Advantages of drop tunings?

[Ninjahat]

Hey everyone! So I'm not a drop tuning player unless I'm covering a song, but I was thinking, why do YOU love drop tunings? For the jazzy basslines, for the large chords, for DOZE POWERCHORDS! So yeah, why do you love them!

 

[Brill]

I don't use them either, But I can see the use of just droping a riff down 2 strings and getting an Octave. And yeah, makes power chords easier as hell xD

 

[Zerox8610]

Yup. Power chords.

 

[Ninjahat]

I was playing "Japam" by Botch before (they play in drop D) and they do a really sick octave displacement riff as the "chorus", so yeah that's another cool thing!

 

[Winspear]

Powerchords, freeing up other fingers to add extensions in the high end for some nice voicings.

 

[highlordmugfug]

Powerchords, freeing up other fingers to add extensions in the high end for some nice voicings.

That's the reason I started using them back in the day. I usually play in standard tunings lately though for some reason.

 

[GSingleton]

I like the larger (range wise)/"Easier" chords options. Just sounds fuller, esp on 7 and 8 strings imo.

 

[Bigfan]

I usually drop my lowest string to allow for easier octave playing between my 1st and 3rd strings. Simple as that.

 

[broj15]

Easier octaves between the first and third string and the ability to make some cool bar chords on a 7 string.

 

[Jason_Clement]

On a 7 string it allows you to have a guitar in standard, with the drop D option. I play in half step down with the lowest string dropped to G#. This way I can play riffs and stuff from bands like protest the hero, practice normal scales and chords, and still have that "drop D" style (the simpler power chords, easier full chords, etc).

 

[Stealthdjentstic]

I like drop tunings for proggy-er stuff and standard for death metal.

 

[MF_Kitten]

To me it's just closer to the sounds i want. I want power chords on the lower strings? BAM it's already tuned to it! The octaves are really easy to do as well, the chords you can get on those three strings are awesome, and it generally seems to make more sense to me, musically. It's easier to write with, it seems.

 

[clark81]

Drop tunings add volume to power chords, as they sound more bassy and thick. This is for Drop D for example, sometimes if you go lower than that you lose clarity

 

[Lagtastic]

I stay in standard style tunings unless there is a specific song I want to play that is in a dropped tuning. Sometimes I just have to play some Andromeda riffs or a random favorite like All New Materials.

 

[Rustee]

On a 7 string it allows you to have a guitar in standard, with the drop D option. I play in half step down with the lowest string dropped to G#. This way I can play riffs and stuff from bands like protest the hero, practice normal scales and chords, and still have that "drop D" style (the simpler power chords, easier full chords, etc).

Exactly the same as me. Including the PTH riffage.

 

[Semichastny]

Powerchords, stacked 5ths, more interesting triads/chords, wider intervals, extra bottom range, suits my playing style, weird chords full guitar chords high up on the neck with open strings thrown in, and having an extra note for many of the scales I like are most of the benefits I get.

 

[jephjacques]

For me it's all the great jazzy chords you can't get with standard tuning. I'm kind of weird in that I actually learned to play guitar in drop-D (learning Hum songs) and didn't even touch standard tuning until much later (learning Opeth songs). While I'm equally comfortable with either, dropped tunings let me do things I simply couldn't do in standard, or couldn't do as easily.

 

[TankJon666]

I used dropped tunings almost all the time as I tend to incorporate open strings into my riffs and it allows for more economic playing and keep position changes to a minimum and you can keep a whole octave under one finger whilst freeing up the other 3 for adding extra interest to chords.

Oh yeah when I incorporating open strings into my riffs I don't mean constant chugging ...although I do that too

In drop A I will use the higher open A string as a pedal note for changing between riffs. An example of what I mean ...New Track 4.0 by TankJon on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

 

[Ricky Roro]

If you have a 22 fret 6-string, the last fret on the high E string (or whatever you have it tuned to) makes more sense with relation to your bottom string*. So if you're doing an alternating rhythm-lead type stuff, or simply playing all over the fretboard, it might feel a little bit more connected (it does to me anyhow).

And of course there's the simple fact that changing tuning in any way will affect how you approach the instrument. It may be subtle or drastic, but you will naturally go to different notes and chords simply by where your hands want to land.

I like it also because it lets me get some of the low chording that I like, but with a slightly higher range (and again, fluidity, since I have 22 frets).

*On a seven string I guess this would be the second highest string, but the fourth above it you get from the extra string would still fit in a similar fashion for most scales, or you could bend to the fifth without too much fuss.

 

[wrongnote85]

i've never been a drop d player, so when we play in that tuning with the cover band it kinda throws me off, especially for soloing. when i look at the fifth fret my brains says "that's an A", but in drop d it turns into a G. it forces me to approach the instrument differently, which is cool and challenging, but tuning that way is not something i do when writing.