Drop D tuning

[polarred21]

Great topic! Last nights lesson we did a drop D session with my electric and really opened my eyes a bit and was fun. Two string chords up and down the neck and with distortion....bam! I can shred this thing now! Ted Nugent look out!

Well a little anyway.

Question: I'm looking for popular songs that use this tuning that I might know and rock intros that use this for practice. I like classic rock, pop, and country.

Thanks

[Sombras]

Originally Posted by polarred21

Question: I'm looking for popular songs that use this tuning that I might know and rock intros that use this for practice. I like classic rock, pop, and country.

Thanks

Pearl Jam, "Even Flow"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmHrHufbUnQ

[rmp]

he asked about Drop D Tuning

In guitar lessons, I am learning a song in drop D tuning.

so yea,, some clarity.. once you start capoing, your changing things up a bit in relation to the actual key your playing in. But with a partial capo (as in a Drop D one) the chord shapes, eg: how the bass note (E string) fits in relation to how you shape/play your chords will stay the same as if you were just dropping your E string a full step.

So if your thinking in terms of chords, and notes etc.. the Capo just moves things up a full step if you place it on the second fret. If you're speaking in relation to actual KEY, the Capo does change all this.

[polarred21]

Originally Posted by Sombras

Pearl Jam, "Even Flow"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmHrHufbUnQ

Awesome! Thanks!

[polarred21]

Moby Dick, Led Zeppelin is another good beginner riff in drop D.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_nU_VFvIZs

[the architect]

Originally Posted by Paleolith54

First, I freely admit that my knowledge of music is pretty sketchy, so perhaps that is the problem here. I also acknowledge that I may be like the poor sap in the room where everyone except him gets the joke. But this discussion is really confusing to me, as it implies (or even states) that a capo can give you Drop D tuning if you are in standard tuning to start with. I don't appear to be the only one wondering about this.

By definition, Drop D tuning is DADGBE, which is just standard tuning at A440 with the sixth string dropped a whole step to D. If you don't have these notes, you don't have Drop D. Capoing strings 1-5 at the second fret doesn't give you Drop D. The only way the capo described gives you Drop D tuning is if you are tuned down a whole step to begin with.

If it was called a "Drop tuning capo" or some such that would make sense, but in fact it is only a Drop D capo in one specific instance.

I don't think this is a pedantic point, I think it's one that actually makes a difference to understanding what is being said accurately. And I am perfectly open to being corrected.

You are correct in your analysis, the trick is that you start in standard tuning but 1 step low. That way when you add the capo,you get the correct tuning

Originally Posted by kellyfan161

...just making sure switching every so often won't harm my guitar.

Hope not - I do it about twenty times on an average gig. Nah, it won't hurt nuthin'.

[s2y]

I like playing in dropped d a lot.

[Wengr]

Originally Posted by Paleolith54

By definition, Drop D tuning is DADGBE, which is just standard tuning at A440 with the sixth string dropped a whole step to D. If you don't have these notes, you don't have Drop D. Capoing strings 1-5 at the second fret doesn't give you Drop D. The only way the capo described gives you Drop D tuning is if you are tuned down a whole step to begin with.

That's completely correct should that be the way you chose to look at it. For myself, it makes little sense to correlate various tunings with pitches.
I always view the guitar as being in a certain tuning AND at a certain pitch.
For example, standard tuning to me has nothing to do with A440.
Instead, it has everything to do with the unique set of string to string interval.
From the bottom up:
String 5 is a 4th above string 6
string 4 is a 4th above string 5
string 3 is a 4th above string 4
string 2 is a 3RD above string 3
string 1 is a 4th above string 2

Or, in other words, if you put your low "E" string in tune, and then fret at 5,5,5,4,5, to tune the other string, then imo, that's standard tuning.
The thing is, it does not matter to me what notes the open strings actually play - I still consider it standard tuning.
If the open A string does happen to be at 440, then I think of it as standard tuning @ concert pitch, If not. it's standard tuning X half steps up or down.

The reason is that the guitar plays exactly the same, and that is what is most important to me. The key changes with the pitch, but the playing of the instrument remains the same, so I benefit from thinking of it as the same.

Also, I do the same with all other tunings. We could have drop D one step down, or DADGAD 1/2 step down, or open G at concert pitch or whatever.

[JeffreyAK]

I've gotten to like drop-D and variants (DADADE, DADGAD, DADGBfD) enough that I've gone to a thicker "low E" string on my Strat, a 0.060 from 0.052, and I leave it tuned to D. Makes for quite a booming bottom end.

[RossM]

I don't know if you folks would be up for this but Buzz Osborne of the Melvins has an acoustic album out. I think this is all Drop D tuning.
Certainly a different approach to the Singer Songwriter genre'.
Buzz Osborne solo acoustic on KEXP.
I love it and bought the album. I mostly play it while I'm driving.

EDIT: D'oh! I found this thread using a search and didn't realize it was in the Electric Guitar section. Well still, kinda interesting. If you want to see Buzz play electric drop D, sort of a lesson - https://youtu.be/M648mDUbf54

[Paleolith54]

Originally Posted by Wengr

That's completely correct should that be the way you chose to look at it. For myself, it makes little sense to correlate various tunings with pitches.
I always view the guitar as being in a certain tuning AND at a certain pitch.
For example, standard tuning to me has nothing to do with A440.
Instead, it has everything to do with the unique set of string to string interval.
From the bottom up:
String 5 is a 4th above string 6
string 4 is a 4th above string 5
string 3 is a 4th above string 4
string 2 is a 3RD above string 3
string 1 is a 4th above string 2

Or, in other words, if you put your low "E" string in tune, and then fret at 5,5,5,4,5, to tune the other string, then imo, that's standard tuning.
The thing is, it does not matter to me what notes the open strings actually play - I still consider it standard tuning.
If the open A string does happen to be at 440, then I think of it as standard tuning @ concert pitch, If not. it's standard tuning X half steps up or down.

The reason is that the guitar plays exactly the same, and that is what is most important to me. The key changes with the pitch, but the playing of the instrument remains the same, so I benefit from thinking of it as the same.

Also, I do the same with all other tunings. We could have drop D one step down, or DADGAD 1/2 step down, or open G at concert pitch or whatever.

I do understand your point. And in practice, I will do the same thing. If I am in a band and we are all tuned down a half-step, we still refer to strings, positions, and chords by the names that would be correct if we were in A440 tuning. I have no issue with that as a matter of convenience.

Mg point is that, when taking to someone who is obviously a beginner, we should not conflate convenient with correct. What is correct here is not a matter of perspective, it's a matter of how a musical term is defined. That's why I tried to point out that using the capo that started this thread does NOT put you in Drop D unless, as i said earlier, you are already tuned down two semitones.

[polarred21]

Just a rough drop D noodling I recorded with my phone. Starts out with rough version of Moby Dick then the rest is just having a good time.

[offeringplate]

Originally Posted by Sombras

Caution--what no one is telling you is that you can only go back and forth between standard and drop-D a maximum of three times in one session before your guitar EXPLODES!

Seriously though, there are no problems doing this...until your guitar EXPLODES!

B O O M

[kkrell]

http://www.pitch-key.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teBIVnNS3ds