All fifths tuning

All fifths
The consecutive open-notes of all-fifths tuning are each spaced seven semitones apart on the chromatic circle.
Basic information
AliasesPerfect-fifths tuning
IntervalPerfect fifth
Semitones7
Example(s)C-G-d-a-e'-b' or G'-D-A-e-b-f'
Advanced information
Other instrumentsviolin, cello, mandolin, tenor banjo
RepetitionNo
AdvantagesWide range; natural for concert stringed-instrument music
DisadvantagesDifficult to play standard-guitar music
Left-handed tuningAll-fourths tuning
Associated musician
GuitaristCarl Kress
Carl Kress played jazz with all-fifths tuning.
Regular tunings (semitones)
Trivial (0)
Minor thirds (3)
Major thirds (4)
All fourths (5)
Augmented fourths (6)
New standard (7, 3)
All fifths (7)
Minor sixths (8)
Guitar tunings
A fretboard with line-segments connecting the successive open-string notes of the standard tuning
In the standard guitar-tuning, one major-third interval is interjected amid four perfect-fourth intervals. In each regular tuning, all string successions have the same interval; all-fifths tuning has perfect fifths between all string successions.
All-fifths tuning.

Among guitar tunings, all-fifths tuning refers to the set of tunings in which each interval between consecutive open strings is a perfect fifth. All-fifths tuning is also called fifths, perfect fifths, or mandoguitar.[1] The conventional "standard tuning" consists of perfect fourths and a single major third between the g and b strings:

E-A-d-g-b-e'

All-fifths tuning has the set of open strings

C-G-d-a-e'-b' or G'-D-A-e-b-f',

which have intervals of 3 octaves minus a half-step between the lowest and highest string. The conventional tuning has an interval of 2 octaves between lowest and highest string.

All-fifths tuning is a tuning in intervals of perfect fifths like that of a mandolin or a violin. It has a wide range. It was used by jazz guitarist Carl Kress in the form

B'-F-c-g-d'-a'.[2]
  1. ^ Sethares (2001, "The mandoguitar tuning" 62–63): Sethares, Bill (2001). "Regular tunings". Alternate tuning guide (PDF). Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin; Department of Electrical Engineering. pp. 52–67. 2010 Alternate tuning guide, including a revised chapter on regular tunings. Retrieved 19 May 2012.
  2. ^ Page 92. Richard Lieberson, "Swing guitar: The acoustic chordal style", pages 89-112. The Guitar in Jazz: An Anthology, Edited by James Sallis. 1996. 978-0-8032-4250-0