AN INTRODUCTION to 4THS TUNING 

4ths tuning is like an upgrade to the guitar. suddenly you are driving a faster car

As a bass player who hasn't tried guitar yet, this seems much more logical to me.

I myself have humbly tried to popularized fourths tuning on youtube and in the "real world". At first, it felt like having a new musical instrument in my hands. But soon, things got more intuitive and the practice became more challenging and rewarding than ever. This tuning encouraged me to read music, understand harmony and more generally broaden my knoledge of music. I really dig your musical style and elegance. It is very inspiring. Can't wait to watch your upcoming videos. Greetings from Brittany!

FINALLY !!!! A CLEAR LESSON FOR 4TH TUNING !! ....

I’m a bassist first, so when I started dabbling on guitar, it seemed elementary to tune it in fourths. The only problem I see is that it puts you at odds with all the guitar literature out there, and you lose some of the standard chords that use all 6 strings. But there are compensations e.g while a 6-string E major becomes hard, a F major becomes easier. It’s not for buskers, I would say.

Hello Alex! I actually switched to the 4th tuning a few years ago because of you and Tom Quayle! It is probably the best kept secret in the guitar world, it makes the instrument so logical. I actually have seen a video of Allan Holdsworth (R.I.P.) saying in a masterclass somewhere that not tuning his guitar in all fourth was one of his biggest regrets. Thank you again and have a great evening!

Can’t wait for the rest of this series!

Thanks Alex for sharing this 🙏

A fabulous teacher as well as a total gent. Thanks Alex.

Alex, I missed this 4 years ago. Thank you for making it.

Thanks for sharing your wisdom! It's greatly appreciated. 🙏🏻 Total wizardry 💯👍🏻's up again Alex! I wish I'd been taught this in my beginning!

Great playing as always Alex!

Absolutely brilliant!!

Love it! Can't wait for the rest. 😎

Thanks😊! You clear everything

Incredible! I always try new tunings but never thought of this one!!! I'll try it right now! Thanks!

I started testing this tuning a few days ago and I am delighted with the ease it brings to the study of music! Once we stop worrying about the asymmetry of the notes on the neck of the instrument and start focusing only on music, a key is turned on your head! 🤯🤯🤯

been thinking about it myself. gonna try it out.

Symmetry! Yay! I am definitely going to give this a try - thanks!

Thank you Alex, I played some bass before, and started to learn guitar, I could not tolerate the standard guitar tuning, everytime I would go down to the last two strings I would get confused hearing wise, so I stuck to this tuning but when playing songs all tabs and tutorials go with standard tuning. but now realizing that a massive figure in the guitar world like you embraces this tuning makes me stick to it with confidence. thank you for being the pioneer to this. Again wish you a speedy recovery.

❤️ love it I'm planning to move to 4ths tunning as it easy to understand the fretboard

I made a commitment to all fourths tuning couple of years ago, and I’ll never look back. Now I have a six string bass tuned in the same way and everything transfers beautifully

First time being exposed to this tuning. It makes so much sense one wonders why this isn't standard tuning for a guitar? Always like Alex from product demos.

Thanks for the info and Cheers!

Great video Alex!

I've spent thirty years in standard tuning. This looks really cool though. Doubt I will change, but it does look cool.

Always thought it's the right way of thinking the guitar, but i don t want to teach myself everything all over again.

Very interesting. I’ll have to give it a go.

I remember watching a video of you at Andertons with Rob and Lee - the whole 4ths thing seemed like wizardry to me. Thanks for demystifying!

great player, excellent teacher, generous soul.

Oh my word!! That was brilliant. Yep I’m gonna give it go.

Hi Big Man. Your movies are always illuminating. Besides being a superlative guitarist you are also a fantastic teacher. Thanks Alex

Tasteful playing at the end! So good!

Thank you sir Alex ... Guitar God

Thanks to you, I’ve changed for perfect 4th tuning nearly three years ago: you’ve made me discover it, and it as changed my way to play forever. So I can’t thank you enough! I did a lot of research on it, even if the information on the topic is scarce on the internet: it made so much sense to me! Because of nerve problems in my left hand, I’ve always struggled to play some conventional shapes (with rolling movements and barre shapes mostly) and also because of this annoying, illogical B string, I’ve decided to give it a try. And I will never swap back. Everything for me is so much easier: no need of CAGED or other complicated systems. Everything works in a symmetrical way: chords, triads, arpeggios, scales... Visualizing the fretboard is so much easier. Well, I can’t wait to see your approach with this fantastic tuning. Cheers from France.

Thank you, Alex. I'm on it. That G&L, BTW, is beautiful. Love G&L.

