Drop D Tuning
 

I haven't really tuned my guitar much, can someone explain what drop d actually is? Do I tune my lowest string to D? I use a KORG GA-30 guitar/bass tuner. I know it lists frequencies 430, 440, and 450, with 440 seeming to be standard. Is the 430 drop-d, or what?

Low string to D, yes.

(I'm not sure how long you've been playing, but the third string from low E is D, so tune the low E to that)

Ok, this might sound silly, but I thought drop d was lower than normal? Guitar strings go (lowest to highest) EADGBe? So wouldn't tuning the E to D make the guitar higher pitched? Sorry, I'm new to this whole tuning thing, though I've been playing since Christmas (I just tune every string to 430 on the korg and it sounds great to me).

No, dropping to D makes the string lower pitched than standard since to drop to D you have to 'go back' a whole tone. 440MH on your tuner is concert pitch and is what the whole of an orchestra would tune to. I'd ignore this and get a chromatic tuner that will tell you what note you are tuning to.

remember, the E string goes E, F, G and so on as you go up the neck, so tuning the E down would give you D

hence, the low string would now go D, E, F, G etc

My tuner tells you both the note and the frequency. But 1 string down (7th string) it says is G. Sorry if I'm annoying, but this just isn't making sense to me.

you guys have gotta tell him about sharpes and flats too, or else your really going to confuse him. hes going to play the second fret now everytime he sees a g note.

if you have a 7 string you dont really need to drop the E to D...
ok look at your tuner... turn the low E's tuning peg LOWER untill the E turns to D... then you are in drop D, standerd with the low E changed to a lower D note.

A full explanation of drop D would be:
drop D is basically the easy way out of tuning to 1 step down from standerd, instead of tuning ALL the string you just tune the low E string to D and play a bar chord on the 5th and 6th strings instead of a full power chord on the same strings. its faster and easyer IMO than tuning all the strings and using power chords.

and to explain sharps and flats:
a FLAT note is a note half a step down (ie: E to Eb)(Eb meaning E flat)
a sharp note is the oposite, a note a half step higher (E to E#) (E# meaning E sharp)
some notes mean the same thing, if you take a low note and make it sharp, or if you make a note 1 step higher and make it flat,its the same thing (ie: D# and Eb are the same note)

if all this is confusing, get a teacher or a pro to explain it.

this is my biggest post ever :p :)

Shouldnt someone make a sticky thread about tuning, because there is at least 2 on page 2, it would save people starting new ones everytime.