Drop B tuning

Drop B: the strings and their notes

Drop B from standard

What drop B is

Drop B is drop D moved down a major third: the top five strings sit two and a half semitones below standard, and the 6th string goes down five semitones, from E2 to B1 at 61.7 Hz. Low to high: B F♯ B E G♯ C♯. The low three strings are root, fifth and octave, so one finger plays a power chord, as in every drop tuning.

It is a metal tuning: nu metal and metalcore bands use it to get a seven-string's low B on a six-string. A normal set can't do it: the low string keeps only 56 % of its tension and flaps. Players use sets made for it, around 12 to 56 or heavier, or a baritone guitar, whose longer neck holds a low B at a normal tension.

How to tune to Drop B 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 B1 first, from the tone of the string chip above (tap it with the tuner stopped) or a piano.
2. 5th string: A2 to F♯2. The 6th string at its 7th fret (F♯2) should sound like this string open.
3. 4th string: D3 to B2. The 5th string at its 5th fret (B2) should sound like this string open.
4. 3rd string: G3 to E3. The 4th string at its 5th fret (E3) should sound like this string open.
5. 2nd string: B3 to G♯3. The 3rd string at its 4th fret (G♯3) should sound like this string open.
6. 1st string: E4 to C♯4. The 2nd string at its 5th fret (C♯4) 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 56 % of its pull; the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th strings keep 71 % 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, B1 F♯2 B2, are a root, a fifth and an octave: one finger flat across them is a power chord. At the open strings it is B5, at the 2nd fret C♯5, 3rd D5, 5th E5, 7th F♯5.

Before you tune a guitar to drop B

• Strings first: on 10s the low B buzzes against the frets and the tuner sees it wobble. With a heavy set the nut slots may need widening; the strings should sit in them without binding.
• The tuner on a low B: the reader hears down to about B1; on a phone it listens an octave up and folds the note back, so let the string ring for a second.
• A seven-string's low B is the same note: a 7-string guitar tuner tunes B E A D G B E.
• A whole step higher: drop C♯; lower still: drop A.

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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