Why the guitar is tuned the way it is. (simple answer) 

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So you can remember: Eddie Ate Dynamite Good Bye Eddie. ;) haha.

In short, standard tuning was arrived at for chord shapes and ease of fingering, evidently. Makes sense. Enjoyed the video. Thanks. Music owes an awful lot to Pythagoras and mathematics. Tunings are a world of wonders. I play guitar in standard tuning but also various alternates--double drop D, open D, open C, open G. From what you gain in added drones you lose in minor chords or full minor shapes. Also learning lap steel in various tunings--dobro G, open D, C6 and A6. Add banjo, octave mandolin, and fooling around with a ukulele now and then, and I'm able to write and play songs in about a dozen tunings. Plus piano. It's amazing the amount of kinetic memory we're capable of when applying ourselves. And practicing. The lap steel 6th tunings were a real epiphany. In C6, for example, strings are (low to high) CEGACE. A is the 6th tone of the C major scale. You get a C major chord and/or an A minor chord. CEG and ACE. Plus you get three inversions or 'grips' of each chord. CEG, EGC, and GCE , for example. At the 5th fret, you get F and Dm and 7th fret G and Em. I prefer A6 myself. It's lower and throatier in tone than C6. In C6, the minor chord is on top. In A6, it's the major triad. Highly recommend getting into lap steel for a musical adventure.

One of the last parts deep asf “you realize music is just hard, but that’s okay because you have your whole life to figure it out” God dayum

Great job on this.

Another informative and entertaining video.

Excellent video

Enjoyed that. Thanks Kyle

You compared that D chord to an A minor - if you think about it, it's really just the E major shape moved across the strings, which you can do now because you're in all 4ths. A major would be the same shape too, of course you'd have to mute that F string.

I started off playing on fifths-tuned instruments, like mandolin and tenor guitar, and never took the time to wrap my head around standard tuning. I know it makes a lot of chord shapes easier and lends itself to barres. But I just prefer the symmetry of fifths tuning. Probably too late to teach this old dog new tricks. Thanks for the video.

Interesting insight young dude! Thanks! I started playing guitar very, very late in life. I spent the first, very long time, separating my thumb from the first three fingers of my picking hand. The first song I learned to play was John Fahey’s Sunflower River Blues. Then Jack Rose Kensington Blues. So open C is my tuning of choice. I have learned some “standard” tuning things and have discovered that the standard cowboy chords can be manipulated in fingerstyle. It’s all very interesting. I think one’s intentions my determine where they need to go. I have no intentions of performing and certainly have not intentions of playing in a band. (If I were going to do that I would play drums anyway.) my intentions are to have fun, study guitar, discover new things and, I guess, be a perpetual beginner. I was recently talking to a youngish (to me) guy that plays guitar in the worship band at our church. He has been playing guitar since he was a little kid. He’s quite good. I mentioned playing in an alternate tuning and he completely shut down. He had no intention of fooling with that nonsense. Kind of sad really. Another good video. Thanks again young dude! 🙏

I always play in a dropped 4ths tuning, usually in C (CGCFA#D#). I think it has something to do with starting out as a 6 string bass player. Also Devin Townsends open C tuning was a big inspiration, though I don't play in open C too often

Nice video! I have a guitar permanently in open C and another one that rarely goes from open G to standard. Trying to play "real" songs in standard tuning doesn't interest me anymore. Open tunings let me make my own music (but you do have to pay attention so as to not get into a rut with the same picking pattern). Occasionally I'll discover a "real" song that works in open tuning. I can play a very jazzy version of Summertime on my 5 string guitar tuned D G D Bb d (open Gm).

Circle of fifths is the reason for Standard tuning, with the 2nd “b” & 1st “e” string tuned down 1/2 a step to make fretting chords easier.

I play in standard tuned to DGCFAd. A lot of people don't realise alot music in played in standard can easily be transposed to higher or lower key to support the singer. While alternative tunings are amazing for creating they are a chore relearning shapes and modes you previously learned in standard.

I play a lot in Bb new standard tuning and I’ve found the easiest way to approach it is to try new things and embrace the new voicings you get. Each tuning has its strengths, switch it up enough and you forget the weaknesses

I remember when Kyle did the first 900 on a skateboard

I always had difficulties understanding music in the traditional guitar way. I was never convinced by the learning method when I studied at the conservatory.was imposible to apply harmony theory too like the piano. A while ago I discovered zigzag tuning of major and minor thirds(m-M-m-M-m-M). I tried A C G B D F. My head literally exploded and studying harmony on the guitar was similar to reading a pentagram. Try it and tell me. a hug and blessings.

