1.1 Background

For the past five years, I have been dedicated to composing and performing music. This journey began towards the end of my third year in my bachelor’s degree program at the University of Agder. Much to my teacher's disappointment, my focus shifted from practicing guitar scales and sight reading to expressing my musicality through singing and songwriting.

My musical background is extensive, dating back to when I was five years old. I started with classical piano lessons, taught by my grandmother. At the age of fifteen, I transitioned to the guitar, and now, at twenty-five, I feel that I have finally found my voice in songwriting.

My exposure to a vast variety of music during my upbringing and my bachelor's program fuelled my desire to discover my own path in music. Initially, I began as a guitarist in a pop band and participated in various projects throughout my years at the university. I composed jazz music and led my own project, which was primarily instrumental, but I never had my own project where I was the featured artist. After these different musical experiences and inputs, I found the motivation to start my own project, focusing on my own music as a singer and songwriter. From the early stages of my writing and singing, I experimented with alternate tunings on the guitar. There was something about the sound and the way my writing evolved that just clicked with alternate tunings. Although I initially didn't give it much thought, I eventually decided to delve deeper into the realm of alternate guitar tunings.

I am currently in my final semester of the master’s program in Songwriting at the University of Agder, where I have had the fortunate opportunity to develop both my ideas and myself as a musician. Over the past few years, I have frequently incorporated alternate tunings into my songwriting. My exploration in this area has been greatly influenced by various musicians known for their use of alternate tunings, including Bon Iver, John Mayer, Joni Mitchell, and Nick Drake. The creative impact these artists achieved through alternate tunings sparked a deep curiosity in me, not only about how these tunings function, but also about how they influence the writing process itself.

Because I consistently found myself drawn to these alternate tunings in my own work, I felt compelled to examine them more systematically. This led me to choose the subject as the focus of my thesis. I wanted to track and reflect on how alternate tunings shape my songwriting decisions, both musically and emotionally, and to explore whether they could be understood not just as a technical tool, but as a catalyst for creative direction. Through this research, I aimed to gain deeper insight into my artistic process, while contributing to the broader discourse on artistic research in music.

2.2 Choice of tunings

This section introduces the alternate tunings chosen for this project. I intentionally selected tunings that differ significantly from one another to increase creative diversity and encourage the evolution of ideas throughout the songwriting cycle. While some tunings naturally emphasize major tonalities or open-string resonance, others challenge conventional fingerings or invite modal or dissonant colours.

Rather than analysing each tuning in theoretical depth, this section offers a brief overview of their basic structures and tonal characteristics. Detailed reflections on how each tuning influenced the songwriting process are presented in Chapter 4.

To support both analytical and artistic perspectives, each tuning is an audio example. For the full experience, I strongly recommend reading this section on the Research Catalogue, where all audio materials are available.

The alternate tunings selected for this study are:

A capo was strategically placed on different frets to ensure the guitars remained in the same key. My focus was exclusively on these alternate tunings, without making comparisons to standard guitar tuning. The analysis concentrated on their creative capacities, comparing the tunings with one another and examining how the differences in intervals contributed to the potential for unique harmonies.

Tuning 1:

From low to high string (C-G-C-G-C-D), this tuning formed a Cadd9 chord when strummed. It had a vibrant, warm sound with excellent reach into the lower frequencies of the tonal register. The added bass presence created a richer sonic foundation, allowing for greater opportunities to explore harmonic possibilities. Emotionally, I found this tuning to be comforting. Its intuitive chord shapes naturally guided me toward major-sounding progressions and soothing, uplifting melodies and harmonies.

Tuning 2:

From low to high string (E-B-E-F#-B-E), this tuning forms an Esus2 chord when strummed. Like the previous tuning, it guided me toward a sense of warmth and comfort. Sitting more in the higher frequency range, it allowed me to explore harmonies with a sparkling quality that filled out the upper register beautifully. This was the tuning I had the most experience with out of all the alternate tunings. I found the chord structures and open voicings to be very intuitive and easy to manoeuvre, which made both improvisation and songwriting feel seamless and natural.

