How to tune your guitar to a Drop-C tuning

By | April 6, 2021
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Start with the default setting

1.

Check that your guitar is set to the correct setting: EADGBE. Hold the low E-string down one full step to D. Check the pitch against the fourth string.

2.

Hold the sixth string by the fifth thread, note it and adjust the open fifth string until both strings leave the same note (G).

3.

Hold the fifth string by the fifth thread, note it, and adjust the open fourth string until both strings leave the same note (C).

4.

Return to the sixth string and set down one step to C. Check the pitch against the fourth string.

Hold the fourth string by the fifth wreath, note it and adjust the open third string until both strings sound the same note (F).

6.

Hold the third string at the fourth fret, let it note, and adjust the open second string until both strings let the same note (A).

Hold the second string at the fifth fret, let it note and adjust the open first string until both strings leave the same note (D). The guitar is now in Drop-C tuning (CGCFAD).

Tips and warnings

  • Drop-C tuning makes it easy to play large-scale chords, such as C, D and E, with just one finger. Moving the lower three strings over the same fret forms a chord. For example, a D-major chord is formed by blocking the lower three strings at the second fret. Hold this chord shape and move up to play D-sharp (third fret), E (fourth fret), F (fifth fret), F-sharp (sixth fret), G (seventh fret) and so on.
  • Because guitars and strings are designed to be played in the default setting, any downward adjustment results in reduced string tension. When strings are set one step or beyond, they can become floppy and difficult to hold in tune. For Drop-C tuning, it is best to choose thicker gauge strings to minimize such risks.

    • Guitarists who want to break out of a playing field or find a new sound can do so by changing the tuning. One of the most common alternative guitar tunings is Drop-D, where the low-E string is lowered a full step, resulting in a pattern of DADGBE. Drop-C tuning is similar to Drop-D, but with each string tuned an additional full step, where the strings from low to high are set CGCFAD.

    Source:danspela.com