Dropped D Guitar Tuning

Standard tuning gets boring after a while for some of us. Whether you want lower notes are more accessibility to larger chord shapes, dropped tuning can make your every dream come true.

Today we will be discussing dropped D guitar tuning.

Dropped D tuning is the most basic of dropped tunings. This doesn’t mean it is boring, though. In fact, it is everything but.

Not only do you retain your highest notes, you also gain two lower half steps of notes. This may not sound like much, but it can in fact be a lot.

With dropped tuning, your octaves are closer together. In fact, they are on the same fret with only one string in between. This makes larger chord shapes easy to play, which can in turn add a world of depth to your writing. If you are a power chord addict, dropped tuning can in fact be your best friend, because when you drop the low E to do, you make a fifth. This means that all of your power chords can now be played using one finger.

Dropped D guitar tuning also gives dissonance a whole new meaning. With the dropped D at a fifth from the A, open guitar chords can easily be shifted and reconstructed. Chords become easier to augment, and it also makes adding chord properties, or even subtracting them that much easier because your root will simply be a finger lying across your strings.

Another benefit of dropped tuning is the ability to accentuate single note rhythms. The dropped D string makes single note rhythms or octave rhythms easy to accentuate with palm muting. The lower string lends itself perfectly to chugging and fast chording.

If you love heavy metal and hard rock, you will find yourself with an abundance of bands whose songs you can play along to. Bands such as Lamb of God, The Agonist, The Haunted, Flyleaf, and Deftones (on Around the Fur) have all used dropped D tuning in their music.

For jazz and blues guitarists, the dropped string makes inverted chord much easier to play. Because you can now bar the fifth and third, the root and seventh are the only notes requiring attention. This is a huge benefit as some guitarists have smaller fingers and find it difficult to stretch to reach notes with more complex guitar chord structures.

The downside to dropped tuning isn’t too much of an issue for most, but it can be frustrating to handle at first. Because you dropped the string back a full note, or two half steps if you prefer, your scales will change.

All of the lower notes will subsequently move forward two half notes on your fret board. This can be a bit of a pain to get used to at first, because many guitarists don’t actually know the notes on a fret board, they only know scale shapes.

If you don’t mind relearning a bit of your scales though, dropped D tuning is a great tuning to try out. As always, keep an open mind and have fun with your playing!

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