Drop D Tuning
(D-A-D-G-B-E)
Drop D is fast becoming the guitar tuning of choice for modern rockers and heavy metal guitarists. The tuning has exploded in popularity since the grunge era but has been used regularly since the sixties (The Beatles – Dear Prudence)
Drop D tuning is formed by lowering the pitch of the Bass E string by one full tone making it a D note instead of an E. The rest of the strings are tuned to the same pitch as in standard tuning.
Power Chord Heaven
The major advantage of this tuning for grunge and heavy metal guitarists is that it makes power chords extremely easy to play. The tuning allows for the three bass strings to form a D5 power chord, which can be moved up and down the fret board using just the index finger barred. Have a look at the tabbed chords below and see how easy power chords are in Drop D
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D5 - 000xxx
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A5 - 777xxx
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E5 - 222xxx
Drop D Tuning for Acoustic Guitarists
The reason acoustic guitarists use drop D tuning is quite different.
The key of D major is a fairly common one in music. For a guitar in standard tuning the lowest D that can be used as a bass note is the open fourth string. This is pretty high pitched and not a very good bass note, especially for finger style pieces.
Using the drop D tuning effectively gives the guitarist two more strings, a whole extra octave, to play with – not bad for tuning one string down a notch.
Chords in dropped D tuning are formed as they are in standard tuning, with the exception of the sixth string, which is either omitted or fretted one step higher. Some of the more common chords in their drop D tuning forms are listed below.
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A x02220
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Am x02210
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B x24442
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Bm x24432
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C x32010
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D 000232
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Dm 000231
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E 222100
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Em 222000
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F x03211
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F♯m xx4222
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G 5×0003
