Experimenting with Randomized Tunings

What if every time you picked up your guitar, the fretboard became unfamiliar territory?  That’s the aim of this particular randomized tuning approach. 
Inspired by Fischer Random Chess (Chess960), in which the back-rank pieces are randomized to create 960 possible starting setups, randomized tuning emphasizes raw creativity, adaptability, and real-time strategic thinking over memorization and conventionalized movements. 
Just as Bobby Fischer sought to revive the creative essence of chess by eliminating opening theory, this system forces you to abandon predictable patterns and embrace the challenge of true improvisation.
15,625 Possible Tunings

When you change the tuning of an instrument, you change the essence of the instrument by expanding its possibilities. Currently, most guitarists use fewer than than 10 alternative tuning systems, with standard tuning as the prominent system. 

All of these tunings were designed to produce certain harmonic contexts or support certain performance capabilities. However, most systems were intended to be approached with a certain level of consistency and familiarity as understanding them—especially in a tonal context—is essential..

In contrast, the tuning system below was designed to encourage unfamiliarity, as it can generate a total of 15,625 possible tunings; each tuning generated randomly prior to performance.

Here’s how it works: Each string can be tuned to any note six semitones below its standard tuning.

• E can be tuned to any note from E, Eb, D, Db, and C  (five possible notes). 
• B can be tuned to any note from B, Bb, A, Ab, and G.
• G can be tuned to any note from G to Eb.
• D can be tuned to any note from D to Bb.
• A can be tuned to any note from A to F.
• The lower E follows the same set of possibilities above.

Example: a guitar may be randomly tuned in the following manner:

• Eb
• Ab
• G
• Db
• F#/Gb
• C (6th string)

In this example, if you play all six strings you get, in relation to the bottom C, a tritone, minor 9th, perfect 5th, minor 6th, and minor 3rd (or 10th). 

Your task is to figure out, on the spot, the various (linear and angular) patterns and combinations that can be formed on the fretboard. Adding natural harmonics to the mix would further expand your possibilities. 

Defamiliarization and Experimentation 

So, why do this? It’s about challenging ingrained habits and forcing experimentation and real-time problem solving. By immersing the guitarist/improviser in a unique tuning environment, this system compels the performer to take a spontaneous and experimental approach in every performance. 

To accomplish this starting condition, a random tuning must be generated before each performance with very little time for preparation (as in Chess960, the player has only 15 minutes prior to the start of the match). Again, the goal is to eliminate the familiarity of predictable ideas, patterns, and performance habits, replacing them with the raw, authentic challenge of spontaneous creativity. 

Bottom Line
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When confronted with a random tuning context, the performer’s inherent tendencies, habits, capacities, and limitations will be laid out bare. Ironically, these factors will often remain consistent despite the changes in the tuning context. However, unlike in a traditional tuning context, the guitarist will be forced to make new connections and take aesthetic and conceptual risks. 

The system is designed to bring forth an unfiltered version of a guitarist's musical, aesthetic, and conceptual persona, stripped of the layers of preconceptions and training. At the least, this is just one method to cultivate experimental possibilities for those seeking the challenge.