Alternate Guitar Tunings: Drop D, Open G, DADGAD & More

Standard guitar tuning (E–A–D–G–B–E) has anchored modern music for generations — but some of the most iconic riffs and chord voicings in guitar history are physically impossible to play in standard tuning. Alternate guitar tunings change the pitch of one or more strings, unlocking chord shapes, resonant overtones, and playing techniques you simply can’t reach otherwise.

This guide covers every major category of alternate tuning — open, drop, and modal — with tuning charts, the famous songs that made them iconic, and a step-by-step order to learn them in. If you haven’t got a reliable way to tune up yet, start with how to tune a guitar before working through the tunings below. Want it taught hands-on with feedback on your technique? My one-to-one guitar lessons in Queen’s Park and NW6 cover alternate tunings as part of ongoing tuition.

What Is an Alternate Guitar Tuning?

An alternate tuning is any string arrangement other than standard E–A–D–G–B–E. Changing even one string’s pitch alters chord shapes, open-string resonance, and how the fretboard feels — which is why entire genres, from Delta blues to Celtic folk to grunge and metal, are built around specific tunings.

LGA Guitar Lessons Blog — James Stratton Guitar

Notation used throughout this guide: tunings are written from the 6th string (lowest, thickest) to the 1st string (highest, thinnest) — the order you’d tune the instrument in.

Table of Contents

1. Why Learn Alternate Tunings
2. Open Tunings for Slide Guitar (Open D, G, E, C)
3. Drop Tunings for Rock & Metal (Drop D, C, B, A)
4. Modal & Fingerstyle Tunings (DADGAD & More)
5. String Tension & Gauge for Drop Tunings
6. Quick Reference Matrix
7. Songs in Alternate Tunings
8. Which Tuning Should You Learn First?
9. FAQs

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Why Learn Alternate Tunings?

• Simplify complex harmony — play full major, minor, or suspended chords with one- or two-finger shapes.
• Richer resonance — unfretted open strings ring out with a fuller, more harp-like tone.
• Break muscle memory — moving off familiar chord shapes forces your ear to lead instead of your hands.
• Unlock genre-defining sounds — Delta blues, Celtic folk, classic rock, and progressive metal all lean on specific tunings you can’t fake in standard.

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Part 1: Open Tunings for Slide Guitar

Open tunings arrange the strings so that strumming with no frets held produces a full major chord. Barre any single fret and you transpose that chord up the neck — which is exactly why open tunings are the backbone of slide guitar: one finger (or a slide) does the work a full chord shape would otherwise need.

1. Open D Tuning (D–A–D–F♯–A–D)

Chord formed: D Major | Best for: Delta blues, bottleneck slide, folk, fingerstyle

Key technique: a single finger barred across all six strings at any fret plays a full major chord. Notable artists: Bob Dylan, Jack Johnson, Elmore James, Leo Kottke.

2. Open G Tuning (D–G–D–G–B–D)

Chord formed: G Major | Best for: Classic rock riffs, blues rhythm, slide guitar

Pro tip: Keith Richards famously removes the 6th string entirely in Open G, so the low D doesn’t muddy the root-G voicing — his signature five-string approach to the tuning. Notable artists: Keith Richards (The Rolling Stones), Ry Cooder, Muddy Waters.

3. Open E Tuning (E–B–E–G♯–B–E)

Chord formed: E Major | Best for: High-energy electric slide, blues-rock Strings 5, 4, and 3 tune up in pitch. Because raising pitch adds tension, many players tune to Open D instead and use a capo on the 2nd fret to reach the same key with less neck stress. Notable artists: Duane Allman, Derek Trucks, Joe Walsh.

4. Open C Tuning (C–G–C–G–C–E)

Chord formed: C Major | Best for: Deep, low-end fingerstyle, cinematic acoustic arrangements Requires lowering the 6th string a full two steps to C — use a heavier string gauge to avoid buzz (see the tension section below). Notable artists: John Fahey, Ben Howard, Six Organs of Admittance.

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Part 2: Drop Tunings for Rock & Metal

Drop tunings lower only the 6th string (or lower everything uniformly, then drop the 6th further), simplifying power chords and extending the guitar’s low-end range. This is the tuning family behind most modern rock and metal guitar tunings, from grunge through to metalcore.

