Drop D Tuning

Are you interested in experimenting with drop D tuning on your guitar? Many beginning guitar players are unaware that there are other tunings a guitar can be tuned to besides standard tuning. When they finally realize the many tuning options available to them it can be quite a shocking experience. Some tunings, like open G for example, require the guitarist to use a substantially different approach to playing because the fingerings for all chords and scales will have to be relearned. Drop D tuning, however, is not as drastic a change, making it an excellent first choice for the guitarist looking to try out some new tunings. This article will highlight how to tune your guitar to drop D and will then highlight some songs that utilize this popular tuning.

The best thing about tuning your guitar to drop D is that it is very easy to do. In fact, there is only one string that changes pitch in this tuning, which is the low E string. To put your guitar in drop D, you'll need to drop the pitch of the low E string (the string with the lowest pitch on your guitar) down one full step to D. That drop in pitch is how the tuning gets its name. There are two main ways to do this:

1. If you're new to putting your guitar in alternate tunings, you might want to use a tuner the first few times until you get the hang of what you're doing. Play your low E string, and then slacken the pitch of it slowly as you watch your tuner. The string will drop from E to D sharp (or E flat), and then finally to D. Once you have the low string tuned to D, you're ready to go.
2. If you're more confident tuning your guitar with your ear, you can put your guitar in Drop D without using a tuner at all. To do this, first play the open D string on your guitar (the third lowest pitched string on your guitar) and let it ring out. As it's ringing, play your low E string and let it ring out. With both strings ringing, slacken your low E string until the pitch matches the pitch of the open D string on your guitar. The notes won't be exactly the same (the low D you're tuning to will be one octave lower than the note played by your standard D string), but you will be able to hear when the tones of the two notes match. You might have to play the two strings and let them both ring out a few times while you get the pitch of the low string to match correctly. Once the notes sound in unison, you're officially in drop D tuning.

The following examples are all songs that use the drop D tuning effectively. The links below will take you to websites where you can view tablature for the songs so you can practice trying out the new tuning. Since it creates a heavy sound, the tuning drop D is often utilized in rock and heavy metal music, but the blues is another a genre that uses it.

• Van Halen – Unchained – Eddie Van Halen has made use of drop D throughout the band's career, but Unchained from the album Fair Warning is one of the quintessential drop D riffs in the history of rock and roll. Van Halen's playing is really at its most spectacular on this song, so don't be frustrated if you can't play every note of it - not many people can!

• Nirvana – Heart Shaped Box – Kurt Cobain was a great songwriter and amazing singer, but he was also a very creative guitar player. This fantastic song from the album In Utero makes brilliant use of drop D, and it's not terribly difficult to play either.

• Smashing Pumpkins – Hummer – The Smashing Pumpkins' second record Siamese Dream is considered one of the greatest guitar records of the 1990s. The epic song Hummer makes great use of drop D.

• Rage Against the Machine – Killing in the Name – This Rage Against the Machine anthem from their self-titled debut album helped propel this band into the mainstream. The riff in this song is one of the heaviest riffs you could ever imagine, making it an ideal song to learn in drop D.

• Mississippi John Hurt – See See Rider – The acoustic blues fingerpicking guitarist Mississippi John Hurt made frequent use of drop D. This version of his song See See Rider is a great example of how blues musicians use drop D to write songs.

When you first experiment with drop D tuning, it can seem fairly strange. It's a good idea to try to learn a few simple songs that use drop D until you feel comfortable enough to experiment on your own. Since a different guitar tuning changes the way you think about your playing, you might really surprise yourself when you begin playing around with drop D. Just try to free your mind, have fun and see what happens.

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