How To Tune A Guitar To Drop D Tuning

What is drop d tuning?

As a student, we generally are introduced to the most common guitar tuning E-A-D-G-B-E. It's very useful because everyone knows it across all musical styles and a huge amount of chords have been developed over the last 100 years or so. 

Drop D tuning chords and open tunings open up a whole new flavor for all styles of guitar. You can play drop D songs acoustic style in many genres including folk, blues and ragtime. 

Even the biggest bands use this simple tuning to great effect. Metal songs , in particular, use drop D to create power chords and metal bands like Black Sabbath have written several songs in this tuning.

drop D songs tuning acoustic blues guitarThat said, some pro artists use many other tunings, in which they might re-tune one or more strings up or down. Sometimes the tuning results in a pleasant chord when all the open strings are strummed, and sometimes not. 

A common feature of these tunings is that normal chords just don't work, so we need to learn different structures, even though the higher strings don't change.

Now if the thumb alternates between the Bass E string and the normal D strings, a drone effect is set up which is very appealing when combined with the melody on the trebles.

When tuning the bass E string down, the reference tone of the middle D is used to good effect i.e. by using the middle D as a reference note, it's really easy to get the bass E string in tune.

Blues players would change the tuning of their guitar to add effect and vary their output to keep their audiences interested. Some guitarists always played in a particular tuning, others pas backwards and forwards between tunings. 

Joni Mitchell once said she used about 50 tunings in her act, while the legendary Son House almost always kept his national steel guitar tuned to open G, which he played with a completely unique flailing bottleneck style.

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Use Drop D Blues For Blues and Folk Fingerstyle

WHAT IS DROP D BLUES GUITAR TUNING_

Open D is a common tuning for playing many blues and folk songs, and a great way to get into it is to first of all experiment with drop D. 

In drop D tuning bass E string is simply tuned down two steps so that it plays a D note when picked. It's a lovely low note, but not too low that the string buzzes against the frets, for example. 

To start off this short study of the use of drop D tuning in acoustic blues guitar finger picking, I play a short interpretation of Blind Willie McTell’s “Statesboro Blues”, a song in drop D that has become a classic in the blues genre. 

It’s not too much like the original, except for the tuning, but it does demonstrate how we can adapt picking techniques to our particular style.

Dropping the bass string two steps down from E to D completely changes the flavor of the music and also gives us some flexibility in chord fingering. For example, we don’t have to fret the bass E when playing a D major chord, which frees up fingers for more interesting work around the other strings.

The dropped D note also gives us a low, low note to punctuate the blues sound and counter balance the melody. Done in the right way, it has a powerful effect and has also been used extensively in traditional and modern folk songs by many well known artists.

willie mctell - 12 string drop d songs tuning guitar kingWe can hit the bass string and let it ring, use a monotonic thumb technique (where we just strike one bass with the thumb) or alternate our thumb strokes and damp the basses in a Travis picking style. 

Whichever style we play, it’s necessary to adapt the chords in some cases. For instance, when playing G7 it sounds discordant if we hit the bass E open, or if fretted on the 3rd fret like we normally would, so we just don’t hit it at all.

We could also move up the fret board to form a G and fretting the bass E on the 5th fret – its just a matter of choice and depends upon the style of the song you are playing. (These chord variations are shown in the video at 1m:40s.) We can play any A chord shape we like, but without hitting the bass E note.

At 2m:50s I play an instrumental in dropped D tuning taken from the playing of Stephan Grossman – it’s interesting as the basses walk up and the trebles walk down! 

At 3m:34s I show how to drop other strings to form open D and then play a low down blues by Blind Blake ‘Down The Country’.

Download Statesboro' Blues Guitar Tab PDF by Willie MccTell - A Blues In Drop D Tuning

TIPS FOR PLAYING IN DROP D GUITAR TUNING


How To Tune The Guitar To Open D
When playing a gig, I want to vary the style and the flavor of the songs I play so that the audience keeps their interest, and I do this my changing the rhythm, the genre within the blues (i.e. slow blues in E versus swing or ragtime) and also by using different tunings. 

