DACFBD Guitar Tuner

DACFBD Drop Most - Guitar tuning, chords & scales

Description - Drop Most

idk its for playing this one song, it makes it a bit easy to remember

The 'drop most' tuning, as its name suggests, involves dropping the pitch of most strings from standard EADGBe. This unique tuning creates a rich, complex open chord and facilitates specific melodic and harmonic patterns, making it particularly useful for songs that leverage its distinct voicings, and potentially making those specific songs easier to remember or play.

Verbal Analysis

This tuning has a dark, moody, and somewhat jazzy feel due to the presence of a minor seventh and an added major sixth in the open chord. It's an excellent choice for players looking to explore non-standard harmonies or achieve a specific, resonant sound for a particular piece. The dropped strings create a lower, heavier foundation while maintaining interesting upper extensions, allowing for a unique blend of depth and complexity. It might feel unfamiliar at first due to the varied intervals, but its consistency in dropping most strings by two semitones can make it surprisingly intuitive for specific chord shapes.

Technical Analysis

The open strings are tuned to D2 A2 C3 F3 B3 D4. Compared to standard tuning (EADGBe), most strings are lowered by a whole step (2 semitones), with the A and B strings remaining at their standard pitch. This creates a fascinating set of intervals:

String 6 (D2) to String 5 (A2): A Perfect 5th (P5)
String 5 (A2) to String 4 (C3): A Minor 3rd (m3)
String 4 (C3) to String 3 (F3): A Perfect 4th (P4)
String 3 (F3) to String 2 (B3): An Augmented 4th (A4) or Tritone
String 2 (B3) to String 1 (D4): A Minor 3rd (m3)

This unique arrangement results in a rich open chord. When strummed open, the notes D-A-C-F-B-D combine to form a D minor 7th chord with an added Major 6th (Dm7(add6)). The low D and A provide a powerful, resonant bass, while the C and F add the minor 7th and minor 3rd. The B introduces a complex, jazz-influenced flavor as a major 6th above the root D. Additionally, the top three strings (F-B-D) remarkably form an open B diminished triad, offering a dissonant yet intriguing melodic possibility.

The D-A perfect fifth on the lowest two strings makes it very easy to play power chords by simply barring a single fret, providing a strong foundation for rock or metal genres. While standard open chord shapes will largely need to be re-learned, the consistent drop on several strings can lead to new, accessible fingerings for complex voicings once accustomed to the intervals.

How to Tune

To achieve the 'drop most' tuning from standard EADGBe, follow these steps. Please note that all string movements are within safe limits (less than 4 semitones) for standard guitar strings, so a different string gauge is not advised.