Guitar tunings

Ten tunings for the guitar, each with its six strings, the distance from standard tuning and sound: which string goes where, and what it changes.

A tuning says which note each of the six strings is pulled to. Standard tuning E A D G B E is the one almost everything is written for; the nine others here change single strings or all of them at once — and with that, which shapes become easy and which become hard. Every tuning is shown as a notated chord of the six open strings, with sound.

Standard tuning

E A D G B E — the tuning that chord boxes, tablature and method books assume. The intervals are four fourths with one major third in the middle (between the third and the second string); that single irregularity is what makes the familiar shapes playable.

String	Note	Semitones against standard
6	E	Unchanged
5	A	Unchanged
4	D	Unchanged
3	G	Unchanged
2	B	Unchanged
1	E	Unchanged

Drop D

D A D G B E — only the lowest string drops, by a whole tone. That puts a fifth below the chord, and one finger across the three low strings gives a power chord. The most common departure in rock and metal, because everything else stays as it was.

String	Note	Semitones against standard
6	D	−2
5	A	Unchanged
4	D	Unchanged
3	G	Unchanged
2	B	Unchanged
1	E	Unchanged

Half step down

Eb Ab Db Gb Bb Eb — all six strings down a semitone. The shapes stay the same and everything sounds a semitone lower: for singers who find a song too high, and for a slightly softer attack.

String	Note	Semitones against standard
6	Eb	−1
5	Ab	−1
4	Db	−1
3	Gb	−1
2	Bb	−1
1	Eb	−1

Whole step down

D G C F A D — all six strings down a whole tone. The same arithmetic as the half step, only further, and the strings get noticeably slacker. Players who live here use heavier strings.

String	Note	Semitones against standard
6	D	−2
5	G	−2
4	C	−2
3	F	−2
2	A	−2
1	D	−2

Drop C

C G C F A D — everything down a whole tone first, then the lowest string a whole tone further. The power chord shape of Drop D still works, and the sound sits much lower.

String	Note	Semitones against standard
6	C	−4
5	G	−2
4	C	−2
3	F	−2
2	A	−2
1	D	−2

DADGAD

Open strings: Dsus4

D A D G A D — the open strings make Dsus4, a chord with no third, so it sounds neither major nor minor. That is why it suits pipe tunes and anything modal; in Celtic music DADGAD is the rule.

String	Note	Semitones against standard
6	D	−2
5	A	Unchanged
4	D	Unchanged
3	G	Unchanged
2	A	−2
1	D	−2

Open G

Open strings: G major

D G D G B D — strummed open it is G major. The tuning of bottleneck blues and, without the lowest string, of Keith Richards. One finger across the fifth fret gives the subdominant chord, across the seventh the dominant.

String	Note	Semitones against standard
6	D	−2
5	G	−2
4	D	Unchanged
3	G	Unchanged
2	B	Unchanged
1	D	−2

Open D

Open strings: D major

D A D F# A D — strummed open it is D major, often called »Vestapol«. Fuller than Open G because the lowest string carries the root; the tuning of many old blues and slide recordings.

String	Note	Semitones against standard
6	D	−2
5	A	Unchanged
4	D	Unchanged
3	F#	−1
2	A	−2
1	D	−2

Open E

Open strings: E major

E B E G# B E — the same intervals as Open D, a whole tone higher: open it is E major. Three strings have to be pulled up for it, which strains them — many prefer Open D with a capo at the second fret.

String	Note	Semitones against standard
6	E	Unchanged
5	B	+2
4	E	+2
3	G#	+1
2	B	Unchanged
1	E	Unchanged

Open C

Open strings: C major

C G C G C E — open it is C major, with the root on three strings. The lowest string falls two whole tones and gets very slack, but the tuning sounds broad and orchestral.

String	Note	Semitones against standard
6	C	−4
5	G	−2
4	C	−2
3	G	Unchanged
2	C	+1
1	E	Unchanged

How to retune

Always work from the lowest string up, and always come up to the target note from below: a string let down from above keeps slipping. With a tuner, switch it to chromatic mode — otherwise it hunts for the standard strings. Retuning changes the tension on the neck, so the strings you already tuned move with it: go round twice.

What an open tuning is

In an open tuning the six open strings together make a chord — strum them without fretting anything. One finger laid across all six then gives the next chord, and that is what bottleneck playing lives on. The price: the shapes you know no longer hold.

Tuner · Guitar · Guitar

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Every note on this page is computed, not typed in — following the rule that also makes F# major spell its seventh degree E#, not F.