Midwest emo tuning (FACGCE)

FACGCE: the strings and their notes

FACGCE from standard

What FACGCE is

FACGCE tunes the guitar to F A C G C E, low to high: an F major seventh with the ninth, Fmaj9, ringing on the open strings. From standard three strings move: the 6th up a semitone (E to F), the 5th stays A, the 4th down a whole step (D to C), the 3rd stays G, the 2nd up a semitone (B to C), the 1st stays E. The two Cs and the E on top give the open strings their bright, unresolved shimmer.

The name midwest emo tuning comes from American Football, whose 1999 album leans on it: twinkly, tapped and arpeggiated parts on open strings, in odd meters. Players who want that sound start here, then move the shapes they find around the neck.

How to tune to FACGCE from standard

With the tuner above: tap Start, play each string the table changes and turn until the needle sits in the middle. By ear, without the tuner:

1. 4th string: D3 to C3. Its 7th fret should sound like the open 3rd string (G3).
2. 6th string: E2 to F2. Its 7th fret should sound like the open 4th string (C3).
3. 2nd string: B3 to C4. The 3rd string at its 5th fret (C4) should sound like this string open.

Then check the whole tuning once more with the tuner: retuning one string moves the neck, and the others drift a few cents.

On the same strings, tension follows the square of the pitch: the 4th string keeps 79 % of its pull; the 2nd and 6th strings go up to 112 % of their pull, so tune them up slowly. Slacker strings buzz and read flat at the attack; for more than a whole step down, a heavier set (or at least a heavier low string) keeps the feel.

Playing in FACGCE

• Arpeggiate, don't strum: the sound is in single strings ringing over each other, so let every note sustain.
• Harmonics at the 12th, 7th and 5th frets fall on chord tones of Fmaj9; tapping them is half the style.
• Two strings go up, the 6th and the 2nd, each a semitone: tune them last and stretch them a little.

All six strings in standard and the other tunings: the guitar tuner. Any note at all: the chromatic tuner.

Then play something

The notes you tuned can go into Brumm as a short melody over a beat. Hum a line on top and it becomes an instrument.

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