Guitar Tunings Chart

Reading the Chart

Each row is one tuning, with the strings in the order they sit on the guitar: string 6, the thickest, on the left, and string 1 on the right. Every cell gives the note, its octave, and its frequency in hertz. Under each tuning's name is the move from standard for every string, in semitones, which is the quickest way to see how much work a retune is. Drop D changes one string; open C changes four, raising one of them and taking the low string down four semitones.

The tension column answers the question that matters once you have retuned: how will it feel? Lowering a string a semitone takes about 11% of its tension away. A whole step takes 21%. That is why Drop D feels almost the same as standard, while Drop B on the same strings feels like rubber bands.

The Main Families

Lowered standard

Half step down and full step down keep the shape of standard tuning and move everything lower. You play exactly the same chords and they come out lower, which suits singers and gives the looser, heavier feel heard on a lot of blues-rock and grunge. Go further and you reach C standard and B standard, where the same shapes need much heavier strings.

Drop tunings

A drop tuning lowers the 6th string a whole step below the matching lowered standard, so the three lowest strings become a root, fifth and octave. Drop D, Drop C♯, Drop C and Drop B all have that identical shape at different depths, so a riff learned in one plays in all of them.

Open tunings

Open G, open D, open E, open A and open Care tuned so the open strings sound a major chord. Barring a single fret then plays a major chord in another key, which is what makes them the slide guitarist's tunings. Open E and open A get there by raising strings, adding tension; the others mostly lower them.

Modal tunings

DADGAD is the best-known: its open strings make a suspended chord with no third, so they ring under melodies in both major and minor keys. It is the standard tuning of Celtic guitar and widely used in acoustic fingerstyle.

High-strung tuning

Nashville tuning keeps the note names of standard but puts the four lowest strings up an octave, using the thin octave strings from a 12-string set. It is a recording trick: doubled with a normal guitar, it gives a 12-string shimmer that is easier to play.

Which Tuning Did That Band Use?

If you are trying to play along with a record and nothing lines up, the song is probably in one of these tunings. The guitar tunings by band guide lists the tunings well-known artists are documented as using, each linked to a tuner already set to it.

Retuning Without Breaking Strings

Tune down to a note where you can, then up to it, so the string settles against tension rather than slipping. When a tuning lowers several strings a long way, do the biggest move last and go round all six strings two or three times: taking tension off the neck lets it straighten slightly, and the strings you tuned first will drift flat. Tunings that raise strings — open E and open A — are the ones that break them. Raise them slowly, and if you use either often, consider a lighter set.

For the tunings that take a lot of tension away, the string tension calculator will tell you which gauges bring the feel back to normal, and the chord finder names any shape you find in an unfamiliar tuning.