Drop D Tuning - Barry Sides

Drop D Tuning

I have had quite a few people ask me about the chords on some of my songs, or rather the full sound of the chords on some of my songs. I use a lot of open or alternative tunings with the Drop D tuning being my favorite.

Three songs on my new record are in Drop D. They are; Don’t Want Love, Caroline, and Your Ghost.

The reason I use the Drop D tuning is that it gives your guitar a fullness that you just can not get in standard tuning. It also allows your C, G, A, and E chords to be played differently which I feel ads to the color of your song.

Drop D tuning is one of the easiest alternative guitar tunings because only the lowest string is different from the standard guitar tuning.

To D tune your guitar, all we need to do is retune the 6th string from E to D: D A D G B E

1. Tune your guitar in standard tuning.

2. Play the 4th (D string) and 6th string together and turn the tuning key of the E string counter clockwise until you are 1 note lower.

Drop D tuning makes it possible to add a nice deep bass to D chords. Play around with it. Think James Taylor, The Beatles Dear Prudence, Neil Young Old Man and so much more…

Have fun and email if you have any questions.

From Barry's website in the News section.