"Half Nashville" Tuning: Metheny Style

Nashville tuning may not be something you typically associate with the baritone guitar. However, in this video, virtuoso Pat Metheny beautifully demonstrates what his half Nashville alternative tuning can offer to baritone players.

You could spend a lifetime trying to copy Pat's musical styling.  Fortunately, emulating this tuning takes minutes.

Pat's half Nashville tuning requires that you sub out the 3rd and 4th strings in your typical baritone string set for standard-gauge guitar strings and tune both one active up from normal baritone tuning. Thus, your typical baritone would be tuned (low to high) B, E, A^, D^, F#, and B. Note: the "^" symbol denotes the raised octave.  Pat tunes his baritone A to A, so if you want to follow more precisely in his sonic footsteps, try tuning your baritone to A, D, G^, C^, E, A.

This alternative tuning adds brightness and breadth to the baritone guitar, creating interesting voicing possibilities.  If you want to learn more about baritone tuning, check outpart one and part two of our complete guide to baritone tuning. It's chalked full of standard and alternative tuning options for baritone guitar.

Thanks for reading this article. Please reply with your comments, thoughts, questions, or links to your musical experiments with half Nashville tuning.

Finally, please take a moment to check out our full list of acoustic baritone reviews or our full list of electric baritone reviews.