Updated January 19, 2025

Introduction

I designed this page as a quick reference to popular guitar tunings and specially the ones used in the metal genre. I was often lost when I had to set-up my guitars or when I wanted to find alternate playing positions in the different tunings. So for beginners -myself included :)- I decided to create this small summary page dedicated to guitar tunings, and containing a few remarks regarding guitar set-up for down tunings and dropped tunings.

Notation

I am using on this page the octave numbers as defined by the Scientific Pitch Notation. Check the following link for more information : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_pitch_notation. The figures on this page are using the following color convention for octaves :

Color codes used on this page

Quick reference

Here is a quick reference list for the most popular tunings used in metal guitar :

  • Standard tuning (E) :  EADGBE (E2-A2-D3-G3-B3-E4)
  • Half-step down (E flat) : D#G#C#F#A#D# (D#2-G#2-C#3-F#3-A#3-D#4)
  • Drop D : DADGBE (D2-A2-D3-G3-B3-E4)
  • Drop C# : C#G#C#F#A#D# (C#2-G#2-C#3-F#3-A#3-D#4)
  • D tuning : DGCFAD (D2-G2-C3-F3-A3-D4)
  • Drop C : CGCFAD (C2-G2-C3-F3-A3-D4)
  • C# tuning : C#F#BEG#C# (C#2-F#2-B2-E3-G#3-C#3)
  • Drop B : BF#BEG#C# (B1-F#2-B2-E3-G#3-C#4)
  • C Tuning : CFA#D#GC (C2-F2-A#2-D#3-G3-C4)
  • B tuning (B standard) : BEADF#B (B1-E2-A2-D3-F#3-B3)
  • Drop A : AEADF#B (A1-E2-A2-D3-F#3-B3)
  • Standard tuning, 7 strings : BEADGBE (B1-E2-A2-D3-G3-B3-E4)
  • Standard tuning, 8 strings : GBEADGBE (G1-B1-E2-A2-D3-G3-B3-E4)

Standard guitar tuning layout

The standard tunings used for 6 string guitars use the following layout for note distances between strings, defined in semitones (sample for E standard) :

Semitones between strings (ie E4 to B3 = -5 semitones)

Standard tuning (E)

Standard tuning (E) :  EADGBE (E2-A2-D3-G3-B3-E4)

The following pictures represents the notes with the octaves on a 24 frets 6 strings in E standard.

E standard

Half-step down (E flat)

Half-step down (E flat) : D#G#C#F#A#D# (D#2-G#2-C#3-F#3-A#3-D#4)

Half-step down, from E : -1 semitone on each string.

Drop D

Drop D : DADGBE (D2-A2-D3-G3-B3-E4)

From E : 6th string -2 semitones

Drop C#

Drop C# : C#G#C#F#A#D# (C#2-G#2-C#3-F#3-A#3-D#4)

From E :

  • Strings 1-5 : -1 semitone
  • String 6 : -3 semitones

From E Flat :

  • String 6 : -2 semitones

D Tuning

D tuning : DGCFAD (D2-G2-C3-F3-A3-D4)

From E : all strings -2 semitones

Drop C

Drop C : CGCFAD (C2-G2-C3-F3-A3-D4)

From E :

  • Strings 1-5 : -2 semitones
  • String 6 : -4 semitones

From D :

  • String 6 : -2 semitone

C# Tuning

C# tuning : C#F#BEG#C# (C#2-F#2-B2-E3-G#3-C#3)

From D : -1 semitone

From E : -3 semitones

Drop B

Drop B : BF#BEG#C# (B1-F#2-B2-E3-G#3-C#4)

From C# : string 6 -2 semitones

From E :

  • Strings 1-5 : -3 semitones
  • String 6 : -5 semitones

C tuning (C standard)

C Tuning : CFA#D#GC (C2-F2-A#2-D#3-G3-C4)

From D : -2 semitones

From E : -4 semitones

B tuning

B tuning (B standard) : BEADF#B (B1-E2-A2-D3-F#3-B3)

From E : -5 semitones

From C : -1 semitone

Drop A

Drop A : AEADF#B (A1-E2-A2-D3-F#3-B3)

From B : 6th string -2 semitones

From E :

  • Strings 1-5 : -5 semitones
  • String 6 : -7 semitones

7 strings, standard

Standard tuning, 7 strings : BEADGBE (B1-E2-A2-D3-G3-B3-E4) :

8 strings, standard

Standard tuning, 8 strings : F#BEADGBE (F#1-B1-E2-A2-D3-G3-B3-E4)

Note : main tuning used by Meshuggah is half-step down (tuning above – 1/2 step), so F-A#-D#-G#-C#-F#-A#-D#

Change log

November 8, 2020 : creation

January 19, 2025 : updated, corrected 8 strings standard tuning, mistakenly using G-B-E-A to F#-B-E-A, typos corrections