Some songs absolutely have to be played in open tuning, like the old bottleneck standards of Son House or Robert Johnson - they just wouldn't work if the tuning wasn't in open G. Checkout the MP3 for Son House's 'Death Letter' below.
:

Death Letter in Open G Guitar Tuning.mp3



Likewise with open D - some songs only work in this tuning. Normally, I would start off a gig with 3 or 4 songs in normal tuning, a slow one first and finishing with a swing or ragtime before moving on to an open tuning. 

There are many songs of all styles in drop D guitar tuning, so I'll take the bass E string down a couple of steps choose one slow and one fast song, before going down to open D, which means tuning 3 more strings down.

Open G Guitar Tuning ChartOpen D is good for bottleneck - not so good as open G, but there are plenty of other songs to choose from. I generally start with a Blind Blake song called 'Down The Country' which is a slow delta blues sound. 

After this I might play an original composition and then finish off with a fast ragtime style tune, to end with an exciting sound. 'Police Dog Blues' by Blake is such a song, and I often play this (if I've got the chops that day!).

So here's how it's done (refer to the diagram on the left) - as in drop D tuning, the bass E string is tuned down to D, while the A and D strings are left as they are. 

Tune the G string to F#, the B string down to A, the high E string down to D and you are ready! Strum the open strings and you should hear a very pleasant chord which is basically 'D'.

It's a great tuning to play around with and create new sounds, but you need to realize that none of the chords that you learned for normal tuning will work, so you'll need a whole new set of chords. 

That said, with just 3 or 4 chords you can play some great songs - have fun with it! You don-t even need drop D guitar tuner, it-s so easy to do.

How To Tune A Guitar To Open D Step By Step

If you prefer images, this section is for you. We're just going to change 4 strings, basically re-tune them lower.

It's a piece of cake and very intuitive - you just know when it's right. It's always a good idea to check with a tuner.

Open D guitar Tuning Step 1
Open D Guitar Tuning Step 2
Open D Guitar Tuning Step 3
Drop D Guitar Tuning Step 4



Step 1 - tuning peg for bass E string down one full step to D









Step 2 - tune the 3rd string (G) down half a step to F# 







Step 3 - tune the 2nd (B) string down a full step to A








Step 4 - Tune the 1st E string down on full step to D

Drop D Chord Chart
String Normal Tuning Adjustment Needed Open D Tuning
6th E Take down 2 frets D
5th A Leave as is A
4th D Leave as is D
3rd G Down 1 fret   F#
2nd B Down 2 frets A
1st E Down 2 frets D

Open D Blues Songs

Open D blues songs include Police Dog Blues and Down The Country (Blind Blake), Dust My Broom by Elmore James and Poor Boy by John Fahey. Although not as common as open G, many artists such as Blind Willie McTell and Robert Johnson used open G guitar tuning to add variety to their repertoire.
Here's a decent article I found on HubPages talking about open D tuning - it's got some chords as well, which is pretty cool:

Guitar Open D Tuning, Guitar chords


Open D tuning on guitar is D, A, D, F sharp, A, D, low to high. To change from standard tuning, strings 6,1 and 2 are lowered by a tone (or 2 frets) and string 3 is lowered by a semitone (1 fret)

It's handy to sound the open 4th string (D) as a reference note. If you take the pitch a little lower, then bring back up to pitch, the guitar will stay in tune better.

So many great songs are played in this tuning, Joni Mitchell songs such as Big Yellow Taxi, You Turn me on (I'm a radio), Peoples' Parties, Morning Morgantown. Here we'll be looking at how the tuning is used in Irish music, and specifically how Paul Brady plays The Lakes of Pontchartrain - but many of the chords can be used for different Irish songs.

I needed to learn this song in a hurry for a gig, so first I looked on YouTube for the Paul Brady version, and then found a great chord lesson by Paul Goulet, that breaks down the chord arrangement. I have followed it fairly closely in the chord chart below, but it's not exactly the same.


Guitar Chords in Open D Tuning

Chord chart info

The chord shapes follow the Paul Goulet tutorial fairly closely. here is the structure - the A section is followed by two B sections, then one more A section to finish - this is one verse, and then the whole thing repeats, with an optional link so you can prepare for the next verse.

Harmonised scale material

At the end of the chord chart there is a harmonised scale which you can use to create fills in this tuning, or to play parts of the tune. Although it's hard to visualise, the middle two strings 4 and 3 have not been changed from standard tuning, so standard patterns like this will work. Each group of two notes is a mini -chord that works with the open strings.