For acoustic I would recommend downtuning the bottom 4 strings 1 semitone rather than tuning the top 2 strings up, since it does increase string breakage. It interests me as a songwriting tool. I would think this tuning perfect for a band setting, esp. for jazz and improvisation (which I don't do) but I'm a little surprised it hasn't taken off in metal, since you are largely using the low strings, and the high strings only when soloing. I play around with 4ths tuning + Drop D some and think it would be great for metal.

thank you very much this is so great for music producers

Oh man this is awesome and is the whole reason why scales are so much easier on piano and violin. I would love to see more videos on this tuning for guitar like what its suited for and not suited for etc

Totally blown my mind! I’m off to give that a bash.

Thank you, spent years tuning my six string bass like a tuned down regular guitar because the switch tofourths was confusing You inspired me to try again, thanks

Thank you ...really interesting...and useful !!.

Great video, Mr. Alex. I really like this symmetry. Telecaster of the Summer of Love 🤔

Very interesting, very well presented Alex........hope you will cover the traditional Rock n Roll lead riffs....and Country bends that are the bread and butter for so many. Many Thanks👍

I've been playing guitar for ages and never have quite memorized the fretboard. Will give this a try. Thanks a lot!

Wow amazing you got my attention subscribed!

Man I can't wait. I dabbled in this but kinda fell out of it. But I want to understand it more and find a good reason to play

As a massive Alex Hutchings fan and also Tom Quayle, I have tuned all my guitars to 4ths and it makes sense to me as I play a lot of lead. I have a few useful 4ths books for chords and scales and if you play around with it, its really not such a hard change from standard tuning.

Damn, son, that was some smooth shit at the end there!

Can't wait for the other vids. Amazing player. Makes it sing beautiful melodies. Can play any genre. Complete master. Compelling argument. Had a go at it once and struggled but the logic is inescapable. Here we go again!

Thank you!

AWESOME video! I just bought your V2 Masterclass and I'm also going over V1 as well. I might give this tuning a try, especially after watching this video! Much respect bro as your playing is PHENOMENAL! :)

Thank you for your insight dude. You and Mr Quayle are fantastic examples of how liberating the 4ths tuning is, I have often thought about changing myself! But I'm already having enough trouble remembering the neck in standard over the last 12 years! haha Thanks for the awesome content man, its good to see you!

As I am not in any way an accomplished guitar player this tuning makes quite some sense as the chord forms stay the same all the way trough the fret board, will give it a go and see what it does for me, thanks Alex for the clear introduction to the 4ths tuning.

HEY!!!! I just spent 3.5 hours with this tuning. Had tried previously and didn't spend enough time. Holy Moly!!!! Runs are much more intuitive (may I dare way more "Legato-ish") and I can still play the AC/DC tunes I love. Thanks for making this video....it was here when I was ready for it!! Thank you Sir and Best Regards!

I've been using the 4ths tuning for a week now and wow. Guitar feels like a new instrument to me. I can now clearly see all the intervals and somehow allows me to play by ear more. I use DGCFBbEb tuning - just can't tune 1st string to F. Of course I have to re-learn everything I learned throughout the years muscle memory and all that but the *pros outweigh the cons* and I've never felt happier! Thanks Tom Quayle and Alex Hutchings!

Hi Alex. So glad you did this video. I was always curious about your take on fourth tunings. Look forward to watching the next videos. I love your music and how you bring your soul in every note you play. Oh by the way, I ordered your signature AH6 from waghorn with Tom early this year and look forward to receiving it early next year :)

Warning: Not recommended for cowboy chords :)

Great master ever

The IRT 15 studio on your desk pleases me greatly.

Immediately after seeing your video I retuned the guitar ... it's been about two hours that I try scales and arpeggios that have frustrated my playing for years. it's much more intuitive and FUN! It's easier visualize notes and intervals. Maybe it's the right time to start studying improvisation again ... thank you so much Alex! I hope you continue to give us more material!

I've been trying a few different tunings lately,long time standard tuned player.Ime certainly trying this one,well explained thanks man

Great!

I started doing this for a few weeks now by logic.. wow it's surprising me that others players are doing the same already.. that's awesome 👌

How am I only finding out Alex has a you tube channel now???? Subscribed!

Amazing alex. I use this tuning but I have some questions.. Please more videos about 4th's . thank-you

Been waiting for this since we spoke at Pmt

Great explanation and examples. I'll have to give it a try, my background is as a 4-string bassist and acoustic guitarist who likes playing around with open tunings. Certain tunings are great but limit you to one or two keys which is fine for fingerpicking or blues/folk etc playing, but this tuning seems to work for all keys. I did try Robert Fripp's "New Standard Tuning" but it didn't suit me.

