Acoustic songs tuned full step down.

[fakedrummer]

Stealers Wheels Stuck in the middle has an acoustic track down a whole step playing open E chords. Ben Harpers Burn one down like Beatles yesterday is G shapes down a whole step. Eric Church's Creepin is down a whole step drop D to get a real cool low sound.

[hubcapsc]

Leon Redbone played most of his songs tuned down like
that, to make it work out with his accompanists I think. So,
"please don't talk about me" or any of the songs he did
that you might like...

"the one rose (that's left in my heart)" is simple, but I
couldn't figure it out by watching him play it until I
tuned down too.

-Mike "three dimensional chess... "

[Cypress Knee]

Originally Posted by JerrysGuitarBar

John Fogerty downtunes by a full step a lot. Bad Moon Rising and Lodi for example.

Anytime you see concert video of Fogerty playing a black Les Paul, he is tuned down a full step. The list also includes Proud Mary, Fortunate Son, Midnight Special, Run Through the Jungle, 110 in the Shade and Lookin' Out My Backdoor.

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by fakedrummer

Stealers Wheels Stuck in the middle has an acoustic track down a whole step playing open E chords.

Good one!
But that's because it was played on a 12-string, and it's common to tune 12-strings down.

[duckyduck9]

A couple of my favorites are:

Jason Isbell & The 400 - If We Were Vampires
Paul McCartney - Jenny Wren

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by FoxHound4690

Hey agf,

I've absolutely fallen in love recently with full step down tuning DGFGAD. It's such a dark and ominous pitch that sounds awesome and I just want to explore it more.

Hi FoxHound

I'm late to the party. Many players tune down a half step or full step.

I occasionally will and then drop the 6th string another step. It's fun, sounds awesome from behind the guitar, and when doing so on my Olson dreadnought, it vibrates my chest cavity like crazy.

I assume you are having fun as you experiment.

I have found it works with some songs really well, and others not so much. But then, I've discovered the same thing with capo-ing guitars…which is going the other direction from tuning them down, isn't it? That's fun sometimes too.

[VJP5]

Outside of the extra toll (wear) on the strings from tuning down (then retuning up) for a few songs, do you run the risk of having to make a truss rod adjustment for the change in tension? Or is there no real impact if it's for short periods of time?

[LakewoodM32Fan]

Originally Posted by VJP5

Outside of the extra toll (wear) on the strings from tuning down (then retuning up) for a few songs, do you run the risk of having to make a truss rod adjustment for the change in tension? Or is there no real impact if it's for short periods of time?

Totally depends on how low your normal action is, and your neck relief. Because tuning a full step down does alleviate quite a bit of tension according to this tension calculator it's approximately 172lbs vs 137lbs on a 25.5" scale acoustic guitar.

So if your action is low, let's say exactly 3/32" at low E 12th fret, and you've got your neck relief right on the edge of no fret buzz, my experience is going down a full step with the same set of strings will lower your action about 1/64". So at 2.5/32" (or 5/64") action you might get buzzing which could be alleviated by a small TR adjustment to tighten, creating more relief.

However my guitars action are right between 3/32 and 1/8 (approx. 7/64") so by tuning a step down, it pretty much lands right at 3/32" and I have no fret buzz and no need to adjust the TR. That said, I'm keeping 2 guitars in step-down tuning and dialing them in for that, so I don't have to keep tuning/detuning. One's a dread which uses medium strings so I'll keep using those but another is a smaller body which historically I use lights on, which I'll be now using light/mediums (.12-.56 so the top 3 are L and bottom 3 are M) so I don't get so much floppiness from the low strings at the lessened tension.

[VJP5]

Mine are right around the 7/64" mark as well. I only know a couple songs that I tune down a full step (Yesterday being my favorite). Since I don't have many songs down there, I typically leave it tuned down for 45 mins to an hour and then tune back up. Since I do not do this often (once or twice a week at most), I was curious as to the long term effects, if any, of doing this.

If there is some risk, I would consider having a guitar set up for a 1/2 step down so I can drop the extra half when needed, or capo on the 1st fret for standard tuning easily. That 1/2 step is huge for my vocal range access.

[LakewoodM32Fan]

Originally Posted by VJP5

Mine are right around the 7/64" mark as well. I only know a couple songs that I tune down a full step (Yesterday being my favorite). Since I don't have many songs down there, I typically leave it tuned down for 45 mins to an hour and then tune back up. Since I do not do this often (once or twice a week at most), I was curious as to the long term effects, if any, of doing this.

If there is some risk, I would consider having a guitar set up for a 1/2 step down so I can drop the extra half when needed, or capo on the 1st fret for standard tuning easily. That 1/2 step is huge for my vocal range access.

I'm no luthier and I don't play one on TV, but there shouldn't be any real long term damage. Conventional wisdom says guitars will need to have a neck reset every "several decades or so" based on the tension that the strings exert and the type of neck join. Constantly tuning up and down likely won't decrease that interval appreciably. If it means you have to get a neck reset after 28 years instead of 29 or 30...that's a small tradeoff for being able to play and sing in your vocal register.

[VJP5]

I can live with that trade off

Thanks!