You don’t have to be high in Nashville to enjoy Nashville high-strung.
Nashville high-strung tuning is one of the guitar’s great magic tricks. It has a delicious, “secrets of the Guild” quality — you feel like an insider just knowing what it is.
Not that I did know what it is until embarrassingly late in life. For the sake of my fellow late-bloomers, I’ll explain: You replace your guitar’s lowest four strings with thinner strings tuned an octave higher than normal.
You can think of it as using the higher-pitched of a each pair in a 12-string string set. (Or the top two strings of a normal set, and the top four strings from another normal set, with the first string as the third string, the second string as the fourth, etc.)
I love how this tuning can work subliminal magic, or step front and center for marquee riffs. Nashville session players conceived it as a way to add stereo shimmer to doubled acoustic guitar tracks. But rock players have used it to great effect as a foreground sound, as heard on the Stones’ “Wild Horses,” Floyd’s “Hey You,” Kansas’s “Dust in the Wind,” and Tracy Chapman’s “The Promise.”
Here’s a quick little demonstration, both solo and in a mix:
Although I’ve never tried the proper Nashville acoustic tuning, I remember reading artists talking about it in Guitar Player mag when I was a teenager. Recently I’ve been using my kid’s jr. sized strat to achieve similar results. In order to achieve some sort of intonation I tuned it to concert F (so an E chord sounds as an A), and found it to be a really cool addition to the home studio. It’s great for using cowboy chords in unlikely keys and adding jangle and air to otherwise boxy arrangements.
Yeah, that would work great. 🙂
You mean, an E chord sounds like an F, right?
I think he means Concert F as in a trumpet is in Concert Bb.
The little guitar is tuned up a forth.
Thank you Shane, that’s exactly what I meant. Gotta’ love music; a thousand ways to say any one thing!
That is just one of those really fun things to hear and see. It gave me fits for years trying to figure out some songs too. Never actually done it myself but I might have to get a beater to setup like that ! Thanks Joe for always giving me things to explore.
Very nicely done.
This one was really fun to do. I just got that Martin the other day, and as lucky as I am to have such a nice new guitar, I can’t help wishing I had two — with one kept high-strung. 🙂
When I tour with Tracy Chapman, she plays “The Promise” on a nice high-strung Martin, and it sounds exquisite. Over the years we’ve tried different arrangements, and at various points I’ve tried accompanying her on guitar, baritone guitar, bass, and keyboards. You’d think it would be easy to find a role, since there are absolutely no low frequencies coming off her guitar. But nothing I’ve ever tried sounds as good as when she plays it solo, so that’s usually what she does. (And I’m not just saying that because the song provides a nice mid-set bathroom break.)
Owning an actual 12-string helps (obviously), and a set of strings has two lives on a high-strung instrument. First, when changing strings, put on only the new high-strung strings. The new strings cut through anything, very bright with fast attack. After a couple days, put on the other strings as normal.
Then, as that set of strings goes dead, pull off the regular strings, again leaving it a high-strung guitar. Now however those strings are duller and warmer. They enhance rather than cut through.
Now that I have a decent sampler, I plan to grab samples of both phases.
Great tip — thanks, man! 🙂
here’s another cool one a nashville buddy showed me. String the guitar low to high with 38-26-14p-10-17w-11. 17w is hard to find,I had to use .18w. The low string is tuned to C (3rd fret A string in normal tuning). The intervals are the same as normal tuning except the 2nd string (17w) is an octave down. Try it, it’s wild.
Sorry Mark, I’m (easily) confused. Are you saying the tuning is now C A D G B(oct down) E ?
Been using this for 10 years or so. Great trick. I keep a Tele Nashville-tuned all the time. I’m in a three guitar Americana band and the high strung sounds great mixed in.
David – it’s normal tuning starting on C. so, C-F-Bb-Eb-G-C. With the G down an octave. this is a strange tuning. some chords sound kinda weird but others are amazing…
After I built my US Guitar Kits Acoustic last year, I haven’t been playing my originl acoustic as much…might have to try this out on it.
Awsome sound,I’am going to try it tonight. Thanks for the tips
¡El gusto es mio! 🙂
Wow! That sounds pretty cool! used to play rain song live. And we were always looking for a way to make the 2 guitars sound a bit more substantial! Its hard to compete with the original with so many overdubs. Something like this would probably help!
