Drop C Tuner

How to Use This Drop C Tuner

1. Press Start Recording on the tuner above and allow microphone access.
2. The Drop C preset is already selected.
3. Start with strings 5 through 1 and bring each down one whole step: A→G, D→C, G→F, B→A, E→D.
4. Finish with string 6, which drops twowhole steps from E to C (65.41 Hz). This is the largest single adjustment of any common tuning.
5. Run at least two more full passes. You have removed a large amount of tension from the neck, and it will keep moving for several minutes.

Tuning the low string last matters here. It is the string with the most travel, and if you drop it first, tuning the other five will pull it out again.

What is Drop C Tuning?

Drop C is C G C F A D, low to high. Despite the name, it is not simply standard tuning with the low string dropped to C — that would be C A D G B E, an unusable interval. Drop C is properly understood as full step down tuning with a Drop D move applied on top: every string down a whole step, then the 6th string down a whole step again.

The result keeps the defining Drop-tuning feature — the bottom three strings tuned in fourths and fifths so a power chord is a single finger bar — while putting the lowest note at C2, a full fourth below standard tuning's low E.

Why Metal and Hardcore Use Drop C

• One-finger power chords, very low down. Strings 6, 5, and 4 are a fifth and an octave above the root, so barring them at any fret gives a power chord. At this pitch, that is a heavy sound available at speed.
• Weight without a seven-string.Drop C's low C2 (65.41 Hz) sits close to the low B of a seven-string (61.74 Hz), so you get most of the range on a normal guitar.
• Slack strings chug. Lower tension gives palm-muted notes a percussive, slightly detuned attack that is central to the genre's rhythm sound.
• Everything from Drop D transfers. Same shapes, same riffs, two semitones down.

Bands That Use Drop C

• System of a Down: Chop Suey!, Toxicity, and much of their catalogue.
• Bullet for My Valentine: Drop C across most of their material.
• Killswitch Engage: A defining Drop C metalcore guitar sound.
• Bring Me the Horizon: Drop C on their earlier, heavier records.

Setting Up a Guitar for Drop C

This tuning genuinely needs a setup, not just a retune. Working in order:

1. Strings first. Fit a heavier set — .011–.054 is the common choice. Do this before anything else, since every other adjustment depends on the tension.
2. Truss rod. Less string pull means the neck may bow backwards, causing buzz. Check relief and loosen the rod a small amount if needed.
3. Action. Slacker strings vibrate in a wider arc, so they need more clearance than standard tuning. Raise the bridge slightly.
4. Intonation. Thicker strings and lower pitch both shift the intonation point. Reset it, or every chord above the 7th fret will sound wrong. Full guide here.

If you switch between standard and Drop C regularly, the honest answer is to keep a second guitar set up for it. A guitar optimised for one will always be a compromise in the other.

Troubleshooting

The low C is a floppy, buzzing mess. Your 6th string is too light. A .046 tuned to C2 has roughly half the tension it had at E2. You need at least a .054.

The tuner cannot read my low string.C2 at 65.41 Hz is near the low end of what a phone microphone captures cleanly. Pluck firmly over the neck pickup rather than near the bridge, mute the other strings, and let the note ring a full second.

Chords sound in tune open but wrong up the neck. That is an intonation problem, not a tuning problem. See the setup steps above.

Related: Drop D tuner (the same shapes, two semitones higher), full step down tuner, and half step down tuner.