• Registered: 2007-07-20
  • Posts: 26

Topic: Tuning - Drop D New question

Ok, so I tried this. Tuned all the strings down half a step, then the low E to D. Didn't sound good at first, too clunky, but after a while, as I experimented, it started to sound awesome, and soon I was playing some pretty fast rock stuff, distortion on.

1. I played most of the power chords using just one finger, across the 5th and 6th strings. Before, for example with a G5 chord, I had index finger on fret 3 6th string, middle finger on fret 5 5th string. Is it okay to play power chords with one finger across both strings? Probably a dumb question as it sounded great, but I'd like clarification.

2. After rocking out, I went on to practice chord changing etc., so I took off the distortion and chords like G, E and Em sounded crap. I tuned the low E back to E (tuned half a step down still), and the chords sounded great (not brilliant, but great ;oP) So is it best to just play power chords/distortion when tuned to DropD?

Again, thanks in advance for any advice.

Dylan.

  • Registered: 2007-05-27
  • Posts: 39

Re: Tuning - Drop D New question

yes, youre supposed to put one finger over the 2 or three strings for powerchords in drop d.

  • Registered: 2007-05-27
  • Posts: 39

Re: Tuning - Drop D New question

Oh and if youre a fan of metal, avenged sevenfold uses drop d a lot. Check out the songs "beast and the harlot" and "bat country." Im not a huge fan of them, but they sound really cool and will help improve your drop d abilities.

  • Registered: 2007-07-20
  • Posts: 26

Re: Tuning - Drop D New question

Cheers guys, thanks for the advice. Avenged Sevenfold have a pretty cool song on Madden NFL 2006. Great sounding riff to Eternal Rest too. Thanks again.

Dylan.

  • From: PA, USA
  • Registered: 2007-08-06
  • Posts: 42

Re: Tuning - Drop D New question

I was under the impression that the only string that changed in Drop D was the low E to D.
As for distortion...it can make crappy chords sound like awesome stuff, and make an amateur guitarist sound pretty darn good. It simply hides the fine tuning and playing.

HAVE YOU
     HUGGED YOUR GUITAR
                                 TODAY??

kath628's Website

  • Registered: 2006-09-03
  • Posts: 35

Re: Tuning - Drop D New question

Theres some other nice barre chords that are reachable in drop d, just for a bit of interest:

E|--
B|--
G|--  Think its a Gsus2, but you can shift it up and down the fretboard to whatever root you want
D|-7  You could play this without drop d but its a bit of a stretch if you've not been playing long.
A|-5 
D|-5 

A Thing to remember is that all your normal chords can't be played in drop d, but you can alter them a bit sometimes to bring them up to the right note.

For instance

This is the same as This
E|0                             E|0
B|0                             B|0
G|0                             G|0
D|2                             D|2
A|2                             A|2
E|0                             D|2

You can play a G like this:

E|3
B|3
G|0
D|0
A|2
D|0

If you're feeling adventurous, I play this chord in my band. Its a bit awkward but it should give a really thick power chord. Its a C5 (C Power Chord) because the root is the 3rd fret of the A string.

E|-
B|-
G|5
D|5
A|3
D|5

I'll stop there, i'm probably just confusing ppl.