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All fretboard maps, chords and scales now available on GTDB.org
Referred to as,
“They seem happier this way” Thomas Scribner Esq
“Simply Obvious” Dr David Cunningham
“It’s like spending your life learning on a 61 key piano and all of a sudden someone shows you an 88 key piano…” Malcolm Johnson Esq
“So… you (musicians) study the ‘circle of 5ths,’ the overtone series and classic instruments are tuned in 5ths. …Then you take a guitar and tune it in 4ths!!?” Dr David Cunningham
“Remember when we all had VGA TVs!? AND NOW WE ALL OWN FLAT SCREENS!!!” Marc Cimeno
If you’ve ever seen a lefthanded guitar player play without reversing the strings, then you’ve already seen these reversed guitar shapes… only now the intervals have been flipped!!
Mirror Tuning®
Mirror Tuning® is a tuning for six string guitar invented by Bernard Birgenheier, aka “Senchant™”. It is a system of tuning the guitar in 5ths, while retaining fundamental shapes every guitar player knows, simply upside down!! Instead of the traditional tuning in 4ths, with a Major 3rd between the 2nd and 3rd strings, Senchant™ has effectively reversed this by using 5ths and Augmenting the 5th between strings 4 and 5… (the traditional guitars 3rd reversed, which maintains the ability to bar in one position and allows for common shapes to be used!) Perfect 5th tuning does not allow a player to bar chords because the octave is displaced. The concept is simple and fundamental, “When you have an instrument with more strings than you have fingers, it closes the door on the ability to grab multiple notes, as guitarists typically do when playing chords, strumming or fingerpicking. Not being able to bar completely defeats the purpose of having more strings than fingers.” This new tuning opens the guitar up in an inventive and totally new way! Any proficient guitarist can readily adopt this tuning as it utilizes the most basic shapes, simply upside down. This not only offers the range of a traditional 6 string guitar, but the addition of one more octave in a single position! Traditional tuning offers 2 octaves in one position. Mirror Tuning® offers 3 octaves in one position.
Any 6 string guitar can now have a bigger range than a conventional 8 string guitar and convert easy!! No more needing to buy a 7 or 8 string!!
Here is how it works:
Traditional Guitar Tuning = 4th 4th 4th 3rd 4th
E2 A2 D3 G3 B3 E4
Senchant’s Mirror Tuning® = 5th +5th(b6) 5th 5th 5th
B1 F#2 D3 A3 E4 B4 (nylon string guitars & mini electrics)
Bb1 F2 Db3 Ab3 Eb4 Bb4 (nylon string guitars & mini electrics)
A1 E2 C3 G3 D4 A4 (nylon string guitars)
G#1 D#2 B2 F#3 C#4 G#4 (steel string 24.75″)
G1 D2 Bb2 F3 C4 G4 (steel string 25.5″)
F#1 C#2 A2 E3 B3 F#4 (Baritone 26.5″)
Please contact us for a set of custom strings and how to easily gain one more octave in one position on any guitar!!!
***Further observation:
- Mirror Tuning® is far more resonant than traditional tuning. The open strings and open harmonics create a far better sounding chord than the muddy traditional open string chord and its’ harmonics.
- Mirror Tuning® is more closely related to the overtone series. Traditional tuning is not.
- Chord voicings in Mirror Tuning® sound “bigger” with less notes because of the larger intervals that can easily be played… described as “more piano-like” or the notes “jumping off the fret board!”
- Little to nothing is lost when converting from a traditional 6 string tuning, but far more musical possibilities are gained by using Mirror Tuning®. Minor adjustments to the nut/saddles and proper string gauge is all that is needed!
- Students and players adapt to this new Mirror Tuning® system quickly because they are not learning a new tuning system, only reversing already learned shapes and patterns. Any guitar player who doubles on mandolin or violin already do this “reversed thinking” by playing on a 5th tuned instrument. It’s like a giant mandolin with two bass strings added!
- Chord shapes are more comfortable as they fall more ergonomically in players hands. Major or minor chords can also be played with one finger!!
Click here to download a FREE copy of Mirror Tuning® – The New Conventional Tuning 1st Edition booklet!!
Not ready to do a full conversion!? Try this neat hybrid idea combining MT A1 with standard tuning!! It’s called, “Half n Half.” Instead of a drop A 7 string A1 E2 A2 D3 G3 B3 E4… I took out the filler and created this condensed version: A1 E2 C3 G3 B3 E4!! Fretboard maps, chords and scales available here: https://gtdb.org/aecgbe
