Drop D tuning Blues & rock style

Jon Bishop moves to the dark side for an exploration of drop D tuning. There are three great pieces to learn, plus a trio of jam tracks to play, so lower that sixth string to D and get rocking!

This month we are going to examine the wonders of drop D tuning. As the name suggests, to arrive at drop D from standard tuning you simply drop (or lower) your guitar’s sixth string by a tone from E to D. If tuning by ear simply take a reference note from the open fourth string’s D note. If you are using a digital tuner you may need to change the mode to bass guitar tuning for the low D to register accurately. With a floating vibrato bridge, as on a Strat or similar, you’ll probably find you have to retune the whole guitar as the reduced tension on the sixth string is likely to unbalance the others and send the rest of the instrument off pitch.

This dropping of the low sixth string by a tone provides a tuning with the following note names, low to high:

1 - E, 2 - B, 3 - G, 4 - D, 5 - A, 6 - D. Drop D tuning has become a classic trick over the years due to the opportunities it presents to guitarists in a variety of styles, from acoustic folk to blues, to heavy rock and pretty much all points in between. Here’s why:

1. – The detuned sixth string has a deeper and darker sound due to its reduced tension, making chords sound almost piano-like.

2. – The tuning makes a three-string power chord on the low three strings easy to play, as only one finger is required for the job.

3. – Fingerstyle pieces can exploit the low D note as a drone for alternating basslines.

The only down side you might encounter is that the sixth string’s reduced tension can introduce intonation issues; you may also find

Drop D tuning sounDs heavier anD the easy fingering of power chorDs allows for complex chorD riffing

you need to be careful with fretting and picking pressure, as it’s easier to push the relaxed string out of tune. Luckily it doesn’t take long to acclimatise to the new feel; anyway, you could always fit a heavier gauge sixth string if you plan to play in drop D tuning a lot. This is an excellent strategy and indeed many string manufacturers now make string sets specifically for this purpose.

We have written three contrasting pieces to showcase the wonders of the drop D sound. Of course, as usual you will be able to try the pieces (and invent some of your own) over the backing tracks provided. The first jam is a rock track in the style of bands like Rage Against The Machine and the brilliant King’s X. The low D sounds heavier and the easy fingering of the power chords allows for more complex chord riffling. It’s a really impressive sound that even Queen’s Brian May has adopted - just think of Fat Bottomed Girls.

The second piece is a solo blues in D. The drop D tuning allows for an alternating bassline to played, while the A on the open fifth string can also be utilised as the V chord’s bass note, or to play a ‘root and 5th’ bassline alternating with the two octave Ds.

The final example is a fingerstyle acoustic piece that uses the low D drone notes to unlock various modal flavours.

The key aim of this lesson is to inspire your own drop D excursions using our jam pieces as jumping off points. Just noodling in drop D can conjure up all sorts of new ideas.