# Cross tuning

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{{One source|date=February 2025}}
'''Cross tuning'''  or '''cross-tuning''' (also called [scordatura](/source/scordatura) in classical music) is an alternative [tuning](/source/Musical_tuning) used for the open [strings](/source/strings_(music)) of a [string instrument](/source/string_instrument). The term refers to the practice of retuning the strings; it also refers to the various tunings commonly used, or in some contexts it may refer specifically to the AEAE fiddle tuning. In folk music traditions, cross-tunings are used to give the instrument a different sound by altering the pitch of [string resonance](/source/string_resonance)s and [drones](/source/Drone_(music)). It may be [notated](/source/Music_notation) in the normal way, with notes written at the sounding pitch, or the written notes may represent the finger position as if played in regular tuning, while the sounded pitch is altered.

==In American folk fiddle music==
Cross tuning is commonly used on the [fiddle](/source/fiddle) in [folk music](/source/folk_music) of [Appalachia](/source/Appalachia), the [southern United States](/source/southern_United_States) and [Scandinavia](/source/Scandinavia). The fiddle may be re-tuned in any number of ways in these musical idioms, but there are two common re-tunings. While the standard tuning for open strings of the [violin](/source/violin) is GDAE&mdash;with the G being the tuning of the lowest-pitched string and the E being the tuning for the highest-pitched string&mdash;fiddlers playing tunes in the key of D major sometimes employ a tuning of ADAE. In this tuning the open G string is raised to the A directly above it. Even more frequently used is a cross tuning of AEAE for music played in the key of A major.<ref>{{cite book |title=Old-Time Fiddling Across America |last1=Reiner |first1=David |last2=Anick |first2=Peter |year=1989 |publisher=Mel Bay |isbn=0-7866-5381-7 |page=43 |quote=Some cross-tunings are named for the key they imply; others are named after tunes usually played in that tuning.}}</ref> Among fiddlers this is referred to as "cross-tuning." Both of these tunings facilitate a [drone](/source/Drone_(music)) on an open string next to the string on which the melody is being played. Relatively well-known American folk tunes that are often played in cross-tuning include "Breaking Up Christmas," "Cluck Old Hen," "Hangman's Reel," "Horse and Buggy," and "Ways of the World."

GDAE is known in some [old-time](/source/Old-time_music) fiddling circles as "that Italian tuning," the implication being that it is only one of many possibilities (on the other hand, in the biography of Arizona fiddler K.C. Kartchner his daughter specifically uses "the Italian tuning" to mean a cross-tuning which is not GDAE).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kartchner |first=Kenner |title=Frontier Fiddler: The Life of a Northern Arizona Pioneer |publisher=University of Arizona Press |year=1990 |isbn=978-0816511532}}</ref> Some other common tunings include:
* FCGD = Cajun Tuning (one whole step down from GDAE)
* GDGD = Sawmill Tuning or "Cross G"
* GDAD = "Gee-Dad"
* DDAD = Dead Man's Tuning, or Open D Tuning, or Bonaparte's Retreat Tuning, or "Dee-Dad"
* ADAE = High Bass Tuning, Old-Timey D Tuning
* AEAE = Cross Tuning, "Cross A", "High Bass, High Counter" (or "High Bass, High Tenor"), Cross Chord; similar to Sawmill Tuning
* AEAC{{music|sharp}} = Black Mountain Rag Tuning, Calico Tuning, Open A Tuning, or Drunken Hiccups Tuning
* GDGB = "G-Calico tuning" (one whole step down from AEAC{{music|sharp}})
* AEAD for Old Sledge,  Silver Lake
* EDAE for Glory in the Meeting House
* EEAE for Get up in the Cool
* GCGE for Over the Flatlands

==Notes==
<references/>

Category:Musical tuning

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Cross tuning](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_tuning) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_tuning?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.