the only tuning I have ever used is standard and I want to try Drop D tuning, I have one of those electrical tuners so, how do I tune to drop D ?

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If your guitar is in EADGBE, all you need to do is tune your 6th (thickest) string to D so that the tuning becomes DADGBE. Just use the electronic tuner that you've got and you shouldn't encounter any problems.

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Or you can play your 4th and 6th string together until they sound the same (well not exactly the same)

You could just keep dropping the Open E (6th) string until it sounds just like the open A (5th) string when it (the 6th string) is fretted at the 7th fret.

They should be exactly the same, otherwise it'll sound horrible.

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That's what I meant...damn that was a fast reply.

I was replying to Rick Metal but you posted before me!

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Oops!

I meant not exactly the same because it's an octave lower.

cool, thanks guys, I didn't know it was so easy, I tought I'd have to tune all the stings different

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That would be tuning down a whole step (DGCFAd)...if I'm thinking of what you were thinking of...

yeah you just tune down 1 string. So then you can of ultra easy barred powerchords.

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Until you play Nile...then it's not always so easy.

those babies are really good when you are trying to wail while playing

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and it gives the guitar a lower metal feel, but the main purpose is people wanted to play minor/power chords by just using your barre finger...sorry for repeating the obvious

ok, but how do for example Children of bodom tune?

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you want a tuning like children of bodom? then you want standard down a whole step.
just use an electronic tuner and tune to: DGCFAd. thats just tuning all strings down a whole step. or you can just tune down your E string 7th fret so it sounds the same as your a string and then go back to the E string at the 5th and tune your guitar to that. sorry that this was confusing but im not good with words

ok, thank you very much

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instead of E-A-D-G-B-e
tune to D-G-C-F-A-d

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i.e.
Down a step -> All Strings go down one step
Drop D - > Top string goes down one step

and then there are variations on that (e.g. C tuning is down 2 steps, where as drop C tuning is all strings are down one step, then the top sting is taken down another step)

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dont you mean the bottom string rather than top? Because usually people refer the top string to highest pitched string.

the 6th (thickest) string then

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I love tuning down a Whole step. It gives such a nice sound without losing its clarity.

Death, Behemoth, Decapitated, Vader, etc etc tune down a whole step.

Hawtness y0.

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vader uses drop D i thought

hell yeah. technical metal should always be D or Eb.
cos then the strings dont rattle as badly.

I thought you guys hated powerchords, and considered them "nu-metalish".

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Not if you adjust your string guage accordingly - a set of 13's in B standard will be just as taut as 10's in E standard. Sure, the strings are thicker, but I don't find that they rattle.

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Good point, but I find that .11's do pretty good for Bb...

But when you start dropping the tuning on all strings you may need to adjust your neck slightly to compensate.

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Power chords would be "nu-metallish" in this context...
Drop D

|--------------------------|
|--------------------------|
|--------------------------|
|-0-0--0-1------------1--5-|
|-0-0--0-1----0-0-0-0-1--3-|
|-0-0--0-1----0-0-0-0-1--3-|

w/ no palm muting, repeating the riff 28 times

^haha yeah, 11's at B? dude, floppiness abounds on your guitar... I use 13/56s and they are ok, although i prefer C#/D

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that korn song is awesome!!

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Anybody who claims drop tuning is "nu-metalish" needs to listen to Nile and Psycroptic more.

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Indeed.

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I hope you didn't get the impression from my little riff up there that I think drop tuning is "nu-metallish"...I'd be the first to defend drop tuning.

And in response to Innards-Decay, you'd be suprised, I get along quite well with .11's, but I think I might try going up to .12s.

Yeah!!! I think it's the one were the guy whines about how mommy and daddy didn't buy him a pony and got divorced...oh, wait.

Oh, I was just generalising against the people who generalise about drop tuning. You are exempt from my generalisation as the example you posted says, "In this context" from which I gleaned that you knew of further examples that were not so skull-numbingly simple.



For the main part, a lot of people cannot fathom that songs can still be difficult and technical in drop tuning. These non-believers usually have had no contact with extreme bands who adopt drop tuning and so their comments are borne out of ignorance more than an informed opinion.

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Yeah, I cant think of a single metal band that doesnt use power chords, but i rarely use drop D anyway when playing guitar unless im mimicing a drop D song. Its such a quick alt. tuning, If you had a band that used the standard tunings and alt tunings then if you tuned down the guitar on one of the songs you would need to have 2 guitars, but you can switch to D in like a span of 10 seconds by matching the E to the open D.

pantera uses regular tuning right?

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Dime uses Standard, Drop D and Eb

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why can the drum section be this cool...lol

ok thanks

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Unfortunatly, I've dealt with far too many of these non-believers...I have a music theory teacher today who claimed today, that power-chords were made for and by talentless players and denounced guitarists who used them as not being real musicians. I could have argued with her, but it would be a waste of time to argue with the elitist. I could only imagine what she would have thought about dropped tuning.

Force her to listen to Effigy Of The Forgotten and then when she's reeling from that aural bombardment, make her listen to Black Seeds Of Vengeance to hammer home the drop tuning point. She should then be completely enlightened into power chords, dropped or otherwise.

Seriously though, how can a guitar teacher be closed-minded to other styles of playing? It seems counter-productive to me in that they will only teach their style rather than all styles of playing.

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HA! Good idea...the only problem is she's a music theory teacher, not guitar teacher. She's a big elitist and from my experience in her class and the words of a friend she regards anything rock or metal as just talentless, monotonous noise...very close minded. But yeah, I have the same exact thoughts,

The thing i dont get is the fact people always hear a clip of death metal or grind, and are always saying "ITS ALL JUST NOISE", but they have no idea how in accurate that is. Noise is just an entirely random placement of sounds w/ no beat or rythym, and ive never heard any metal like that....first of all, even if it is simple sometimes, its still playing a set of coherant riffs w/ a rythym and a beat.

I also hate it how everyone thinks they are a fucking music critique........my band released this demo cd w/ crappy recording (i dont even like it that much though), and everyone keeps on constantly acting like they know something about music and says "were we went wrong" in our playing structure, and they all worship this school band that constantly plays pop rock cover songs, even though the drummer is pretty good everyone is do damn typical in thoughts.

This all reminds me of Slayer's "Circle of Beliefs"...
"Can't you see, there's no validity. You're way, is not the only way."