Tuning 3:

From low to high string (F-A-C-G-C-E), this tuning formed an Fmaj9 chord when strummed. It had a forward-moving sound that naturally leaned into a folky vibe. Its unique characteristics made experimenting with hammer-ons and pull-offs feel particularly creative and expressive. Emotionally, it resonated with a major harmonic quality, evoking a happy and encouraging atmosphere. However, the tuning's interval structure also provided opportunities to explore darker, more minor-influenced sounds, often enriched with beautifully dissonant textures.

Tuning 4:

From low to high string (C-G-C-F-C-E) this plays a Cadd11 chord when strummed. Tuning 4 shares the same notes on the 6th, 5th, and 4^th strings to tuning 1, but diverges significantly on the top three. Here, the 3rd string is tuned to F, the 2^nd to C, and the 1^st to E, introducing a major third at the top. This tuning creates an add11 sound due to the F on the 3rd string and the E on the 1st. What I find most appealing in this tuning is the dissonant half-step interval between F and E, as well as the whole step between the 4^th and 3^rd strings. These intervals contribute to a beautiful dissonance that defines the unique character and sound of this tuning.

Tuning 5:

From low to high string (D-A-E-D-B-B), this tuning formed a D6sus2 chord when strummed. It was inspired by Bon Iver’s 2007 hit "Skinny Love", where the guitar is tuned to an open C (C-G-E-G-C-C), a slight deviation from the standard open C tuning (C-G-C-G-C-E). That tuning plays a significant role in shaping the song's distinctive sound and atmosphere, capturing an intriguing and intimate essence.

Among all the tunings I explored, this one felt like the “odd one out”, but it offered a unique character thanks to the top two strings being tuned to the same note. To my ears, this created a resonance reminiscent of a twelve-string guitar, adding a rich, layered texture to the overall tone. The 6^th, 5^th, and 4^th strings were tuned in a way that enabled me to play chords with ease, while strumming the higher strings enhanced the fullness of the sound I was aiming for. A notable example of this tuning’s effectiveness was in how it supported more open and droning voicings, offering both simplicity and depth in harmonic exploration.

2.1 Outline and research question

This master’s thesis will be undertaken as an artistic research project (see chapter on “methodological approach”), with a focus on my musical compositions using alternate tunings. The primary objective is to examine the impact of different alternate tunings on my songwriting process and the final outcomes of my compositions. To collect data and evaluate the effects of these tunings, I will be recording my observations throughout the process

I had prepared five different acoustic guitars, each set to a unique tuning, for the creation of three distinct songs. Each tuning served as the initial point of composition, though the final tuning for each song varied. My approach involved spending five minutes experimenting and developing ideas in one tuning before moving to the next. This cycle was repeated with each of the five tunings for five minutes each. The entire process was recorded for reflection and analysis.

After cycling through all the tunings as starting points, I aimed to have five separate musical ideas to further develop using the same method. To provide structure to this method, I limited the process to a maximum of five rounds through the tunings. I then selected the tuning that best suited each idea to finalize the song, which was recorded in Logic Pro X, the digital audio workstation (DAW) of my choice.

My reference to songwriting encompasses not just the lyrics but the entire creative process, including structure, overall musical composition, and in particular for this thesis, harmony selection. Exploring various alternate tunings expands the guitar's creative potential and expressive range, offering a diversity of chord voicings. In alternate tunings, familiar chord shapes yield different sounds and harmonies not achievable in standard tuning, thus enriching the textural and harmonic choices.

This project will explore the creative processes and the effects of alternate tunings in songwriting, investigating their role as a potential method in the craft. The overall research question for the thesis is: How do alternate tunings on the guitar affect the songwriting process and its outcome?

For added clarity and focus, it's essential to state that the study will not explore the impact of alternate tunings on other aspects of musical performance, such as playingtechnique or physical ergonomics. I will not be talking about the different quality in the instruments I choose to play on, nor the sound of them. I am aware that some of my guitars will vary in brightness and the tone may be different but that will not be affecting my choice of tunings when it comes to the outcome of the songs. The research will solely concentrate on compositional outcomes and the sonic characteristics these tunings impart to the music.