How to tune your guitar to drop D

Drop D is one of the most basic alternate tunings. It’s essential for playing a lot of rock and metal music, and fortunately, it’s super simple to tune to. Even better, once you grasp the concept of drop D, you’ll easily be able to wrap your head around lower drop tunings, like drop C, drop B and drop A, for example.

I won’t go into the history of drop D like some articles do, as that’s not why you’re here! You just wanna learn how to tune your guitar to drop D. So here ya go…

How to tune your guitar to drop D

1. First, make sure your guitar is in E standard tuning. Use video resources, a tuner pedal, or a tuning plugin within the DAW you’re using – whatever you like.
2. Next, tune the low E string down two frets, or two semitones. Where in E standard tuning the 5th fret on the low E string matches the open A string, in drop D, it’s the 7th fret that matches.
3. Thus, we call it drop D because you’re dropping your low E string to D.
4. That’s it! It’s really that simple.

Why tune to drop D?

Beyond the fact that so much rock and metal music – and, indeed, music in other genres – requires it, drop D tuning provides ergonomic benefits, like making powerchords easier to play.

For example, imagine playing a G powerchord (index finger 3rd fret of E string – ring finger 5th fret of A string – pinky 5th fret of D string). By tuning to drop D, the root G is then located at the 5th fret of the low string, meaning you can use just one finger to barre the 5th fret on the low E (D), A and D strings.

Another reason many guitarists use drop D – particularly in the rock and metal spheres – is that the lower pitch of the bottom string simply sounds heavier. This means riffs tend to have a little more weight to them – perfect for more aggressive-sounding music.

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