1. Drop D Tuning (D–A–D–G–B–E)

How to tune a guitar to Drop D: lower the 6th string one whole step, E → D, and leave everything else standard.Technical advantage: strings 6, 5, and 4 form a root–fifth–octave power chord (D–A–D), playable as a one-finger barre. See the full power chords guide for shapes and muting technique. Best for: hard rock, metal, grunge — and acoustic fingerpicking that wants a low D drone. Notable artists: Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Soundgarden, Tool.

2. Drop C Tuning (C–G–C–F–A–D)

Drop C tuning chart:

How to tune: tune everything down one whole step (D–G–C–F–A–D), then drop the 6th string a further whole step to C.Technical advantage: heavier low end while keeping the same playable shapes as Drop D. Notable artists: Deftones, System of a Down, Killswitch Engage, August Burns Red.

3. Extended Drop Tunings: Drop B & Drop A

• Drop B: B–F♯–B–E–G♯–C♯
• Drop A: A–E–A–D–F♯–B

Used extensively in modern metal, deathcore, and progressive styles. Requires heavy-gauge strings (e.g. .011–.056 or .012–.060) and a proper truss rod setup to handle the reduced tension.

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Part 3: Modal & Fingerstyle Tunings

Modal tunings don’t form a clean major or minor triad when strummed open — instead they create suspended, ambiguous intervals that work as a drone-friendly canvas across major, minor, and modal keys. This is generally considered the best tuning family for fingerstyle guitar, since the open strings ring as a harmonic bed under a fretted melody without locking you into one key.

1. DADGAD Tuning (D–A–D–G–A–D)

What is DADGAD tuning? It’s the most widely used modal tuning in contemporary guitar, forming a Dsus4 chord when strummed open. Because it lacks a major or minor 3rd, it sits comfortably under melodies in almost any key — major, minor, or modal.

How to tune from standard:

• 6th string: E→D (down 1 whole step)
• 2nd string: B→A (down 1 whole step)
• 1st string: E→D (down 1 whole step)

Best for: Celtic folk, modern fingerstyle guitar, world music. Notable artists: Jimmy Page (“Kashmir”), Pierre Bensusan, Davy Graham, Rory Gallagher.

2. Open D Minor Tuning (D–A–D–F–A–D)

Lower the 3rd string of Open D by a further half step (F♯→F) to get a pure D minor triad. Suits atmospheric blues and melancholic folk.

3. Double Drop D Tuning (D–A–D–G–B–D)

Lower both the 6th and 1st strings a whole step, E→D. You get a low D bass note and a chiming high D drone while strings 2–5 keep standard chord shapes. Notable artists: Neil Young (“Cinnamon Girl”), Led Zeppelin (“Going to California”).

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Part 4: String Tension & Gauge for Drop Tunings

Changing string pitch changes the mechanical balance of your instrument — get this wrong and you’ll fight buzz or risk neck damage.

Tuning down (Drop D, Drop C, DADGAD, Open C): tension drops, strings feel loose and can buzz against the frets. The rule of thumb for string gauge on drop tunings — move to a heavier set, e.g. .010–.046 to .011–.052 for a single-step drop, or .012–.054 for two steps or more.

Tuning up (Open E, Open A): tension increases, raising the risk of neck bow or string breakage. Tune to the lower equivalent open tuning and use a capo rather than cranking strings up directly.

Truss rod: a significant tension shift changes neck relief. If you get buzzing around the middle frets after downtuning, the neck likely needs more relief — see the guitar care & setup guide for how to check this yourself. Intonation: always recheck pitch accuracy at the 12th fret with a chromatic tuner after switching tunings — the string displacement changes slightly.

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Part 5: Alternate Tuning Quick Reference

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Part 6: Songs in Alternate Tunings

Drop D (D–A–D–G–B–E)

• Nirvana – “Come As You Are” — the low D and the 4th-string D (an octave up) create a thick unison bass drone under the riff.
• Foo Fighters – “Everlong” — single-finger power chords on strings 6–4 allow fast rhythm shifts without hand fatigue.
• The Beatles – “Dear Prudence” — an early mainstream Drop D use, with a descending fingerpicked bassline under ringing open strings.
• Soundgarden – “Black Hole Sun” — low Drop D power chords paired with upper-register arpeggios for width.
• Rage Against the Machine – “Killing in the Name” — built on an open D power-chord shape for instant single-note-to-chord transitions.