I think this is interesting and I have had a go. Immediate disadvantage is that you cannot strum across all six stings without it sounding awful but as far as I'm concerned it's worth pursuing. I've subscribed and look forward to your next video on the subject. 🥂

woah man iam tuning right away

And don't forget the new favorite: quartal harmony!!!!!! :)

Any reasons why guitars have not always been simply tuned that way? It makes so much sense and clears things so much

Great video Alex - really appreciate it as there is not much info out there. I have been playing 18mths. Spent the first 6mths in standard and then switched to fourths and haven’t looked back. May I ask whether you could do a video on the split nut concept on your Waghorn? I have a Sauria S on order and Tom suggested it could be a good option for me. Thoroughly enjoying the new music - hope to see you play live some time!

The sheer logicality of this tuning is clear.

This tuning is amazing - the only thing I'm missing compared to standard would be 6-string wide triad minor chords, which can make things a little tricky when playing pop rock. But it has gorgeous 7/9/11/13 chords with much easier access than standard. For minor chords, I just use the 5-string wide chord in 3rd inversion (5th at the bottom, looks like your standard minor chord but with the additional low 5th). Works wonders so far, I haven't found much you can't play. Blues is even easier to play, arpeggios are a breeze, scales are so easy to learn and remember. Chord melody is more tricky, but maybe I'm just not good enough haha.

As an amateur, I really appreciate the way you explained the benefit of all fourths. I started on tenor guitar and mandolin before I ever picked up a guitar, and both are tuned in fifths, so you get the same symmetry across the fretboard. But the fourths-plus-a-major-third of standard tuning was a massive impediment to learning a six-string. I understand that standard tuning was designed with maximum versatility and the limitations of the hands in mind, but being able to move the same shapes around everywhere is such a huge advantage that it's worth losing some of the benefits of standard tuning. Only difference is that I prefer fifths tuning to fourths or major thirds (I've tried them all), which pushes the physical limitations of a six string. Either the low string will be too floppy or the high string snaps. So for now I've compromised by playing a tenor guitar. Four strings tuned CGDA, like a viola. But one of these days, I'm going to try to tackle the six-string again. Thanks for this.

I play 6 String Bass and like to dable in guitar occasionally. So this makes so much more sense to me.

Genius!!

5:30 made me sub. Thanks for the awesome info, you’ve confirmed my suspicions of the B string. It’s from the debil.

Coming from bass this is awesome. Please do more videos. Also anyone have more resources for 4ths tuning?

I like it

Are you maybe saying Alex, the guitar should have been tuned like this to start with? Why wasn't it? You always educate and impress me!.

What a sweet guitar!

Thanks would totally buy book if you wrote one on playing in fouths scales chords fast track to fouths hehe

Slide. Major chord ExxGCx, xAxxCF. Minor chord xADxxF, EAxxCx. Can never get three in a line. Can get adjacent power chord notes though, but always with the 5th as the lowest note.

Wow didn't realize you tuned in 4ths like Tom Quayle. I always find myself not recognizing your sweep shapes, now I know why! haha

I have always had an all 4ths tuned guitar on standby but fear using it for live work. I need to get to grips with the change and wondered if it would be a step back to try to stay with standard and 4ths, or to maybe take the leap of faith and just adapt with a no going back attitude. Wondering how others have tackled the change.

Watched this video to understand more about 4ths tuning since I'm making the switch from a 5-string bass to 6 strings. I had just found out that a 6-string bass is tuned to B-E-A-D-G-C, not B-E-A-D-G-B like I assumed because of standard guitar tuning.

Mind=blown

Why didn't I thought of this for over a decade?

This is great. Thank you. :)

I see the benefit of this. I just love playing five-six string chords and I'm wondering how I could compensate.

MASTER

Thanks for the video. I have just started to learn guitar with the main goal of being able to improvise, and this makes a lot of sense. I'm tempted to start again using all fourths tuning as I'm still a beginner. It would mean a lot of what I have learnt so far will go out the window - but it still seems worth it - what do you think?

Hello from Ukraine! You are amazing!

Where are you at the moment? And UK clinics or anything here planned? I've never liked Telecasters but I think I might have just changed my mind - incredible guitar!

Tom Quayle also use this tuning, and he was kind enough to mention Alex Hutchings as the one who introduced the tuning.

Hey Alex. I thought I recognised that face. I last saw you at a Frank Gambale concert and there were 2 CD albums left I think. I let you have first choice. Used to see you down at Heron Music. Can't believe I've only just discovered you.

Why the hell didn’t they tune the guitar like this from day one! Makes a lot more sense!

thank you alex very helpfull 😍