Keep playing the string and cross-check with your tuner to make sure that the string is accurately tuned to D.Īnd that’s it really! As for the rest of the 5 strings, they stay on the standard E tuning, and your guitar is now tuned to Drop D. Step 2: Tune the low E string down by one whole step, so its pitch changes from E to D. You will start hearing the pitch of the string go lower. Step 1: Pluck your low E string and start slowly turning its respective tuning peg towards you. Make sure you have a tuner handy for it (use an online tuning app or a physical tuner – any would do): Now let’s learn how to go about tuning your guitar to a Drop D tuning. How Do I Tune My Guitar To Drop D Tuning? This is what your guitar’s tuning will look like for Drop D: However, in the case of Drop D, your 6th string gets tuned down by a full step from E to D. In drop D tuning, the guitarist takes his standard tuning of EADGBE, and only the low E string is tuned down a full step lower to a D resulting in a DADGBE tuning pattern, aka “Drop D”.Īs you can see in the diagram above, the standard E tuning requires your guitar strings to be tuned to the following notes:

This makes it the perfect way for a guitarist to get started exploring the wonderful world of alternate tunings. That’s because it only involves lowering the pitch of your 6th string (low E string) from E to a whole step down to D. Out of all the alternate tunings, Drop D is perhaps the easiest to get the hang of. There are plenty of exciting techniques to practice in this one, including muted hammer-ons during the riff, timed delays while playing the bridge, and power chord shapes that drive this gem. So, once you’ve got the main riff and some nuances down, you’ll breezily float through the rest.īefore learning this track, tune the guitar to drop D, which goes from low to high- D A D G B E. But don’t let that scare you away, for “Schism” also happens to be one of their most repetitive tracks. It’s fairly complex, packed with challenging rhythm, intricacies, and unusual time signatures. “Schism” from Tool’s third album, Lateralus, is the perfect pick for guitar players looking to push the envelope. The one we shall be talking about is the song that fetched the band a Grammy for Best Metal Performance. Practically, their entire discography features him playing a dropped-D tuned guitar. It’s no secret that Adam Jones of Progressive rock band Tool has a particular affinity for drop D tuning. Here is a List of Famous Songs in Drop D Tuning Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr by Trivium Killing in the Name by Rage Against the Machine I Heard It Through The Grapevine by Creedence Clearwater Revival Here is a List of Famous Songs in Drop D Tuning.

Song in open e