FACFCF- how to get there?

Yes, it's not too much for the strings to take, three of the strings are only being tuned up a semitone. The 5th string retains its normal sound, so work from that.

Tune your 6th string up so that it sounds the same as the open 5th string when you fret it at the 4th fret

Tune your 4th string down so it sounds the same when played open as your 5th string fretted at the 3rd fret

Tune down your 3rd string so it sounds the same as your 4th string fretted at the 5th fret

Tune up your 2nd string so it sounds the same as your 3rd string fretted at the 7th fret

Tune up your 1st string so it sounds the same as your 2nd string fretted at the 5th fret

A :-)

Shouldn't be a problem. Like Alan said, go slowly. Listen to the note as you're tuning it. If you turn the peg and the sound doesn't change, then the string is most likely bound in the nut (or you're turning the wrong peg :) ). What I do when this happens is push (gently) down on the string behind the nut in order to wiggle it loose. If you keep breaking strings, then either it's binding in the nut or something on your guitar is damaging the string. I kept breaking my g-string until I noticed that the part of the string that comes off of the tuner was right over the edge of the hole in the tuner. This put a fairly sharp angle on the string, instead of a curve, that kept moving when I was tuning which weakened the string causing it to break (at least, I think that's what happened).

For the record, I've been able to tune my low E string up to a G without it breaking (though I only did it once). My A string has gone anywhere from G to B, and my B string regularly goes down to A and up to C.

Also, if you like Don Ross, you should check out Antoine Dufour as well. They have similar styles, are on the same label and have toured/taught guitar classes together. He has lots of videos on Youtube.

Shady, you could always tune to EG#BEBE and capo at the first fret - that way you're only reducing tension on the A D and G strings by tuning them all DOWN to G#(one semitone) B(three semitones) and E(three semitones again) respectively.

:D :D :D

Vic

I've tried playing the track, and some of the notes sound TERRIBLE! I'm not sure whether it's the tuning, the age of the guitar, or my playing. There seems to be a quick 2-1 on what would be the G string in standard, but becomes yet another F in FACFCF (Low to high) tuning.

A few possibilities:
First: Are you using Don Ross's official tab, or stuff you found on the internet? I'd recommend getting the official tab if you're using the internet stuff as it might be wrong.

Second: Are you positive your guitar is tuned correctly? After you've tuned it to FACFCF, check all the strings again to make sure they're still in tune. It might be that the strings have slipped a little or the change in tension on the neck (though it should be small for this tuning) has caused it to go out of tune. If you're tuning the strings relative to other frets, it's possible that your guitar has bad intonation and that's screwing it up. Try using a chromatic tuner instead. If you don't have one on hand, try playing all of the open F strings at the same time. If they're properly tuned, you should hear them as one note instead of three, despite the different octaves. Do the same for the C strings.