Lesson 13: Drop C tuning

Dropped C tuning is an alternative guitar tuning style in which the lowest (sixth) string is tuned down two tones ("dropped") to C and the rest of the strings are tuned down one tone, thus making the overall tuning CGCFAD from low to high. Tuning steps: Make the 5th string (A) sound like the 3rd fret on the 6th string. then tune the 4th string to match the 5th fret on the 5th string; the 3rd string to match the 5th fret on the 4th string; the 2nd string to match the 4th fret on the 3rd string; the 1st string to match the 5th fret on the 2nd string; the 7th fret on the 6th string to match the 5th string. The result is a Drop C tuning (CGCFAD). The difference of drop C from standard tuning is that drop C allows for the bottom three strings to form a C5 power chord (somewhat similar in use to an "open" tuning), which can be shifted up or down the fretboard with a single finger to produce any power chord quickly and easily. This is very convenient for both beginners who have trouble moving the power chord shape and for music that requires very fast root-fifth changes, even making full root-fifth hammer-ons relatively simple. Although Drop-D tunings have been well known in all types of music, due to an interest in achieving the sound of the booming low "D" on open D chords, "Drop C" tuning is more popularly used in the former fashion in metal and hard rock music to achieve a lower, heavier sound, while retaining the familiar fingerboard patterns for upper register soloing. The tuning style can be easily recognised by the fully voiced 'chugging' or 'machine gun' sound that results from a palm muted power chord being played between notes.

Drop C Tuning: C-G-C-F-A-D From Standard to Drop C Tuning

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