I would have liked to have gone from Pentatonics to Major Scale sooner in my guitar playing, looking back.Learning theory really opens up gates to all other 'fields' crossing every instrument.The language itself. I also love the open tunings of Joni Mitchell, Nick Drake and Jimmy Page. I loved the video.Well done

I always thought standard tuning made no sense, but I guess it makes it easier to play chords.

Thank you. My take is that 4 fingers on a fretboard is a huge limitation for harmony. Standard tuning emphasizes: [1] Open strings and barre chords (free finger! Bigger sound with open strings) [2] easy major and minor triads for the naturals (common chords known to your fellow players). Therefore, voicing isn't important (bigger sound is better than second interversion) and moving the shapes up and down isn't important (not so many shapes to memorize anyway if we limit ourselves to common chords). In this view, "mapping out the fretboard" is like mapping out alice in wonderland. It's not the point. Standard tuning was not meant to be mapped. Kudos to classical players for squeezing every bit of power out of the standard tuning stone. But standard doesn't care that melodic intervals are messed up. Tunings like M3 (my fave) go the furthest in showing how the fretboard can be incredibly more logical than a piano (and instruments like harpejji and linnstrument go further still). With M3 you get tons of voicing options and the ability to play and transpose songs only knowing their underlying theory (harmony) and intervals (melody). No big 6 string chords though.

I think you will find that the guitar is tuned to A minor/C major but with 7ths made easier. The G string really starts one note up on A, and the B string really starts one note up on C. The base sting was A, and they added more base by adding the fifth, E! That way you can alternate the base A E A E A D, and easily play A minor, or C major chords above. And when you think that the Piano was also tuned to A minor/C major, what other tuning would you choose in a house with a piano?

Cool to know that this G to F# tuning was used on a lute, I discovered it randomly a few years ago and have since written some of my favorite songs in it. I feel that the major third being in the middle makes much more sense, that way it divides the guitar just at the half point (4th-4th-Maj 3rd-4th-4th). I really recommended digging more into it, it's not a dramatic difference from standard tuning so it's not to hard to get used to, and allows some chord voicings normally unavailable, like an open low Esus2 for example (like the Asus shape but moved one string down)

Simple answer? So you can play six note chords. I learned that from watching the companion video to Adam Kadmon's Guitar Grimoire scales and modes book. It's fairly simple, even though it was centuries in the making. I've recently switched one of my guitars to all fourths, since that eliminates the idiosyncrasy between the 2nd and 3rd strings. I'm undecided on it now, but it should be an interesting experiment.

I think the biggest benefit to standard tuning is that it is yknow, standard. Like a lot of people have already figured out cool ways to use it and you don’t need to invent a whole new style of playing to make some nice sounds. That being said, it’s a bit harder to make unique sounds for that same reason

There's one thing I've learned from playing extended range and altered tuning guitars is that the standard designs are standard for a reason. Many times these alternate designs make more musical sense, but the increase in difficulty of playing the instrument is often large, and can't totally be overcome with practice. Playing non-standard instruments has not led to better or more freely written music for me.

Straight 4ths tuning makes a ton of sense musically, but as soon as I tried playing arpeggios I switched back though. The ergonomics are terrible.

drop d is my fav coz u can do most standard stuff but you get more open strings in ur key :)))

If I decide to tune my guitar to all fourths, where would I learn all those new chord shapes?? I think I would be lost.

how do you figure out chords in other tunings?

watching his videos, like listening to a different language😂

Yes, standard tuning is for strumming, not solos. That said, lute players did just fine with their tuning, and from the music ive heard, they did not strum a lot, although they did arpeggio, to the best of my recollection.

Where'd you get your hat? 😊

2:00 most likely @maxostro Max Ostro’s ascendence…

For solely chordal purposes standard tuning is a necessity. For anything else it is garbage and a hindrance on learning music. Consistent intervals across your instrument is a huge benefit for connecting your ear with your instrument.

Standard Tuning Blows! Also,it is hell on the guitar neck.

I love the open sound of standard tuning❤️ give a like if you think the same😉

casually accidentally plays enter sandman... 4:55

A Guitar Consists of Seven Strings (B E A D G B E) A Lute Consist of Seven Courses (B E A D F# B E) 5 Notes (A D G B E) 5 Notes (A D F# B E) 7 = B 6 = E 5 = A 4 = D 3 = G 2 = B 1 = E E A D G B E E A D F# B E B E A F# B E (Bass 'N' Treble Tuning For 6 Course Lute) B E A G B E (Bass 'N' Treble Tuning For 6 String Guitar)