Bass drop D tuning

Drop D: the strings and their notes

Drop D on a bass

What drop D is on a bass

On a four-string bass, drop D tunes the E string down a whole step: D A D G, with the low string at D1, 36.7 Hz. The other three stay. It gives a song in D its root two notes lower than the open E allowed, and it matches a guitar in drop D, so bass and guitar riffs line up string for string.

Many basses have a D-tuner, a lever on the E peg that drops the string to D and back in one flick; set its stop with this tuner once and it lands in tune every time.

How to tune to Drop D from standard

With the tuner above: tap Start, play each string the table changes and turn until the needle sits in the middle. By ear, without the tuner:

1. 4th string: E1 to D1. Its 7th fret should sound like the open 3rd string (A1).

Then check the whole tuning once more with the tuner: retuning one string moves the neck, and the others drift a few cents.

On the same strings, tension follows the square of the pitch: the 4th string keeps 79 % of its pull. Slacker strings buzz and read flat at the attack; for more than a whole step down, a heavier set (or at least a heavier low string) keeps the feel.

What one finger plays

The three low strings, D1 A1 D2, are a root, a fifth and an octave: one finger flat across them is a power chord. At the open strings it is D5, at the 2nd fret E5, 3rd F5, 5th G5, 7th A5.

Playing bass in drop D

• The fifth under one finger: the open D and the open A are a fifth apart, so a finger across the two low strings at any fret plays a root and its fifth.
• Lower still: drop C on a bass is C G C F, everything a whole step lower again.
• Or a 5-string: its low B goes three semitones below the drop D, with no retuning.

Standard, the 5-string and the other tunings: the bass tuner.

Then play something

The notes you tuned can go into Brumm as a short melody over a beat. Hum a line on top and it becomes an instrument.

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