Gotta try it! Thanks!
Mark- I was about to comment with that same C tuning! It’s a LOT of fun. Almost like baritone Nashville. I stumbled upon it trying to Nashville tune an old beater Harmony, but the horribly high action was painful to play at normal pitch, so I dropped it to C and found that I loved it. I’d loaned that Harmony to my younger daughter for a couple of years and just got it back…and now I think I’ll restring it ASAP.
Gosh, can any of you guys post a little clip? Just strumming a couple of chords?
I decided to test this tuning, been tuning down for years and experimenting with lots of tunings, however the idea of tuning higher never really appealed to me, but there’s a first time for everything. But for some reason I thought only the three lowest strings was to be tuned up an octave. So I tested it at our weekly jam session at the local freak house. I really liked the sound, and so did the people I showed it to. But it was lacking in power and versatility. So I thought: how about downtuning Nashville tuning? I proceeded to swap out the strings for some fatter ones and tuned the whole thing down five semitones, making it some sort of misunderstood baritone Nashville tuning. (b e a D F# B)
I really like the way it sounds and how it finds its place in a band setting. In fact it has become my go-to guitar at the moment. (It’s a cheap SG copy, my other guitar is a baritone strat)
That was my take on it, and also my first post here. I really love the site, awesome stuff for guitar geeks like me. Also, Going Out West is one of my favorite songs of all time. It was so cool reading about how it was recorded.
Wow, what a great idea! I’m totally going to try that!
Yeah, I wish Nashville tuning worked well with only the bottom three strings retuned, because it always feels so dangerous cranking the third string that high. Plus, I never have .009s around — I always play medium-heavy strings. But for better or worse, it’s the high G that makes the effect work.
Is your bari start a long-scale instrument, or just a regular strat detuned?
Thanks for your kind words about “Goin’ Out West.” 🙂
The strat is(was)a regular late nineties Mexico strat. I swapped the neck for a warmoth baritone neck. It’s made out of wenge with an ivory fingerboard and is probably worth more than the rest of the guitar. Not that I will ever sell it. It looks and feels amazing.
And it’s tuned in B so it’s very compatible with the mutant Nashville tuning.
Hi Joe, I know it’s an old string, but maybe you’ll see this. I wanted to ask your advice about EQing a high strung acoustic. I’ve high strung a Taylor GS Mini and, while it sounds OK, I’m not getting the high chiming sound I’m after on recordings—it’s still not finding its own sonic territory. On your demo, you have a real clear, clean separation between the normal acoustic and the high-strung. That’s what I’m after. Thanks! ~Jim
Hi Jim! Thanks to the magic of digital recording, I can open the file and show you exactly what I used. My EQ here was Universal Audio’s Pultec emulation:
If you’re not familiar with this interface, it can be tricky to interpret, at least compared to modern EQ interfaces. I’ve dialed in a large, wide boost at around 2kHz, and another at 8kHz. With acoustic guitars, I usually end up adding a dramatic top-end boost like this. I also often cut lows and low mids, though that’s rarely b=necessary with high-strung guitars.
I might have just as easily gotten a similar effect with a 1-band shelving EQ like this:
I tend to use big, wide shelving filters for guitar trouble — I rarely dial in anything “tricky,” like narrow peaks and dips. (Though I do that obsessively on low mids, especially in the octave between 100 and 200 Hz. But again, that’s probably not needed when your guitar has no low notes.) My recommendation: Start with a boost like the one shown in the second pic — perhaps 4dB to 6dB, with the cutoff somewhere around 2K. Fiddle with a) raising the peak, b) sliding the cutoff up or down a bit, or c) keeping the cutoff point, but broadening the filter so it reaches down into lower registers. I find that a smooth, simple contour usually works best.
But bear in mind that mic position is probably more important than EQ adjustments here. For example, if you aim your mic toward the soundhole, you’ll get a thick, boomy tone likely lacking in sparkle. Instead, aim the mic toward the junction of the neck and body. A condenser mic usually works best. I find it helpful to wear headphones and listen to the recording input while positioning the mic. Or rather, I set up the mic in the approximate position and the adjust my ass in the seat till it sound good in the cans.
Hope that helps! 🙂