Capo

The video tutorial here is in the key of D - Paul Brady uses a capo in fret 3, which means the song is in F - too high for me to sing, and it's difficult even in the key of D. Paul Brady does fantastic and probably unbeatable versions of classic Irish songs. Check out other clips from the BBC TV Transatlantic Sessions.

More info on tunings

The 1,4 and 5 chords in D are D, G, and A or A7. You can play these chords really easily by playing all the strings open, then barres at fret 5 and fret 7.

Open D tuning is very close to DADGAD, which is also widely used in Irish music and by contemporary acoustic players such as Pierre Bensusan and Lawrence Juber. It's only string 3 that is one semitone higher, but that small change is enough to make switching between the two tunings a bit tricky. On balance, I think it's worth using both tunings because they each have benefits in terms of chord voicings, and each has a unique sound.

If you want to try open G tuning, check out some of my other hubs. This tuning can be seen as similar in many ways to Open D - you can transfer many of the chord shapes across one string, as the root note is now usually on string 5 instead of string 6.

Author:  Jon Green

Article Source: https://hubpages.com/entertainment/Guitar-Open-D-Tuning-Guitar-chords





In the late '50s, English fingerstyle patriarch Davey Graham developed one of the most attractive and versatile alternate tunings for guitar: DADGAD, commonly pronounced "Dad Gad." Davey created it while residing in Morocco to facilitate his playing with "oud" players. 

(An oud is a short-neck, Middle Eastern, lute-like instrument. Upon his return to England, the tuning quickly gained popularity among British guitarists playing conventional music, among them John Renbourn, Bert Jansch, and Jimmy Page. Later on, DADGAD ended up being the tuning of option for terrific French finger stylist Pierre Bensusan.

One of DADGAD's main attractions for guitar players is the abundant, harp-like sonorities that can be produced with reasonably simple chord fingerings. Considering that it does not clearly state a method (as D major and G major tunings do, for instance), DADGAD can be utilized to play in a variety of keys and modes.

So Lonesome I Could Cry - Seasick Steve in Dropped DThe open strings of DADGAD produce a D suspended-fourth chord (root-fourth-fifth). The 3rd of a D scale (F or F#), which would peg the tuning as major orminor, is missing from the open strings. 

Because of that, guitarists can utilize DADGAD as easily in the key of D minor as D major. It is a reliable tuning in the key of G, and also works well for modal tunes and pieces with independent treble and bass lines.

To produce DADGAD from basic tuning, lower your sixth string one whole-step from E to D. Also lower your second string a whole-step from B to A, and your first string a whole-step from E to D. 

To make sure your guitar is in tune in DADGAD, match the seventh fret of the bass string to the open 5th string; match the second fret of the third string to the open second string; and match the 5th fret of the second string (currently tuned down) to the open first string.

Seasick Steve uses simple drop D power chord riffs to very good effect, making a simple technique sound complex. Barre chords also work well, easily moving a boogie sound into a 12 bar blues format. Drop D is good for delicate sounds, a la Blind Blake, or heavier music with an emphasis on the Delta.

Rock music uses drop D tuning all over the place and many rock songs, even heavy rock can make good use of the bottom three strings. That low bottom string, that low D string, is a killer for creating a driving rhythm.

These popular groups and musicians have used drop D in some of their most famous hits>

  • Eddie Van Halen
  • Velvet Revolver
  • Foo Fighters
  • Judas Priest
  • Avengers Sevenfold
  • Moby Dick
  • Marilyn Manson
  • Fleetwood Mac
  • Led Zeppelin
  • Kurt Cobain

Scales in drop d and 'DADGAD'


A preliminary downside of any alternate tuning for standard-tuning players is that the chord and scale fingerings are different from standard. Some alternate tunings, such as Drop-D, are just slightly modified from standard and do not take much effort to work out. Others are a bit away from standard, and consequently might take a bit more work.

If you have trouble fathoming alternate tunings, it might help you to think of the 4 bass strings of DADGAD as the like Drop-D tuning. Or, if you choose to compare DADGAD to basic tuning, the chords and scales on the 3rd, fourth, and 5th strings are the same. 

