การตั้งสายกีตาร์ทางเลือก: Drop D, Open G, DADGAD

Standard EADGBe tuning is universal for a reason: it makes most chord shapes manageable for human fingers. But once you're comfortable in standard, alternate tunings unlock entirely new sounds. Drop D, Open G, DADGAD, and others have inspired generations of songwriting that wouldn't exist in standard tuning.

Why Use Alternate Tunings?

Alternate tunings change the pitch of one or more strings, which changes which fingerings produce which chords. The same shape that produces a G major in standard tuning produces a different chord in Open G. New shapes become available; familiar shapes become impossible.

Songwriters use alternate tunings to find sounds they wouldn't naturally compose in standard. Joni Mitchell, Nick Drake, and Pierre Bensusan built entire careers around alternate tunings. Modern artists like Ed Sheeran, John Mayer, and Phoebe Bridgers also use them regularly.

Switch between tunings in seconds with our free tool:

Drop D Tuning (DADGBE)

Drop D only changes one string: the low E drops down to D. Easy switch, easy revert. The result: an instant 1-finger power chord on the bottom three strings, plus a deeper bass note.

Drop D is the gateway alternate tuning. Used in grunge (Nirvana "Heart-Shaped Box"), metal (Tool, Slipknot, Foo Fighters), and acoustic fingerstyle. Many guitarists keep one guitar permanently in Drop D.

Open G Tuning (DGDGBD)

Open G tunes the strings so that strumming with no fretting produces a G major chord. The Rolling Stones used Open G famously on songs like "Honky Tonk Women" and "Brown Sugar".

Open G is also the standard tuning for blues slide guitar: barre any fret with a metal or glass slide and you have a major chord at that fret. Iconic blues players from Robert Johnson to Derek Trucks used Open G.

DADGAD Tuning (Celtic and Folk)

DADGAD (pronounced "dad-gad") tunes the strings to D, A, D, G, A, D from low to high. The result is suspended: neither major nor minor. This ambiguity makes DADGAD perfect for Celtic, Irish, and Indian-influenced music where modal melodies sit naturally over drone strings.

Fingerstyle players love DADGAD because the open strings ring as drones while fretted melodies play on top. Davy Graham, Pierre Bensusan, and Andy McKee have built entire styles around it.

Open E and Open D Tunings

Open D (DADF#AD) tunes strings to a D major chord. Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi" and many of her other songs use Open D variants.

Open E (EBEG#BE) is identical to Open D shifted up one whole step. Slide blues players often prefer Open E because the strings are at higher tension, giving cleaner harmonics with a slide.

How to Quickly Switch Tunings

Use our online tuner with tuning presets: it shows the target pitch for each string in any tuning. No need to memorize what note goes where. Select the tuning from the dropdown, then tune each string to its target.

For frequent tuning changes, consider a guitar with locking tuners or a hipshot detuner (a device that lets you drop the low E to D with a flick). These speed up switching dramatically.

Capo with Alternate Tunings

A capo works with any tuning, raising every string by the same number of semitones. Open D + capo on the 2nd fret gives Open E (effectively) without re-tuning. Capos and alternate tunings combined unlock infinite sonic combinations.