Open G (D–G–D–G–B–D)

• The Rolling Stones – “Brown Sugar” — Richards’ 6-string-removed Open G lets two fingers hammer rhythmic chords over an open G base.
• The Rolling Stones – “Start Me Up” — simple barre shapes with open strings ringing between changes.
• The Rolling Stones – “Honky Tonk Women” — smooth movement between fretted chords and slide intervals without shifting hand position.

DADGAD (D–A–D–G–A–D)

• Led Zeppelin – “Kashmir” — this is the song most people mean when they ask about Kashmir’s guitar tuning: a descending chromatic line on the 5th string rings over open D/A drones to create an almost orchestral scale.
• Ed Sheeran – “Photograph” — the neutral Dsus4 base lets delicate arpeggios ring under the vocal with minimal hand movement.
• Led Zeppelin – “Black Mountainside” — traditional Celtic fingerstyle, open strings sustained as drones under the melody.

Open D (D–A–D–F♯–A–D)

• The Black Crowes – “She Talks to Angels” — open-string resonance makes one acoustic guitar sound full.
• Bob Dylan – “Buckets of Rain” — open-string sustain gives a natural reverb-like effect through the fingerpicking.
• Joni Mitchell – “Big Yellow Taxi” — bright, percussive high-register open-string voicings.

Double Drop D (D–A–D–G–B–D)

• Neil Young – “Cinnamon Girl” — one chord shape rings across four D strings for a heavy wall of sound.
• Led Zeppelin – “Going to California” — low and high D strings frame delicate fingerpicked voicings.

Custom & Novelty Tunings

• Bad Company – “Can’t Get Enough” (C–C–G–C–E–G) — barred across a single fret for a full C-major overtone.
• Led Zeppelin – “The Rain Song” (D–G–C–G–C–D) — Page’s suspended tuning avoids clean major/minor classification.
• Soundgarden – “Rusty Cage” (B–A–D–G–B–E) — only the 6th string drops, to low B, for extra bass weight with familiar shapes.
• Fleetwood Mac – “The Chain” — Double Drop D with a capo at fret 2, raising both dropped D strings to E for unified outer-string resonance in the final build.

Want to learn any of these note-for-note? My 10 iconic guitar riffs guide breaks several of them down bar by bar.

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Which Tuning Should You Learn First?

If alternate tunings feel overwhelming, work through them in order of how many strings change:

1. Drop D (1 string changed) — lower the 6th string, E→D. Practice one-finger power chords and low D basslines.
2. Double Drop D (2 strings changed) — also lower the 1st string, E→D. Practice fingerpicking to get used to sympathetic open-string ring.
3. DADGAD (3 strings changed) — also lower the 2nd string, B→A. Try simple scale shapes and modal movement without worrying about major/minor.
4. A full open tuning — Open G or Open D — adjust the remaining strings to complete a full triad. Practice slide technique and single-finger barre chords.

This progression is exactly what I take students through in guitar lessons covering alternate tunings. If you’d like it taught hands-on with real-time feedback on intonation and technique, book a lesson or read more about how lessons work. Not sure a teacher’s the right fit yet? Here’s how to find a great guitar teacher if you’re weighing up your options.

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FAQs

Are alternate tunings bad for your guitar? No — not if you manage string tension properly. Tuning down is safe on any properly set-up instrument. If you’re tuning strings up, use a lighter gauge or a capo-plus-lower-tuning approach to avoid unnecessary stress on the neck and bridge.

Which tuning should I learn first on guitar? Drop D — it only requires changing one string. For acoustic fingerpicking and modal playing, DADGAD is the natural next step.

Do I need different strings for alternate tunings? For single-step changes such as Drop D or DADGAD, a standard string set is fine. For two-or-more-step drops such as Drop C, Drop B, or Open C, move to a thicker gauge to keep tension and intonation stable.

What is DADGAD tuning used for? Mostly Celtic folk, modern fingerstyle, and world music — its lack of a 3rd makes it a flexible, neutral base for melodies in major, minor, or modal keys.