Beginning guitarists often wonder: what tuning does this or that favorite rock band play in? How to tune a guitar so that you can comfortably play known and favorite songs? In this article I will briefly give examples of guitar tunings in rock music and their representatives (musicians, bands).
I will immediately give a list of the notations used:
- C - note C
- D - note D
- E - note E
- F - note Fa
- G - note Sol
- A - note A
- B (or H) - note B
- # - sharp - raising a note by a semitone. Half a tone on a guitar - one fret.
- b - flat - lowering the note by a semitone.
- Notes in tablatures are arranged in order from the 1st (thin) string to the 6th (thick) string. For example, E B G D A E.
1. Standard, E (standard, Spanish or classical tuning).
The simplest and most famous guitar tuning. Tablature of the system: E B G D A E - Mi Si Sol Re La Mi. This system is used mainly by rock music luminaries, old-school musicians and adherents of light genres.
Groups and musicians who play in standard tuning:
- AC/DC
- Led Zeppelin
- Metallica
- Gun's & Roses
- Nightwish
- Deep Purple
- Nirvana (semitone lower)
- Blink 182
- Sum 41
- Joe Satriani
- Carlos Santana
- Aria, Kipelov (half a tone lower)
- Nickelback
- Placebo
- Rage Against The Machine
- Queen
- Red Hot Chili Peppers
- Rise Against
- Scorpions
- Steve Vai
- Chuck Berry
- Bon Jovi
- 30 Seconds To Mars
2. Drop D (lowered D)
This tuning differs from the standard one in that the 6th string on the guitar is lowered one tone. In consonance with the 4th and 5th strings it gives an octave. Tablature: E B G D A D. Like any lowered tuning, it is convenient in that you can play “zeros” on it (the so-called open strings) and previously familiar chords can be pressed with just one finger, plus two more low chords are added that are not available when playing with standard tuning.
Bands that play Drop tuning D:
- Asking Alexandria
- Avenged Sevenfold
- Evanescence
- Linkin Park (later albums)
- Papa Roach
- Rage Against The Machine
- three days Grace
- Thousand Foot Krutch
- Queens of the Stone Age
- Deftones
- fall out Boy
- Shinedown
- Amatory
3. Drop C# (lowered C sharp)
This is a tuning in which all the strings are lowered by another semitone, unlike the D tuning. Tablature: D# A# F# C# G# C#.
Bands that play in the Drop C# tuning:
- Linkin Park
- Attack! Attack!
- Breaking Benjamin
- Papa Roach (some songs from recent years)
- Limp Bizkit
- H-Blockx
- Staind
- Deftones
4. Drop C (lowered C)
This lowered tuning is quite common in alternative and metalcore music. Tablature: D A F C G C.
Bands that play in the Drop C tuning:
- Bullet For My Valentine
- As I Lay Dying
- Atreyu
- Periphery
- three days Grace
- System of a Down
- Godsmack
- Nine Lashes
- Breaking Benjamin
- 12 Stones
- Disturbed
- Lumen
- Nickelback
- Skillet
- Rammstein
- Evans Blue
- August Burns Red
5. Drop B (lowered C)
The low B tuning is an alternative to the standard seven tuning. string guitar. It allows you to tune a six-string guitar as low as a seven-string guitar, plus it allows you to play chords more comfortably. Tablature: C# G# E B F# B. Seven-string guitar tablature: E B G D A E B.
Bands that play in the Drop B tuning:
- Parkway Drive
- Slipknot
- Thousand Foot Krutch
- Bleeding Through
- Linkin Park
- Amatory
- Limp Bizkit
- Skillet
- Veil of Maya
- Stigmata
6. Drop A# (lowered A sharp)
This tuning is also an alternative to the seven-string guitar, lowered a half step. Tablature: C G D# A# F A#. Seven-string guitar tablature: D# A# F# C# G# D# A#.
Bands that play in the Drop A# tuning:
- Bring Me The Horizon
- Parkway Drive
- Breaking Benjamin
- Obey The Brave
- The Ghost Inside
- Korn (7-strings)
7. Drop A (lowered A)
Extremely low build. Tablature: B F# D A E A. Seven-string guitar tablature: D A F C G D A.
