| Featured Lesson: This months featured lesson is finding out how to get all you can out of drop-d tuning. I will be talking about the tuning itself, drop-d chords, progressions, and bands that use this tuning. To attain this tuning, be sure that all of your strings are in tune with each other. Now that you have done that, hit the D string. The D string is the fourth string from the bottom (the strings, in order from top to bottom, are E-A-D-G-B-E). With the D string ringing, hit the top string. Turn the tuning peg (the very first one) down (toward you if you strung it right) until the top string perfectly matches the D string. After you have done this, you should be able to hit all of the strings and produce a heavy sounding (with distortion, of course) D5 chord. Now, on to the shapes. The first chord, or shape, you will learn will be the very basic, 1 finger, power chord. To do this, you simply lay your index finger, or whatever finger you are the most comfortable with, across the top three strings. You need to be sure your finger covers all three strings firmly, which are now D-A-D. The reason for this is so the chord itself sounds good. It will sound ok with just the top two strings, but with the octave it sounds fatter, and better por supuesto. Now, that you have that shape down, you can move it anywhere on those top three strings you want to. If you still want that chord to sound fatter, follow this diagram (if you don't know how to read tab, visit one of my links to another guitar site and find out). ------- 4------ 3------ 1------ 1------ 1------ That chord sounds pretty fat, and like the other shape, it is very easy and can be moved around the fretboard. That is all the shapes I feel like talking about now, although there are many more, you just need to fuck around until you find something you like. Now for some basic progressions. If you do not have a basic understanding of the names of the notes on the necks, this part won't mean shit to you. The progression we will use is the one from Godsmack's "Keep Away." The main progression is this: D5-F5-G5-G#5You can figure out the rhythm on your own. If you are the heavy metal type you will find that that progression doesn't sound as heavy, or dark, as you would like it to. If you want to get super heavy on us, de-tune your axe one-and-a-half steps down (or as low as your guitar will go without the strings getting so floppy they sound like absolute shit). If you have done that (or if you haven't) you can try out the half-step progression approach. A half-step is simply this: A note increased by a sharp, or decreased by a flat. -------- -------- -------- 0---1--- 0---1--- 0---1---In this case, the note was increased by a sharp. If you go around using half-step increments you better use them sparingly or your song will start to sound like shit, but you can get pretty heavy combining half-steps with whole steps and beyond. On to bands that use this tuning. Many nu-metal bands use this, however, many extreme bands use it as well. Some nu-metal bands include: Godsmack, Linkin Park, Papa Roach, P.O.D, Staind, and Nickelback.That is not the complete list by far, rather a general idea of some bands that are pretty popular and happening now. I prefer heavier stuff, but I also enjoy these bands (some of them, but not all fucker). With everything I have just said, you should have a pretty good understanding of what Drop-D tuning is, how to get there, some basic (but stolen) progressions, and a few current bands that use these tunings. With that said, go get your guitar and start ripping. |