General Musical Tuning (GMT)

In General Musical Tuning (GMT) the guitar is tuned as follows:

1. F4
2. C4
3. G3
4. D3
5. A2
6. E2

It is the same as Standard Tuning except for the top two stings, which follow the same pattern as the rest of the guitar - and the rest of highly developed stringed insruments - tuned in a consistent interval.

In other words, GMT puts adjacent strings of the guitar in a consistent relationship of a Perfect Fourth. This is the way basses are tuned.

I don't remember where or when I first heard of the idea of tuning a regular, six-stringed, electric guitar in consistent intervals, but I have thought it would make more sense for single note improvisation for as long as I have been casually interested in Jazz (about 15 years). Here is the compromise in a nutshell:

• GMT
• Pro
• Consistent fingerboard shapes
• Far fewer shapes/fingerings (a small fraction)
• Requires far less cognitive bandwidth while playing
• Promotes much more direct relationship of ear to instrument
• [Facilitates a fresh approach to the guitar]
• Con
• Nonstandard
• Puts more tension on already overtaxed first string
• harder to perform some common 4- to 6-note chords
• [Lose much of your existing repertoire]
• Standard Tuning
• Pro
• Standard
• Good for solo music (classical, jazz chord melodies a la Joe Pass)
• Con
• Requires many many times more shapes per musical item
• More thinking is required while playing
• Clutters musician's mind with lots of para-musical memorization
• Encourages position playing and other non-musical tendencies
• Generally obscures the connection between a musician's ear and instrument

Here is a video in which I struggle to demonstrate/articulate this tradeoff.