Double drop D tuning: DADGBD, also known simply as double drop D, is an alternative

guitar tuning Guitar tunings are the assignment of pitches to the open strings of guitars, including classical guitars, acoustic guitars, and electric guitars. Tunings are described by the particular pitches that are made by notes in Western music. By c ...

: both E strings are tuned down ("dropped") one whole step (2 frets) to D rather than E as in standard tuning (EADGBE).

Uses of double dropped D tuning

The main use for double dropped D is so that guitarists can play intervals of a fifth with one finger on the bass strings, and play the treble side of a barre chord. Some recordings that make effective use of this tuning are " Black Water" by

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, " The Loner," " Cortez the Killer," "

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" and " Cinnamon Girl" by

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the begi ...

, " Choctaw Bingo" and "We Can't Make It Here" by James McMurtry, " Find the Cost of Freedom" by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, " Going to California" by

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

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" by

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, " Devils & Dust" by

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, "Satellite" by

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, " Overkill" by

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, " Bryter Layter" by Nick Drake, and " Nobody's Fault but My Own" by

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used a variation for " A Horse with No Name", in which the fifth string, normally an A, is also dropped. The string order for this variation, from low to high, is DEDGBD. English folk singer Kate Rusby primarily uses this tuning for playing in the key of G, capoing in order to play in other keys.

Examples of chords in dropped D tuning

Chords Chord or chords may refer to: Art and music * Chord (music), an aggregate of musical pitches sounded simultaneously ** Guitar chord, a chord played on a guitar, which has a particular tuning * The Chords (British band), 1970s British mod ...

in double dropped D tuning are formed as they are in standard tuning, with the exception of the first and sixth strings, which are either omitted or fretted one whole step higher: Note that these chords are not the power chords commonly played in double drop D tuning. Power chords generally mute the higher notes rather than the lower notes: For purposes of making the table easier to read, spaces are provided between each number when the fret number becomes a double digit. Some examples of the simplified barre chords are shown below. Chords involving the minor third may be more difficult to fret.

References

{{Guitar tunings Guitar tunings