Alternate Guitar Tunings: Open G, DADGAD & More

Alternate guitar tunings are any tunings other than standard E A D G B E, and the easiest way to get into one is the Guitar Tuner set to Chromatic mode. Each alternate tuning changes the note that one or more open strings ring at, which changes which chords fall under your fingers, how low the guitar goes, and how the strings feel. Most of them belong to four families: drop tunings, which lower the bottom string; lowered tunings, which move every string down together; open tunings, which make the open strings ring a chord; and modal tunings such as DADGAD, which ring something in between.

If you've never tuned a guitar with a microphone tuner before, start with How to Tune a Guitar With an Online Tuner. Everything here builds on that.

Alternate guitar tunings chart

The notes run from the 6th (thickest) string to the 1st (thinnest). The last column shows how far each string moves from standard tuning, in semitones, and in which direction. A down arrow means the string gets slacker; an up arrow means it gets tighter.

Tuning	Notes, low to high	Change from standard (string: semitones)
Standard	E2 A2 D3 G3 B3 E4	none
Drop D	D2 A2 D3 G3 B3 E4	6th ↓2
Double drop D	D2 A2 D3 G3 B3 D4	6th ↓2, 1st ↓2
Drop C	C2 G2 C3 F3 A3 D4	6th ↓4, all others ↓2
Half step down	E♭2 A♭2 D♭3 G♭3 B♭3 E♭4	all six ↓1
Open G	D2 G2 D3 G3 B3 D4	6th ↓2, 5th ↓2, 1st ↓2
Open D	D2 A2 D3 F♯3 A3 D4	6th ↓2, 3rd ↓1, 2nd ↓2, 1st ↓2
Open E	E2 B2 E3 G♯3 B3 E4	5th ↑2, 4th ↑2, 3rd ↑1
Open C	C2 G2 C3 G3 C4 E4	6th ↓4, 5th ↓2, 4th ↓2, 2nd ↑1
Open A	E2 A2 E3 A3 C♯4 E4	4th ↑2, 3rd ↑2, 2nd ↑2
DADGAD	D2 A2 D3 G3 A3 D4	6th ↓2, 2nd ↓2, 1st ↓2

Almost every tuning on the list only lowers strings, which is the safe direction. The exceptions are Open E and Open A, which raise three strings each, and Open C, which raises the 2nd string by a semitone. Treat those with a little care; the tension section below explains why.

Drop and lowered tunings

These keep the shapes you already know mostly intact. They just move some or all of the guitar lower.

Drop D lowers only the 6th string a whole step, from E2 to D2. The bottom three strings become D A D, so a single finger across them plays a power chord, and you get a low D under songs in D. It's the gentlest way into alternate tunings because five strings don't move. The full walkthrough, including why a standard guitar tuner fights you on it, is in Drop D Tuning: How to Tune Your Guitar.

Double drop D takes drop D one step further and lowers the 1st string to D4 as well, so both outside strings are D. Chords in D ring with a D on top and bottom, and the open strings work as drones on either side of whatever you fret in the middle.

Drop C is drop D moved down another whole step. Put another way, it's D standard (every string down a whole step) with the 6th string dropped two more semitones: C G C F A D. It's a heavy, low tuning, and the 6th string is four semitones below standard, which is a lot of slack on a normal set. Many players move to a heavier set, or a drop-tuning set with a thicker 6th string, for tunings this low. How a string feels also depends on your guitar's scale length and how hard you play.

Half step down lowers all six strings by a semitone, to E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭ B♭ E♭. Because every string moves the same amount, every chord shape and scale pattern still works; it all just sounds a semitone lower. Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing" is a well-known example. Half Step Down Tuning: How to Tune Your Guitar covers it step by step, including the sharp-named notes the tuner shows.

Open tunings

In an open tuning, strumming all six open strings plays a major chord. Two things follow from that. Laying one finger flat across all the strings at any fret gives you another major chord, so a whole song can be played with one-finger barres. That one-finger barre is also exactly what a slide does, which is why open tunings and slide guitar go together.

The catch is that the chord shapes you learned in standard no longer work. Open tunings reward experimenting with the open strings more than translating old shapes.

