New Standard Tuning
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The New Standard Tuning (or NST) is a special type of guitar tuning, introduced by Robert Fripp of King Crimson. 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) C2 - G2 - D3 - A3 - E4 - G4.
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[edit] Characteristics
The lowest four strings are tuned just like a cello, i.e. in fifths from a low C. The second string is a fourth up from the B to an E, and the first string is a minor third up from the E to a G. Since the first 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 (a major third lower and a minor third higher).
Because NST is also pentatonic in nature (there are no thirds in the open strings if you consider C or G as the root), its natural harmonics also make it easier to tune than the OST which has a major third (which is technically 'out of tune' by definition in a non-equal-tempered instrument such as a guitar) stuck right in the middle of its open strings (G-B.) In NST, tuning is possible via the first harmonic rather than the more-awkward second-harmonic tuning which many OST players use to tune their guitars.
Scales across two strings in NST also line up nicely into coherent 'tetra-chords' 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.
[edit] Spread
Robert Fripp exclusively uses the New Standard Tuning in his guitar playing. He started using it in 1984, and subsequently 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, 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, Fabio Mittino, Lost Pedro, Tom McCarthy of Chicago's Luminance Ensemble, and thousands of Guitar Craft students around the world.
[edit] Trivia
Robert Fripp has stated that the tuning "flew by" while he was sweating in a sauna in September 1983.
[edit] External links
- Guitar Craft - Guitar education in New Standard Tuning, founded by Robert Fripp
- The FraKctured Zone - King Crimson fan resource with some notation and tabs to songs in NST.
