What are the String Names on a Six-String Guitar?
Finding out the string names on a six-string guitar is important for when you come to tune the instrument. The strings on a guitar are technically named according to their tuning, although many players will generally refer to the strings by their names in standard tuning, regardless of what they are actually tuned to. Most guitars have six strings, but seven-string or twelve-string guitars are also available.
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Standard Tuning
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Standard tuning refers to the tuning used as default by most players. In standard tuning, the thickest string, which is the highest in terms of position on the guitar, is tuned to E. The next thickest string, located directly underneath the E string, is tuned to A. Underneath the A string, the slightly thinner string is tuned to D. The next thinnest string is tuned to G. The second thinnest string, located below the G string, is tuned to B. Finally, the thinnest string is tuned to E (sometimes written as "e" to differentiate it from the thicker and lower-pitched "E"). From top to bottom, the strings are called E, A, D, G, B and E. You can remember this by using a mnemonic such as "Eddie Ate Dynamite, Good Bye Eddie." If a guitar is tuned in "drop D," the lower E string is tuned down to D.
Full Step Down
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If a guitar is tuned a "full step down," that refers to a musical step, which is the equivalent of two frets on a guitar. This means that the all the strings are lower in pitch. From top to bottom, the strings are tuned to (and therefore named) D, G, C, F, A and D. Use this tuning if you want to play heavier or lower-pitched music. Generally, tunings like this require heavier gauge strings. In the same way as you can turn standard tuning into drop D, you can change full step down tuning to drop C by tuning the D string down an additional step to the pitch of C.
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Open D Tuning
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Tuning guitars into an "open" tuning means that when you play the strings with nothing fretted the sound is essentially the same as playing the specified chord. For example, playing all of the strings with nothing fretted in open D tuning will produce a D chord. Open D tuning means the strings are tuned, from top to bottom, to the notes of D, A, D, F#, A and D.
Open G Tuning
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Open G tuning means that the strings are tuned to D, G, D, G, B and D from top to bottom. In these open tunings, you can refer to the strings by their current notes, for example, the E string, in this case, would become the D string. However, if you refer to it as the E string (or the "low E"), any guitarist will understand what you mean.
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References
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