Open G

Notes: D2 G2 D3 G3 B3 D4. The 6th, 5th and 1st strings each drop a whole step; the middle three stay put. Strum it open and you hear G major.

Open G is the tuning behind a lot of Keith Richards' Rolling Stones parts, including "Honky Tonk Women", "Brown Sugar" and "Start Me Up". Richards famously takes the low 6th string off altogether and plays a five-string guitar tuned G D G B D, so the root G is the lowest note. You can get the same effect on a six-string by just not striking the 6th string.

Open D

Notes: D2 A2 D3 F♯3 A3 D4. The 6th, 2nd and 1st strings drop a whole step, and the 3rd drops a half step. Strum it open and you hear D major.

Open D sounds big and low, and it's popular with folk and acoustic players as well as slide players. Mumford & Sons' "The Cave" uses it, and Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi" is played in Open D with a capo at the 2nd fret.

Open E

Notes: E2 B2 E3 G♯3 B3 E4. Unlike most tunings here, Open E raises strings: the 5th and 4th go up a whole step and the 3rd goes up a half step. Strum it open and you hear E major.

It's a classic slide tuning. Duane Allman used it with the Allman Brothers Band, for example on "Statesboro Blues", and Bo Diddley's "Bo Diddley" is in Open E too.

Look at the chart and you'll notice Open E has exactly the same intervals as Open D, just two semitones higher. So Open D with a capo at the 2nd fret gives you the same pitches as Open E, without tightening any strings above standard tension. Many players prefer that route. (The same capo arithmetic is behind Transpose a Song for Capo With a Pitch Changer.)

Open C

Notes: C2 G2 C3 G3 C4 E4. The 6th string drops four semitones, the 5th and 4th drop a whole step, and the 2nd goes up a half step. Strum it open and you hear C major.

Open C has a wide, low spread of notes and a lot of open-string ring. Led Zeppelin's "Friends" uses an Open C tuning. The 6th string at C2 is very slack on a standard set, so expect it to feel floppy, and expect it to need retuning more often than the others.

Open A

Notes: E2 A2 E3 A3 C♯4 E4. In this voicing the 4th, 3rd and 2nd strings each go up a whole step. Strum it open and you hear A major.

This is Open G's shape moved up two semitones, so the capo trick applies again: Open G with a capo at the 2nd fret gives the same pitches with no strings raised. There's also a second Open A voicing in use, E A C♯ E A E. If a song sheet just says "Open A", check which one it means.

DADGAD

Notes: D2 A2 D3 G3 A3 D4. DADGAD tuning lowers the 6th, 2nd and 1st strings a whole step, the same as Open D, but leaves the 3rd string on G instead of lowering it to F♯.

With a G where the F♯ would be, the open strings ring a Dsus4 chord (a D chord with its 3rd replaced by the 4th, G), which is neither major nor minor. It sounds suspended and unresolved, and you can push it toward major or minor by fretting a single note. That ambiguity is why DADGAD is a staple of Celtic and folk fingerstyle playing: drones and melodies sit comfortably over the open strings without forcing a chord quality on every bar.

Led Zeppelin used it too: "Black Mountain Side" and "Kashmir" are both in DADGAD.

Nashville tuning

Nashville tuning is a different kind of alternate tuning. The notes are the same as standard (E A D G B E), but the 6th, 5th, 4th and 3rd strings sound an octave higher than usual. The result is a bright, shimmering sound, a bit like the high half of a 12-string guitar, and it's mostly used to layer with a normally tuned guitar in recordings.

It needs special strings: a dedicated Nashville set, or the thinner octave strings from a 12-string set. Never try to get there by tuning normal strings up an octave. A normal string can't take that much tension and will break, and the pull on the neck is far beyond what it's built for.

Tuning up vs tuning down: string tension

The arrows in the chart predict how each tuning will feel and what it needs.

Tuning down lowers tension. The string gets slacker, which makes bends easier but can cause fret buzz, a looser feel, and a string that wanders flat while you play. Small drops like drop D or half step down usually work fine on a normal set. Bigger drops, such as drop C or Open C's 6th string, are where heavier gauges or a setup start to pay off.

