Drop A tuning (6-string)

Drop A: the strings and their notes

Drop A, step by step

What drop A is

Drop A on a six-string is drop D moved down a fourth: A E A D F♯ B, low to high, with the 6th string at A1, 55 Hz, the same note as a bass guitar's open A. The low three strings are root, fifth and octave, the one-finger power chord of every drop tuning. On a seven-string guitar, drop A means something else: standard B E A D G B E with only the 7th string dropped a whole step, to A E A D G B E.

It is the tuning of the heaviest modern metal. On a normal 25.5 inch guitar with normal strings, the low string keeps only 32 % of its tension: it can't hold a pitch. Players use a baritone guitar (27 inches or more), or a set made for it with a low string around 70 to 80.

How to tune to Drop A 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. Tune the 6th string to A1 first, from the tone of the string chip above (tap it with the tuner stopped) or a piano.
2. 5th string: A2 to E2. The 6th string at its 7th fret (E2) should sound like this string open.
3. 4th string: D3 to A2. The 5th string at its 5th fret (A2) should sound like this string open.
4. 3rd string: G3 to D3. The 4th string at its 5th fret (D3) should sound like this string open.
5. 2nd string: B3 to F♯3. The 3rd string at its 4th fret (F♯3) should sound like this string open.
6. 1st string: E4 to B3. The 2nd string at its 5th fret (B3) should sound like this string open.

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 6th string keeps 45 % of its pull; the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th strings keep 56 % of their 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, A1 E2 A2, are a root, a fifth and an octave: one finger flat across them is a power chord. At the open strings it is A5, at the 2nd fret B5, 3rd C5, 5th D5, 7th E5.

Before you tune down to drop A

• The tuner and 55 Hz: the reader works down to the low A; on a phone, it listens an octave up and folds the note back. Pluck firmly and let it ring.
• On a seven-string, only the 7th string moves; the 7-string guitar tuner has drop A as a switch.
• On a baritone, drop A is one string from baritone standard in B; A standard is the baritone's other tuning.
• A step and a half higher: drop C.

All six strings in standard and the other tunings: the guitar tuner. Any note at all: the chromatic 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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