D tuning

Not to be confused with Drop D tuning.

D tuning.

D Tuning, also called One Step Lower, Whole Step Down, Full Step or D Standard, is an alternate tuning for guitar. Each string is lowered by a whole tone or two semitones resulting in D-G-C-F-A-D. It is used mostly by heavy metal bands to achieve a heavier, deeper sound and by blues guitarists, who use it to accommodate string bending.

Examples

Some bands who used this tuning on a six string guitar:

• A Perfect Murder
• Agalloch (beginning with Ashes Against the Grain)
• Airbourne (on "Diamond in the Rough")
• Al's Band (on "I Love Rocky Road", "I Lost on Jeopardy", "Girls Just Wanna Have Lunch", and live performances of "Yoda")
• Alestorm (during the early years as "Battleheart")
• All That Remains (on This Darkened Heart and The Fall of Ideals)
• Alter Bridge
• Amorphis (later albums)
• Anata
• Angra (most songs in the album Secret Garden and live performances since 2015)
• Annihilator (on all albums and most supporting tours starting from King of the Kill)
• Anthony Green (solo work)
• Anthrax
• Arjen Lucassen (2000-2002)
• Arsis
• Bad Religion (on "Infected")
• Baroness
• Bathory (on Hammerheart)
• Bayside
• Berri Txarrak (on their first album)
• Black Label Society (some songs, like "Overlord" and "Godspeed Hellbound")
• Black Tide (on Light from Above)
• Black Sabbath (on "After Forever" and the album Born Again; live performances of E tuned songs since 2012)
• Black Stone Cherry (on the songs "You", "Peace Is Free" and "Peace Pipe", as well as some live performances and most acoustic performances)
• Blaze Bayley
• Blink-182 (on "Adam's Song")
• Bob Dylan (on live performances of "All Along the Watchtower" based on Jimi Hendrix's cover)
• Brand New Sin
• Bullet for My Valentine (on some songs from the album Scream Aim Fire; most of their other songs use drop C tuning)
• Chelsea Wolfe
• Chevelle (on Point No. 1)
• Children of Bodom (on all demos and albums except Something Wild and I Worship Chaos)
• Circa Survive
• CKY
• Control Denied
• Converge (on Petitioning the Empty Sky, When Forever Comes Crashing; also the tracks "Reap What You Sow" and "Cutter" from Axe to Fall)
• Corrosion of Conformity
• Cradle of Filth
• Creedence Clearwater Revival (on many of John Fogerty's guitar parts including "Fortunate Son", "Proud Mary" and "Bad Moon Rising")
• Dale Watson
• Darkest Hour
• The Dead Weather
• Death
• Death from Above (exclusively uses this tuning)
• Deathspell Omega
• Decrepit Birth
• Decapitated
• Deeds of Flesh (except in the Portals to Canaan album, in which is used a seven-string guitar in A standard)
• Defeater
• Destruction (all albums since Inventor of Evil, and E-tuned and Eb-tuned songs in live performances since 2005)
• Dimmu Borgir (2005-present)
• Dio (used on live performances from 2005-2008)
• Disbelief (until 2005)
• Disillusion
• Dizzy Mizz Lizzy
• Doug Anthony All Stars (used when playing live, DAAS Icon was recorded with electric guitars in standard tuning)
• Dragonland (on the album Holy War)
• Dream Evil
• Dream Theater (used on some songs such as "Endless Sacrifice", "Forsaken", "Never Enough", and "Lost Not Forgotten")
• Drive-By Truckers
• Edguy (since 2007 on all albums and live and on "Superheroes" from the album Rocket Ride)
• Elliott Smith ("Biggest Lie" and "Christian Brothers", both from the album Elliott Smith and "All Cleaned Out" from the album New Moon)
• Exodus
• Evergrey (on some songs)
• Extreme (on live performances of some songs, e.g. "More Than Words")
• Falconer (on most albums)
• Fall Out Boy
• Firewind (Gus G. also uses this tuning with Ozzy Osbourne)
• Four Year Strong
• The Fratellis (on Ole Black 'n' Blue Eyes)
• Gamma Ray (since late 2007)
• The Gaslight Anthem
• The Gazette
• Ghost
• Gojira
• Gorgoroth
• Gorod
• Graveyard
• Green Day (on most of the Slappy EP and "Restless Heart Syndrome" of the album 21st Century Breakdown)
• Hamlet (all songs on Sanatorio de Muñecos and "Poseer bajo Sumisión" of the album Revolución 12.111)
• The Haunted (on some albums)
• HammerFall (since 2007)
• Helloween (since 2004)
• Heaven & Hell
• HIM ("Vampire Heart", "Killing Loneliness", "Soul on Fire")
• Hinder
• The Human Abstract
• I
• Immortal (on Sons of Northern Darkness and All Shall Fall albums, original songs in E tuning are played in this tuning after Sons of...)
• Immortal Bird
• In Flames (prior to The Jester Race)
• Insomnium
• Tony Iommi (used when playing live since 2007)
• Iron Butterfly (on "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida")
• James Bay
• Jimi Hendrix (on live performances of "Voodoo Child")
• Job for a Cowboy
• Joan Armatrading ("Down to Zero")[1]
• Judas Priest (live performances from 1996 to 2002)
• Kalmah (on albums Swampsong and The Black Waltz)
• Killing Joke
• Killswitch Engage
• Kiss (all live performances since 2012 and on "Yume no Ukiyo ni Saitemina")
• Kreator
• Life of Agony (main tuning)
• Manowar
• Mastodon