Bands that play in Drop A tuning:
- My Autumn
- Betraying The Martyrs
- Emmure
- Born Of Osiris
- Within The Ruins
This is not a complete list of all guitar tunings. In addition to standard and lowered schemes, others are used: for example, when not only the 6th string is lowered, but also the 1st string. This technique is used in blues; it allows you to produce beautiful sounds by playing a slide on the first three strings. Also, in addition to seven-string guitars and baritones (guitars with an increased scale), there are now eight-string and even nine-string electric guitars. Accordingly, the tunings of these guitars are much lower.
Do you know what strings are needed for a certain tuning?
The list of musicians and groups is also far from complete. If you have suggestions for adding to the article or questions about what tuning a certain group plays in, write in the comments!
In this article on the site we will talk about alternative guitar tunings.
Unusual setting guitars are a type of tuning that differs from the classical and generally accepted fourth tuning.
It is important to understand that we are talking here about open strings, that is, notes will be extracted from open strings without pressing.
Classic setting six string guitar in notes it looks like this (from the first string to the sixth): E (mi), H (si), G (sol), D (re), A (la), E (mi).
This tuning is used by guitarists 95% of the time and is considered the default tuning.
For example, if you see a chord grid with the indicated finger placement, it means that this classical tuning is implied, and you only need to use it.
On the other hand, there are a lot musical groups, who take advantage of their individual customization of tools. Often, such an alternative tuning differs little from the generally accepted one, and the changes affect only individual strings.
For example, the sixth bass string in heavy musical styles often drops a tone lower - from MI - to RE, adding an additional seventh string SI (the thickest).
Similar techniques of alternative tuning are used on the bass guitar, especially the five-string, where instead of the classical MI there is a SI or even a SI-flat in the bass.
If you look at the tabs of the same Korn, Sepultura or Cannibal Corpse, you will definitely notice the use of alternative guitar tuning.
However non-standard setting The guitar is not limited to just one string. The same metal bands, in order to give the music more heaviness and darkness, rebuild the entire guitar.
For example, a classical guitar tuning often shifts entirely down a half step, moving from the general tuning of fourths MI to the general tuning of RE.
All this is implemented simply: all the strings of the guitar are lowered at the same interval lower, which achieves a special lowered sound.
On the other hand, alternative guitar tunings are often used in other styles.
In jazz, in blues, in grunge and even in rock.
For example, when playing with a slider (a special tip placed on the guitarist’s finger), it is very convenient to line up the guitar in fifths, so that when the fret is pressed, a whole chord can be heard without dissonant notes. Similar practices are found in other styles of music.
Unusual guitar tuning, alternative tuning
In order not to bore the reader with long stories, we will present several alternative tuning options for a six-string guitar. You can use these settings variations at your own discretion.
For example, to diversify your playing, to find new musical ideas, to change the monotonous classical sound of an instrument...
Alternate tuning of a guitar is usually implemented so that all of the open strings of the instrument produce a specific minor or major chord.
When playing in this tuning, you can simply press entire frets of the guitar and get new chords.
For example, by tuning a guitar in D major and plucking all the strings at the fifth fret, you will get a pure G major, and at the seventh fret you will get an A major.
Note: The examples below indicate an alternative order of notes from the SIXTH string to the FIRST string (the sixth is the far left and the first is the far right).
To execute correct setting you will have to either tighten or loosen individual strings, go beyond the generally accepted tuning.
1. Alternative guitar tuning in D major (D):
2. Unusual guitar tuning in G major (G):
3. Tuning a six-string guitar in the key of C major (C):
4. Alternative tuning E major (E):
5. Don't standard tuning G minor (Gm):
6. Alternative guitar tuning in D minor (Dm):
7. Unusual system six-string guitar in the key of A minor (Am):
And a few more completely unusual configuration options:
8. SOL fret tuning (G):
9. Alternative tuning in PE fret (D):
10. Guitar stand in A major (A major):
11. Tuning a guitar with sol bass:
12. Unusual tuning of an instrument with bass BEFORE:
13. Bass retuned to PE (D):
14. Guitar tuning with a lowered first string:
Note: "B" is the symbol for B-flat, and simply B is written as "H". Moreover, in the pictures for this article, “B” indicates the note SI.
