The 7 best hard rock and heavy metal guitar tunings
There are many different guitar tunings used in Rock and Metal music in addition to the standard tuning. Guitarists of these genres like to use these tunings because they give a heavier and darker sound to their music.
Some of the most popular tunings used are Dropped D, Dropped C, Dropped B, E Flat, D, C, and Open G. Here are the descriptions of how the strings should be tuned and some of the bands that use them.
Tuning D drop:
E ———- 1st string
B ———- 2nd string
G ———- 3rd string
D ———- fourth string
A ———- fifth string
D ———- 6th string (thickest)
This tuning allows you to play power chords with a single finger on the three lowest strings and produces a dark sound with it. If your music doesn’t fit this dark sound, you can put a capo on the second fret and you can still play power chords easily.
Some bands that use decay D tuning are:
Alice in Chains, Foo Fighters, Godsmack, Led Zepplin, Nirvana, Rage Against The Machine, Silverchair, Soundgarden, and Velvet Revolver.
Drop C tuning:
D ———- 1st string
A ———- 2nd string
F ———- 3rd string
C ———- fourth string
G ———- 5th string
C ———- 6th string (thickest)
The pitch for Dropped C is Dropped D with each string lowered one full step. The dropped C tuning produces a very low and heavy sound and is used by many of the newer Heavy Metal bands.
Some bands that use C Dropped tuning are:
30 Seconds to Mars, Atreyu, Buckethead, Bullet for My Valentine, Children of Bodom, Godsmack, Bad Religion, Metallica, Mudvayne, POD, Papa Roach, Rammstein, Shadows Fall, System of a Down, Three Days Grace, and Ozzy Osbourne.
Tuning B drop:
C # ———- First string
G # ———- 2nd string
E ———- 3rd string
B ———- 4th string
F # ——— 5th string
B ———- 6th string (thickest)
This tuning will require larger gauge strings to be effective. You may also need to widen the string grooves and adjust the tension on the neck of your guitar.
Some bands that use Dropped B tuning are:
Audioslave, Limp Bizkit, Machine Head, Mudvayne, Slipknot and Stone Sour.
Eb tuning:
Eb ——— 1st string
Bb ——— 2nd string
Gb ——— third string
Db ——— fourth string
Ab ——— 5th string
Eb ——— 6th string (thickest)
This tuning is a standard tuning lowered half a step. There are a few reasons why bands use this tuning instead of the standard tuning. One reason is to sound heavier using heavy gauge strings. By going down a half step, these heavy gauge strings are easier to bend. Another reason some bands use this tuning is to complement the lead singer’s voice.
The bands that use the Eb tuning are:
Alice in Chains, Anthrax, Dream Theater, Guns N ‘Roses, Jimi Hendrix, Kiss, Megadeth, Metallica, Motorhead, Nirvana, Poison, Slayer, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Stone Sour, Van Halen, Weezer and Yngwie Malmsteen.
Tuning D:
D ———- 1st string
A ———- 2nd string
F ———- 3rd string
C ———- fourth string
G ———- 5th string
D ———- 6th string (thickest)
Tuning in D is also known as full step tuning, and as you may have already guessed, it is the standard tuning tuned one step down. The D tuning has been used primarily in Heavy Metal music.
The bands that have used the D tuning are:
Alice in Chains, The Beatles, Bullet For My Valentine, Bob Dylan, Children of Bodom, Dream Theater, Guns N ‘Roses, Motley Crue, Nirvana, Pink Floyd, Racer X and Soundgarden.
C tuning:
C ———- 1st string
G ———- 2nd string
Eb ——— 3rd string
Bb ——— Fourth string
F ———- 5th string
C ———- 6th string (thickest)
The C tuning also produces a low sound that is used primarily in Hard Rock and Metal bands. The tuning is 2 full steps below the standard tuning, which gives it a heavy sound but still maintains the same ranges as the standard tuning.
The bands that have used the C tuning are:
Atreyu, Black Sabbath, Bullet For My Valentine, Deftones, Dream Theater, Jimi Hendrix, POD, Queens of the Stone Age, Slipknot, Steve Vai and The Who.
G tuning:
D ———- 1st string
B ———- 2nd string
G ———- 3rd string
D ———- fourth string
G ———- 5th string
D ———- 6th string (thickest)
Aside from the Drop D tuning, the G tuning is one of the most popular alternative guitar tunings.
Some bands that have used G tuning are:
The Rolling Stones, The Black Crowes, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Pink Floyd and Pearl Jam.
These are just a few of the alternative guitar tunings that are available to experiment with. Play around with them and see which tunings fit your style of music.