Toronto owned and operated by Brampton Transit. The first phase calls for three corridors operating in mixed traffic, similar to York Region Transit's Viva network...
, the Atomic Chamber Ensemble, the Seattle Guitar Circle, Tuning the Air, Curt Golden, Steve Ball (musician), Europa String Choir, Fabio Mittino, Lost Pedro, Tom McCarthy of Chicago's Luminance Ensemble, and thousands of Guitar Craft students around the world. In 1999, Fripp mentioned in his journal that King Crimson singer/guitarist Adrian Belew
Adrian Belew
Adrian Belew is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer...
had been experimenting with the NST for live and studio work centered around Crimson's then-current album, The ConstruKction of Light
The ConstruKction of Light
The ConstruKction of Light is an album by the band King Crimson, released in 2000. It has the distinction of being the first studio album to be released by King Crimson without Bill Bruford on drums since prior to the release of Lark's Tongues in Aspic . It also in notable for the absence of Tony...
. Trey Gunn
Trey Gunn
Trey Gunn is an American musician, known for his membership in progressive rock band King Crimson from 1994 to 2003, playing Warr Guitar and Chapman Stick.-Biography:...
, Crimson's touch guitar player from 1994 to 2003, as well as Markus Reuter
Markus Reuter
Markus Reuter is a German musician, composer and record producer, specialising in touch guitar playing and loop music. Recently he has expanded his activities by moving into instrument design.-Biography:...
of TUNER
Tuner
Tuner may refer to someone or something which adjusts or configures a mechanical, electronic, or musical device.- Electronic :* Antenna tuner, a device to adjust the resonance frequency of an antenna or transmission line...
use variants of this tuning on their 8- and 10-string instruments. Finnish musician Heikki Malmberg exclusively uses a 7-string guitar tuned in NST with an additional low F.
External links
- Guitar Craft - Guitar education in New Standard Tuning, founded by Robert Fripp
- http://web.archive.org/web/20080509021047/http://www.guitarcraft.com/ - WebArchive.org wayback machine copy of old Guitar Craft website.
- The FraKctured Zone - King Crimson fan resource with some notation and tabs to songs in NST.
See also
- All fifthsAll fifthsAll fifths is a tuning for guitar, in which the interval between each string is a perfect fifth. The conventional "standard tuning" consists of perfect fourths and a single major third between the G and B strings...
- List of guitar tunings