Open D tuning

Open D: the strings and their notes

Open D from standard

What open D is

Open D tunes the six open strings to the notes of a D major chord: D A D F♯ A D, low to high. From standard, four strings go down: the 6th, 2nd and 1st a whole step each, the 3rd a semitone, from G to F♯. The 5th and 4th, A and D, don't move. Strum without fretting and you hear D major; lay one finger or a slide across any fret and you hear the major chord of that fret.

That makes it a slide tuning first, and a fingerstyle tuning second: the low D drones under a melody played on the top strings. It is close kin of open E, the same chord a whole step higher; many players who want open E's sound tune to open D and put a capo at the 2nd fret, because open D lowers strings and open E raises them.

How to tune to Open 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. 6th string: E2 to D2. Its 7th fret should sound like the open 5th string (A2).
2. 2nd string: B3 to A3. The 4th string at its 7th fret (A3) should sound like this string open.
3. 1st string: E4 to D4. The 2nd string at its 5th fret (D4) should sound like this string open.
4. 3rd string: G3 to F♯3. Its 3rd fret should sound like the open 2nd string (A3).

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 1st, 2nd and 6th strings keep 79 % of their pull; the 3rd string keeps 89 % 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

Strummed open, the strings ring D. A finger or a slide straight across the 5th fret gives G, across the 7th A, and the 12th is D an octave up: the three chords of a blues in one straight line.

Open D, open D minor and DADGAD

Three tunings share the outer strings D A D … A D and differ only in the 3rd and 2nd strings: open D has F♯ and A (major), open D minor has F and A (minor), DADGAD has G and A (neither). Moving the 3rd string a semitone takes you from open D to open D minor, which is why players switch between them inside a set.

• The F♯ is the touchy string: it is the major third, and a few cents flat sounds sour in a way the other strings don't. Tune it last and check it against the open D strings.
• Slide: the slide sits right over the fret wire, not between frets, and stays straight across all six strings.

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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