• Megadeth (on the albums Super Collider and Dystopia, on all songs live since late 2012, and "Prince of Darkness" from the album Risk)
• Melechesh
• Metallica (on "Sad But True", "Devil's Dance", "Sabbra Cadabra", "Whiskey in the Jar", "The Small Hours", "Crash Course in Brain Surgery", "The Thing That Should Not Be", "Dream No More" and in live performances of "Seek & Destroy" (2000-2015), "The God That Failed" (2010-2012) and "Jump in the Fire" since 2004)
• Michael Angelo Batio
• Monster Truck (most songs)
• Mötley Crüe (on "Girls, Girls, Girls, "Dr. Feelgood", "Kickstart My Heart", "Home Sweet Home" and "Shout at the Devil")
• Mumford & Sons ("Timshel" among others)
• Muse (on some songs, such as "Uprising" and "Assassin")
• Napalm Death (The Code Is Red...Long Live the Code and Smear Campaign)
• Necrophagist
• Neil Young
• Nevermore (on "What Tomorrow Knows" from their self-titled debut album)
• No Use for a Name (on the album The Feel Good Record of the Year)
• Nightwish (since the Century Child album, also all the songs from their first three albums are performed live in this tuning starting from 2007)
• Nirvana (on some songs from the album Nevermind, including "Lithium", "Come as You Are" and "Drain You", as well as "Swap Meet" from their debut album Bleach)
• Obituary
• Obscura
• Oceansize (used on all albums)
• Omnium Gatherum
• Orianthi
• Panic! at the Disco (on all of the Pretty. Odd. album, and "The Ballad of Mona Lisa" and "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" [acoustic versions])
• Pantera (numerous songs since Vulgar Display of Power, tuned D Standard -48 cents)
• Paradise Lost (from Shades of God onward, though they have since begun using A-tuned 7-string guitars)
• Paul Kantner (on some Jefferson Starship live shows, usually for "Sketches of China" and "The Mountain Song")
• Paul McCartney (on "Yesterday")
• Persefone
• Pestilence (Consuming Impulse)
• The Pillows (on "Instant Music")
• Pink Floyd ("Dogs" from the album Animals)
• Placebo
• P.O.D.
• Poison the Well (on The Opposite of December)
• Power Quest (since 2008)
• PVRIS (on "My House" (acoustic))
• Queen (on a live performance of "We Will Rock You" for the Great Performances episode "Grammy Salute to Music Legends 2018")
• Queens of the Stone Age (on "18 A.D.", "Feet Don't Fail Me", "The Way You Used to Do" and live performances of "The Sky Is Fallin'")
• Quo Vadis
• The Red Chord
• Robert Quine (with Lou Reed)
• The Rokes (on the original Italian-language recording of "Piangi con me")
• Royal Thunder (since Crooked Doors)
• Rush (most of Test for Echo; live versions of "Circumstances" during the Snakes & Arrows Tour, "2112" since 1996, and "Hemispheres: Prelude" during the R40 Tour)
• Sabaton (live performances)
• Saosin (most songs)
• Savatage
• Scorpions (live performances of the songs "Tease Me, Please Me", "Big City Nights", "No One Like You", "Coast to Coast", "Loving You Sunday Morning", "The Zoo", "Dynamite", "Blackout" and "Raised on Rock")
• Seether (on "Country Song")
• Sentenced (during their gothic metal era)
• Sepultura (numerous songs since the Chaos AD album ("Refuse/Resist", "Territory" and "Spectrum" for example), two songs on the album Bestial Devastation EP ("Bestial Devastation" and "Warriors of Death"); E tuned songs are played is this tuning during live performances since the Roots album)
• Severe Torture
• Shadows Fall
• Shining
• Sister Sin
• Slaughter (on debut album)
• Sodom (in some songs from 'Til Death Do Us Unite and since Code Red)
• Sonata Arctica (in some songs from their more recent material starting with The Days of Grays, while keeping the E-flat tuning in other songs)
• Sons of Butcher (most songs)
• Soziedad Alkoholika (most songs since the Ratas album are on this tuning, during live performances E tuned songs are in D standard)
• Stratovarius (on some songs from Eternal while keeping the E-flat tuning in other songs; also used in live perfomamces since 2010)
• Strung Out (on most songs)
• Suffocation
• Sunny Day Real Estate (exclusively on first two albums)
• Symphony X
• Tame Impala
• Testament (notably on First Strike Still Deadly)
• Theatre of Tragedy (on most albums)
• Theory of a Deadman (on some songs including "Bad Girlfriend")
• Therapy? (on their latest albums)
• Thrice (some songs on Vheissu, their primary tuning from The Alchemy Index onwards)
• Tiamat (on albums The Astral Sleep, Clouds, and Wildhoney; later albums use standard E tuning)
• Toxic Holocaust (Hell on Earth)
• Tremonti (on the songs "The Things I've Seen", "Once Dead", and "Betray Me")
• Twisted Sister (all shows in 2016)
• Robin Trower (on later albums)
• Underoath (on some songs from Ø (Disambiguation))
• Vader (1995-2002, then they switched to C# standard)
• The Velvet Underground
• Venom (on some albums)
• Visions of Atlantis (some songs starting from Delta while keeping the E♭ tuning in other songs)
• Volbeat
• Wolf Parade (on "Modern World")
• Wintersun (on their self-titled debut album and The Forest Seasons)
• Whispered
• Within Temptation (on their debut album Enter)