Major thirds tuning also facilitate advanced guitarists' improvisation, precisely the aim of jazz guitarist Ralph Patt when he began popularizing major-thirds tuning between 1963 and 1964. In standard tuning, the successive open-strings mix two types of intervals, four perfect-fourths and the major third between the G and B strings: Only major thirds occur as open-string intervals for major-thirds tuning, which is also called ""major-third" tuning", ""all-thirds" tuning", and ""M3" tuning". A popular M3 tuning has the open strings in which the low G is a major third above the low E of standard tuning. Consequently, a seventh string for the low E is
Major thirds tuning This is never going to take the place of folk guitar, and it's not meant to. For difficult music, and for where we are going in free jazz and even the old be-bop jazz, this is a much easier way to play." Major-thirds tuning is closely related to minor-sixths tuning, which is the regular tuning that is based on the minor sixth, the interval of eight semitones. Either ascending by a major third or by descending by a minor sixth, one arrives at the same pitch class, the same note representing pitches in different octaves. Intervals paired like the pair