This confusion is associated with the notation of the SI note in various options musical notation, but don't let that scare you. In the article, the pure note SI is designated exclusively as “H”.
As you can see, there are different approaches to rebuilding a six-string instrument. In some cases, all notes are changed, and in some situations, only some strings are twisted (not all).
For example, changes are often made to the bass strings, and you may see this option especially often. The most problematic type of guitar tuning is adding strings.
To implement such a tuning, you will either need to use a seven-string instrument, or shift all the strings, adding a thick B string in the bass.
In general, you could come up with such alternative tunings yourself, experimenting with different guitar tunings.
Don't think that everything possible options are limited only to the 14 examples described above. In fact, there are many, many more alternative configuration methods!
Each string on a guitar has its own name and letter designation. In this short note, let's figure out how all the strings of a guitar are designated.
As you know, there are six strings on a regular guitar. There are, of course, other types of guitars: the bass, for example, has only four strings; The Russian guitar has seven strings, there are twelve-string guitars, etc. We will look at the most common type of guitar - the six-string guitar.
Guitar strings are counted from the thinnest string to the thickest bass string. The thinnest is the first string. Accordingly, the thickest is the sixth string. When you hold the guitar in the position in which you play it, the first string of the guitar is lower, i.e. closer to the floor, and the very last, sixth string is higher. Bass strings differ from non-bass strings in that bass strings have a metal winding, so they are thicker in volume and produce a lower sound.
So, now about the names of the strings.
the first string is E,
second string – B,
third string – G,
fourth string – D,
fifth string – A,
the sixth string is E.
In some works, composers slightly modify the tuning of the guitar, for example, they rearrange the sixth string instead of the note E to the note D, or less often, instead of the fifth string A, they rearrange its sound into the note G. But these are exceptional cases that are quite rare.
In addition to the usual names, each string also has its own letter designation. These are the letters of the Latin alphabet that indicate the strings of a guitar.
As you noticed, the first and sixth strings have the same names. But this does not mean that these strings sound the same. The only thing they have in common is the name. In fact, the first E string belongs to the second octave, and the sixth E string belongs to the scarlet octave. Those. the distance between these strings is as much as two octaves!
Since not all letter designations of notes are indicated above, but only designations of guitar strings, I decided to simultaneously note the letter designations of all existing notes in music. As we know, there are only seven of them - do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si. For the convenience of letter designation, we will begin to list the notes not from C, but from the note A. It will be more convenient this way:
If you look closely, it becomes obvious that we are looking at the initial letters of the Latin alphabet. In my opinion, this method of recording makes memorization much easier. letter designations all existing notes.
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A natural question arises: "how to tune a 6 string guitar for a beginner?". If you have big plans and want to become a guitarist from God, at a minimum you need to be able to tuning your guitar correctly. But even if there are no such plans, you will still have to tune the guitar).
“I can’t tune my guitar” is a phrase you can often hear from a beginning guitarist, but first, let’s figure out how the strings should be tuned. The strings on a guitar are numbered from bottom to top, from the thinnest string to the thickest..
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With classic guitar tuning The 6th string is tuned to , the Latin designation "E" is often used. Usually the sixth string is tuned first, and the rest from there, but more on that later. This is how the strings should be tuned when classical system:
- e (the first, thinnest string is the note "E")
- B (second string, note "B")
- G (third string, G note)
- D (fourth string, note "D")
- A (fifth string, note "A")
- E (the sixth, thickest string is the note "E")
Now that we know how the strings should be tuned, let's try to tune them. By the way, you know ? To do this, we will use pegs or, as some beginners call them, “twisters”). can be turned in one or the other direction.
By turning the peg clockwise we tighten the string, giving it a higher sound, and accordingly turning it counterclockwise we loosen the string and it sounds lower.
