Q: I hear people call Nashville tuning “high strung” all the time. But when I did this the other day, someone told me I was wrong. Are they the same or not?
A: The two terms are used often interchangeably. However, technically, there is a difference.
Nashville tuning is basically a 12-string guitar with the six regular-tuned strings removed. This leaves E, A, D, and G strings that are tuned an octave higher than normal, with the B and E strings still in standard tuning.
High-strung tuning, on the other hand, was developed for a couple of styles of African folk music. When a guitar is high strung, it has the E, A, and D strings tuned an octave up, but the G, B, and E strings are in standard tuning. The regular-tuned G string is slightly easier to play and since a regular string gauge can be used for that string, it doesn’t break as easily.
The two are clearly very similar, but not quite the same — the octave-displaced G string makes a difference in how chord voicings and melodies sound, plus, when doubling a regular-tuned guitar, you don’t get a true 12-string guitar effect.