Guitar tuning
All Fifths Tuning
Bb·F·C·G·D·A
All Fifths tunes every string a perfect fifth above the one below it — the interval a cello, a viola or a mandolin is tuned in. In theory that is C, G, D, A, E, B; in practice the top string will not survive being tuned that high, so this version lands on Bb, F, C, G, D, A, keeping the fifths intact and the range enormous.
The pull of it is total regularity. Every interval between strings is the same, so a scale or arpeggio shape is identical everywhere and a fifth of range fits under four frets vertically. Robert Fripp chased this exact idea and settled for New Standard Tuning — fifths for the bottom five strings, a minor third to the top — because pure all-fifths was unplayable at the top. The cost here is the same: big stretches, a dedicated string set, and nothing that carries over from standard.
How to tune to All Fifths
From standard tuning:
- 6th (lowest) E → Bb (down a tritone)
- 5th A → F (down a major third)
- 4th D → C (down a whole step)
- 3rd G — unchanged
- 2nd B → D (up a minor third)
- 1st (highest) E → A (up a perfect fourth)
Open—Shape’s tuner listens for one string at a time and tells you which string it is and how far off — including in alternate tunings like this one.
What All Fifths does well
- Fifths, like an orchestral string section. The whole instrument is tuned in fifths, so scale and arpeggio patterns are symmetrical and transpose by sliding.
- A huge range. Stacking fifths covers far more pitch across six strings than standard tuning — roughly a fifth more, into baritone territory at the bottom.
- Wide, open voicings. Notes spread far apart, so even simple triads ring as spacious, resonant chords.
- One logic, no exceptions. There is no irregular string pair to work around — the fretboard behaves the same way everywhere.
Common chords in All Fifths
All-fifths shapes share nothing with standard ones, and some need a wide stretch. The grid shows the easiest voicing the engine finds for each chord; tap to browse the rest.
Numbers read low string to high; 0 is open, × is muted.
A progression to try
A ii–V–I in C, in all-fifths shapes:
Songs in All Fifths
- Robert Fripp’s New Standard Tuning is the practical form of this idea
- Used by a handful of players for its cello-like range
- More a theoretical ideal than a working tuning, because of the top string
Players who use All Fifths
Very few, in pure form — the high string is the problem. Robert Fripp’s New Standard Tuning is the compromise that made the fifths idea usable, and it is where most players who want this sound end up.
Open a All Fifths canvas — a tuning module already set, wired to a starter progression, every shape recalculated for you.