When tuning a 6 string guitar, turn you need to be careful so as not to break the string, especially for beginner guitarists. With experience, you will feel the tension of the string much more accurately, but for now, be more careful and turn the “twists” carefully.
Tuning the 6th string
First of all, we tune the sixth string on the guitar. To do this, we need a so-called reference sound, specifically the note “E”. Where can I get it? You can listen to it on our website, take it on another tuned musical instrument, you can use a tuning fork, or go to YouTube and search for “E notes for guitar tuning” or something like that.
Some people have perfect pitch and can determine the pitch of a note without using the above methods. This quality of hearing can be developed, but as a rule it is innate. However, not all professionals have such skills, so the method proposed below is used by both experienced guitarists and beginners.
And so, we have found a “sample” note, let’s start tuning. Tuning a 6-string guitar, as well as playing any other musical instrument, requires at least some degree of hearing. The presence of hearing in a beginner is very easy to determine, if you are able to distinguish which of two notes sounds higher and which lower, then you definitely have hearing. This is what we need now.
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Play standard note "mi" and at the same time start plucking the sixth string of your guitar. Do you feel the difference? Does your guitar string sound lower than the reference note? So you need to tighten it up a little, twist smoothly and continue tuning the 6th string until our string and the reference note sound . Try tightening and loosening the string a little until you achieve the desired sound.
Tuning the rest of the strings
can be tuned in a similar way, using reference notes, but as a rule, “in everyday life” they are tuned relative to the 6th string. The procedure is as follows:
We will use the 6th string clamped on the 5th fret and the 5th string open (that is, not clamped on any fret). We alternately pluck the fifth and sixth strings and adjust the sound of the fifth string until we achieve unison.
The remaining strings are tuned according to a similar pattern, but with a slight correction (pay attention to the setting of the second string). I will describe the entire string tuning scheme:
- Sixth string - tune either by reference note or by ear.
In the previous article, the issue of lowered order guitars. In this article I would like to discuss it in more detail.
Let me remind you that the standard tuning of a six-string electric guitar is: E[E]-A[A]-De[D]-G[G]-B[H]-E[E], starting from the sixth string. Let's look at the prerequisites for switching to a different guitar tuning. Down tuning is used in extreme music to create a tighter, heavier and more powerful sound. You can also give an example of when musicians playing in rock bands decide to use a lower tuning to make it easier for the vocalist to sing. That is, they adapt to a certain person and a certain style of music. By the way, you can also raise the tuning of the guitar, adapting to the singer’s vocal abilities. Also, the use of a low guitar tuning is due to a different chord fingering. That is, the tuning of the guitar is selected for the convenience of playing chords.
When using low tuning electric guitars, naturally, the string tension will decrease and thin strings may simply hang. Therefore, you need to select thicker sets of strings.
I can say that there are quite a lot of options for tuning a guitar. We'll look at a few common ones. Using their examples, you can choose the optimal system for yourself or come up with your own.
- Lower by half a tone. In this case, the system becomes as follows: Re#-Sol#-Do#-Fa#-Aa#-Re#.
- Decrease one tone. Guitar tuning: D[D]-G[G]-Do[C]-F[F]-A[A]-D[D].
- A formation called "Drop D". In this case, only the sixth string is lowered by tone: Re[D]-A[A]-Re[D]-Sol[G]-Bi[H]-Mi[E]. In this case, there is a fifth between the sixth and fifth strings and you can play various riffs by pressing these two strings with one finger.
- Build called "Drop C". The sixth string is lowered by two tones. The remaining strings are one tone. Then the guitar tuning looks like this: Do[C]-G[G]-Do[C]-Fa[F]-A[A]-D[D]. The tuning is lower than described above, but similarly you can play chords on two low strings with one finger.
- And in conclusion, let's look at one more system. I remember him from the song Kashmir by Led Zeppelin. It looks like this: Re[D]-A[A]-Re[D]-Sol[G]-A[A]-Re[D].
Guitar tuning: Drop D
Guitar tuning: Drop C