What is “Nashville Tuning” and Why is it Great?

**MarkRhodes** · 12-12-2023, 10:07 PM

What is “Nashville Tuning” and Why is it Great? - American Songwriter

Examples of Songs in “Nashville Tuning”

Examples of songs played with Nashville Tuning are “Hey You” from the Pink Floyd album, The Wall. The Kansas song “Dust in the Wind,” from the band’s Point of Know Return album, is also played with this style of tuning. The Rolling Stones song “Wild Horses” features both a 12-string and a guitar in Nashville Tuning.

**P4guitar** · 12-12-2023, 11:38 PM

Nashville tuning (high strung) - Wikipedia

"Nashville or high-strung tuning refers to the practice of replacing the wound E, A, D and G strings on a six-string guitar with lighter gauge strings to allow tuning an octave higher than standard.^[1] This is usually achieved by using one string from each of the six courses of a twelve-string set, using the higher string for those courses tuned in octaves.
The Pink Floyd song "Hey You" from the album The Wall and the Kansas song "Dust in the Wind"^[2] from their Point of Know Return album use this form of guitar tuning. In "Hey You", David Gilmour replaced the low E string with a second high E (not a 12-string set, low E's octave string) such that it was two octaves up. The Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses" features a 12-string guitar played by Keith Richards and a guitar with Nashville tuning played by Mick Taylor. "Jumpin' Jack Flash" featured two acoustic guitars, one Nashville strung, overdriven through a cassette recorder.^[3] James Williamson used Nashville tuning on "Gimme Danger"^[4] on Raw Power by the Stooges. Elliott Smith used a variant of Nashville tuning with a twelve-string guitar on XO for the song "Tomorrow Tomorrow."^[5] Pat Metheny is known for using Nashville tuning on several occasions, notably his song "Phase Dance" from his group's debut album.^[6]^[7] Similarly, Andy Fairweather Low used a high-strung guitar on his 1975 UK hit single "Wide Eyed and Legless", taken from his La Booga Rooga album.^[8]^[9]

"