The two treble strings in DADGAD have the same relationship to each other as they carry out in standard tuning and Drop-D: a perfect 4th (five frets) apart in pitch. They are simply tuned one whole-step lower than standard. Any fingerings that you use in standard tuning will have to move two frets higher on the two treble strings in DADGAD to produce the same sound.

If you approach DADGAD in this manner, at least you will have a familiar basis from which to work. But don't get too hung up on trying to produce standard-tuning sounds with an alternate tuning. 

Likely, there will be times when you will want your voicings to sound the same as standard tuning, but the appeal of alternate tunings is the opportunity they provide to create new chords and new voicings, and to play scales with harp-like sustain. By being open to brand-new chords and voicings, you will have the ability to take fuller benefit of an alternate tuning.

Englishman Martin Carthy produced a lower-tuned version of DADGAD to much better match the range of his singing voice. It is EADEAE (lowest pitch to highest), typically called "A-pipe" tuning. The relationships of the five lowest-pitched strings of Carthy's tuning are the same as the 5 highest-pitched strings of DADGAD. 

All the fingerings are identical, but moved one string lower. As soon as you have actually learned your chords and scales for DADGAD, it is a reasonably easy matter to play in A-pipe tuning too.

Another intriguing variation on DADGAD can be produced using the Third-Hand capo. This elastic-band style capo permits a guitar player to create the DADGAD noise from the open strings without retuning any strings.  

To produce a DADGAD noise without retuning, capo the third, 4th, and 5th strings (G, D and A) at the 2nd fret. Leave the first, 2nd, and sixth strings available to the nut. This really produces EBEABE, which is the equivalent of DADGAD capoed at the second fret.

The benefit of using the Third-Hand capo is that your scale fingerings and chord forms do not change from standard tuning, but you still have the advantages of the altered-tuning sound from the open strings. 

Basically, you are still playing in basic tuning, however with the benefits of DADGAD-like open strings. Fingerstylists Chris Proctor and Harvey Reid, to name two, utilise the Third-Hand capo to great effect.

Author: Jim Bruce 
Date: 2014-07-13
Category: Music


Useful or interesting links:

Drop D Songs Acoustic
Blues Songs In Drop D Tuning
Open D Blues Songs

FAQ relating to Drop D Guitar Tuning:

What is Drop D Guitar Tuning and why is it used?

Drop D guitar tuning introduces a lower than normal bass E string which allows the use iof simpler chords and a poweerful sound suited to fingerstyle, rock or heavy metal. It's very versatile.

How do I achieve drop d tuning on my guitar?

Simply tune the bass E of your guitar down two steps to D.

What are the benefits of playing one finger power chords in Drop D tuning?

Drop D tuning means you can generally using simpler chords up and down the fretboard, using less fingers but retaining powerful chords.

What is Open D tuning, and how does it differ from Drop D?

In open D, the bass E and high E string are tuned down 2 steps to D, while the 3rd and the 2nd string are also tuned down (see article above).

Are there any special considerations for beginner guitarists when using Drop D tuning?

Droop D tuning is great for beginners, because there are less string to hold down with the fretting hand.

Why are some open D chords difficult to play in this tuning?


Because the tuning is completely different from regular tuning, you have to learn a whole new set of chords. This isn't easy, as you muscles are used to fretting regular chords.

What challenges arise when switching between different drop d tunings on the same guitar strings?

I found out pretty quickly that tuning my guitar strings up and down broke them quite quickly. When playing live I'd have 2 or 3 guitars all tuned differently, one tuned regular, one for drop D and another for open G (bottleneck style.) The open G guitar had a raised action.

Key Takeaways

  • Drop D tuning means that the bass E string is tuned down to D, which is an octave lower than the standard D string.
  • It's easy to tune down to dropped D and is a strong basic tuning for cheaper guitars such as low priced Fender guitars.
  • Many top alternative and rock bands such as Green Day use drop D tuning (signature song on American Idiot album)
  • Progressive bands such as Stone Age (Chris Cornell) use open tunings extensively in their repertoire.
Jim Bruce Guitar Drop D Tuning Page

Other lessons:

Picks or Bare Fingers?
The Thumb Is King
The Blues In E
The Blues In A
Drop D and Open D
Open G and Bottleneck
Ragtime Picking

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