Open G Tuner

How to Use This Open G Tuner

1. Press Start Recording on the tuner above and allow microphone access.
2. The Open G preset is already selected — no settings to change.
3. Tune string 6 down from E to D (73.42 Hz). Pluck and loosen the peg slowly while watching the needle.
4. Tune string 5 down from A to G (98.00 Hz) the same way.
5. Tune string 1 down from E to D (293.66 Hz) — a smaller adjustment, but just as important to the chord.
6. Strings 2, 3, and 4 are unchanged. Verify them, then strum all six open strings: you should hear a clean G major.

Because three strings drop in pitch, the neck loses a noticeable amount of tension, and the strings you already tuned will drift flat as it settles. Go through all six strings a second time — the second pass is what actually gets you in tune.

What is Open G Tuning?

Open G tuning is one of the most expressive alternate guitar tunings, with deep roots in blues, folk, country, and rock. The tuning is D G D G B D from lowest to highest, so strumming the open strings sounds a full G major chord. That single property is what makes Open G so powerful for slide guitar, fingerpicking, and ringing open voicings.

Compared to standard tuning, you are effectively lowering the two outer edges of the guitar into the chord: the low E and high E both become D, and the A becomes G. What remains — D, G, and B — was already a G major triad hiding inside standard tuning.

Why Learn Open G?

• Slide guitar: A bar or glass slide laid straight across all strings at any fret produces a major chord, making fluid slide playing far easier than in standard tuning.
• One-finger chord changes: Barring all six strings at the 5th fret gives C major, at the 7th fret D major. The entire I-IV-V of a blues is three bar positions.
• Resonant open voicings: Chords like G, Cadd9, and Dsus2 ring with a fullness that standard tuning can't reproduce, because more open strings are consonant with the chord.
• Melodic bass lines: The open G and D bass strings let you hold a drone or walk a bass line while fingerpicking the treble strings.

Famous Songs in Open G Tuning

• Brown Sugar — Rolling Stones: Keith Richards' iconic riff, played on a five-string guitar in Open G.
• Start Me Up — Rolling Stones: Another Richards Open G classic built on the same five-string approach.
• Little Lion Man — Mumford & Sons: Uses Open G for its bright, banjo-like guitar tone.
• Dust My Broom — Robert Johnson / Elmore James: A blues slide standard, and the template for a century of Open G slide playing.

Troubleshooting

The open strings sound like a chord but slightly sour. Open tunings expose intonation errors that standard tuning hides, because you hear all six strings sounding together as one chord. Tune each string to 0 cents rather than "close enough", and check your guitar's intonation if it still sounds off.

Strings buzz after retuning. Three strings at lower tension sit closer to the frets. A small truss-rod or action adjustment fixes it on a guitar that lives in Open G.

It keeps drifting flat. Normal for the first few minutes after a large retune. Strum hard, stretch each string gently, and run one more pass.

Want to explore further? Read our complete guide to alternate guitar tunings, or use the free chromatic guitar tuner for standard and every other preset.