How to Tune a Bass Guitar to Drop D
Have you ever wondered how some metal, rock and alternative bassists get that deep, heavy sound out of their instruments? Most likely, they've tuned their bass guitars to drop D tuning. It's not difficult to try this alternative tuning yourself, and it can open up a whole world of new sounds for your music.
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Instructions
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Make sure your bass is in tune, in standard tuning. If you are going to be playing with a band, it's best to tune to an electronic tuner, a pitch fork, or a piano so that everyone is tuned to the same pitch.
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If you are playing a standard, four-string bass, your strings are tuned E A D G, from lowest in pitch to highest. The lowest string, the E, is the one you are going to detune. To begin, sound the open E string along with the seventh fret of the A string. They should match in pitch, with a one-octave difference.
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Now, move your finger from the seventh fret down two frets to the fifth fret. This note is a D, and this is our target pitch for the E string. The low E string, when properly tuned, will match this pitch, although it will be one octave lower.
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Pluck both the E string and the A string, while still fingering the fifth fret. Reach over and begin to detune your lowest string, the E. Slowly tune it down until you hear it approach, and then match, that pitch you are fingering on the A string. Don't stop when they match, keep going until the E string is slightly flat.
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Now, tune the E string up a little bit, so that it matches the pitch from your A string. Going below the pitch and back up like this ensures that your string will be tight and "locked in" on the pitch.
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Play the open E and the open A strings together. They should make a pleasing power chord sound. These string are now tuned to an interval of a fifth, and you can fret them together anywhere on the neck to play a power chord.
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Tips & Warnings
If you would like to use an electronic tuner to check the pitch of your dropped D string, fret the harmonic on the 12th fret to sound a D at an octave the tuner is more likely to pick up.
This tuning works for guitars, too.
Make sure that, if you get off-track while tuning your bass, you don't tune the string back up too high. It may snap.
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Comments
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dorkrocker104
Feb 09, 2009
This is all wrong, sorry. All you fellow musician out there who play bass or guitar and want to drop to D need to do is: Hold down on the seventh fret of your top string or "E" and match it to the next string down from "E", "A" by turning your tuning pegs until the pitch matches. Just like when you tune your guitar without a tuner, but by holding down on the seventh fret for your "E" string and tuning it as you hold and then playing both E and A open or bridge on the frets down to see if all the chords match. The string your actually supposed to hold is E not A. He has all you tuning your A string to a out of tune pitch. -
dorkrocker104
Feb 09, 2009
This is all wrong, sorry. All you fellow musician out there who play bass or guitar and want to drop to D need to do is: Hold down on the seventh fret of your top string or "E" and match it to the next string down from "E", "A" by turning your tuning pegs until the pitch matches. Just like when you tune your guitar without a tuner, but by holding down on the seventh fret for your "E" string and tuning it as you hold and then playing both E and A open or bridge on the frets down to see if all the chords match. The string your actually supposed to hold is E not A. He has all you tuning your A string to a out of tune pitch.