Tuning up raises tension. Open E and Open A raise three strings each, and Open C raises the 2nd string a semitone. That adds pull on the strings and the neck, and makes the raised strings more likely to break. Occasional use is generally fine on a healthy guitar, but if you'd rather avoid it, the common advice is to use Open D or Open G with a capo at the 2nd fret instead. You get the same pitches with every string at or below standard tension.

How to tune to any alternate tuning

The Vocal Cut tuner opens in Guitar mode, which only knows the six standard strings. It snaps every reading to the nearest of E2, A2, D3, G3, B3 or E4, and its tap-to-hear reference notes are those same six. For any alternate tuning, use Chromatic mode, which snaps to the nearest semitone and shows the note you're actually playing.

1. Open the Guitar Tuner and select Chromatic from the instrument buttons (Chromatic, Guitar, Bass, Ukulele, Violin). Leave "A4 =" at 440 Hz unless you need to match another instrument; it accepts 415 to 466 Hz.
2. Start the tuner and allow the microphone. The sound is analysed in your browser, so your audio never leaves your device.
3. Work through the chart one string at a time. Pluck the string, read the note, and turn the peg until the display shows the target note from the table.
4. Tune up into each note. If you overshoot, go slightly below the target and tighten back up. A string tuned up to pitch tends to hold better than one let down to it.
5. Read sharps for flats. The tuner names black-key notes with sharps only, so E♭ shows as D♯, A♭ as G♯, D♭ as C♯, G♭ as F♯ and B♭ as A♯. This matters most for half step down.
6. Do a second pass. After changing several strings, the others will have moved slightly. Check all six again.
7. Check by ear. Strum all six open strings. In an open tuning you should hear a clean major chord; in DADGAD, a ringing suspended chord. If one string sounds sour, retune that one.

Watch the octave numbers on the display, not just the letter. Open C's 2nd string should read C4, and a 6th string at C2 is a long way below E2, so keep turning until the number matches too.

Which one to try first

If you want heavier riffs, start with drop D. It's one string, it's quick to get in and out of, and everything you already play on the top five strings still works.

For slide or big open strumming, try Open G or Open D. Both only lower strings, both have a huge catalogue of songs behind them, and a capo at the 2nd fret turns them into Open A and Open E when you need those keys.

For fingerstyle, try DADGAD. It's the least like standard of the three, so expect a week or two of feeling lost, but the open strings do a lot of the work once you stop reaching for old chord shapes.

For the basics of tuning with a microphone, see How to Tune a Guitar With an Online Tuner, and for where the six standard notes come from, Standard Guitar Tuning: The EADGBE Notes. The rest of the audio how-to guides cover the other tools.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need special strings for alternate tunings?

Not for most of them. Drop D, double drop D, half step down, Open G, Open D and DADGAD all work on a normal set of strings, because they only lower strings by a semitone or a whole step. Lower tunings such as drop C, or Open C's very slack 6th string, often feel better with a heavier gauge. Nashville tuning is the one that genuinely needs a special set, either a dedicated Nashville set or the octave strings from a 12-string set.

Is changing tunings bad for my guitar?

No, not in normal use. Lowering strings reduces tension, which is well within what a guitar is built for. Raising strings above standard, as in Open E and Open A, adds tension; occasional use is generally fine, but many players use Open D or Open G with a capo at the 2nd fret to get the same pitches without raising anything. Expect the strings to drift slightly after a big change and retune once more.

What is the most common alternate tuning?

Drop D is among the most common alternate guitar tunings, because it changes only the 6th string and keeps every other shape the same. Half step down is also very widely used, especially in rock and blues. Among open tunings, Open G and Open D are the most familiar, and DADGAD is the standard choice in Celtic and folk fingerstyle.

Can I use Guitar mode for open tunings?

No. The Vocal Cut tuner's Guitar mode snaps every reading to the nearest standard string (E2, A2, D3, G3, B3 or E4), so a correctly tuned Open G 6th string at D2 reads as a very flat E2 and the tuner tells you to tighten it. Switch to Chromatic mode, which shows the nearest semitone, and tune each string to the note in the chart. Chromatic mode spells flats as sharps, so E♭ appears as D♯.