Major thirds tuning in English, a convention that is followed in this article. While standard tuning is irregular, mixing four fourths and one major third, M3 tunings are regular: Only major-third intervals occur between the successive strings of the M3 tunings, for example, the open augmented C tuning For each M3 tuning, the open strings form an augmented triad in two octaves. For guitars with six strings, every major-third tuning repeats its three open-notes in two octaves, so providing many options for fingering chords. By repeating open-string notes and by having uniform intervals between strings, major-thirds tuning simplifies learning by beginners. These features
Major thirds tuning improvisation. In contrast, chords cannot be shifted around the fretboard in standard tuning, which requires four chord-shapes for the major chords: There are separate fingerings for chords having root notes on one of the four strings three–six. The repetition of the major-thirds tuning enables notes and chords to be raised one octave by being "vertically" shifted by three strings. Notes and chords may be shifted "diagonally" in major-thirds tuning, by combining a vertical shift of one string with a horizontal shift of four frets: "Like all regular tunings, chords in the major third tuning can be moved across the fretboard