D tuning

Not to be confused with Drop D tuning.

D tuning.

D Tuning, also called One Step Lower, Whole Step Down, Full Step or D Standard, is an alternate tuning for guitar. Each string is lowered by a whole tone or two semitones resulting in D-G-C-F-A-D. It is used mostly by heavy metal bands to achieve a heavier, deeper sound and by blues guitarists, who use it to accommodate string bending.

Here are some bands who used this tuning on a six string guitar:

• A Perfect Murder
• Agalloch (on some songs)
• Airbourne (on "Diamond In The Rough")
• Alestorm (during the early years as "Battleheart")
• All That Remains
• Alter Bridge
• Amorphis (later albums)
• Anata
• Angra (most songs in the album Secret Garden and live performances since 2015)
• Anthony Green (solo work)
• Anthrax
• Arjen Lucassen (2000-2002)
• Arsis
• Atheist (band)
• Bad Religion (on "Infected")
• Baroness (band)
• Bathory (on "Hammerheart")
• Bayside
• Be'lakor
• The Beatles (on "Yesterday")
• Berri Txarrak (on their first album)
• Black Label Society (some songs, like "Overlord" and "Godspeed Hellbound")
• Black Tide (on Light from Above)
• Black Sabbath (live performances since 2012 and on "After Forever")
• Black Stone Cherry (on the songs "You" and "Peace is Free", as well as most acoustic performances)
• Blaze Bayley
• Blink-182 (on "Adam's Song")
• Brand New Sin
• Bullet For My Valentine (on some songs from the album Scream Aim Fire, including its title track.)
• Chelsea Wolfe
• Chevelle (on Point No. 1)
• Children of Bodom (except in "Something Wild" and "I Worship Chaos")
• CKY
• Control Denied
• Corrosion Of Conformity
• Cradle Of Filth
• Creedence Clearwater Revival (on Fortunate Son and Bad Moon Rising)
• Dale Watson (singer)
• Darkest Hour
• The Dead Weather
• Death
• Deathspell Omega
• Decrepit Birth
• Decapitated
• Deeds Of Flesh (except in "Portals to Canaan" album which is used seven-string guitar in A standard)
• Defeater
• Destruction (All albums since Inventor of Evil, and E-tuned and Eb-tuned songs in live performances since 2005)
• Dimmu Borgir (albums In Sorte Diaboli and Abrahadabra)
• Disbelief (until 2005)
• Disillusion
• Dizzy Mizz Lizzy
• Doug Anthony All Stars (used when playing live, DAAS Icon was recorded with electric guitars in standard tuning)
• Dragonland (on the album, "Holy War")
• Dream Evil
• Dream Theater (used on some songs such as "Endless Sacrifice", "Forsaken", "Never Enough", and "A Rite of Passage")
• Drive-By Truckers
• Edguy (since 2007 on all albums and live and on "Superheroes" from the album Rocket Ride)
• Elliott Smith "Biggest Lie" and "Christian Brothers" (both from the album Elliott Smith), "All Cleaned Out" (from the album New Moon)
• Exodus
• Evergrey (on some songs)
• Fall Out Boy
• Firewind (Gus G. also uses this tuning with Ozzy Osbourne)
• Four Year Strong
• The Fratellis (on Ole Black 'n' Blue Eyes)
• Gamma Ray (since late 2007)
• The Gaslight Anthem
• the Gazette
• Ghost
• Gojira
• Gorgoroth
• Gorod
• Green Day (on the songs "Paper Lanterns" and "Restless Heart Syndrome")
• Hamlet (all songs on Sanatorio de Muñecos and "Poseer bajo Sumisión" of the album Revolución 12.111)
• HammerFall (since 2007)
• Helloween (since 2004)
• Heaven and Hell
• HIM (Finnish band) Vampire Heart, Killing Loneliness, Soul On Fire. Pretty Much most of their songs can be in this tuning.
• Hinder
• The Human Abstract
• I
• Immortal (On "Sons of Northern Darkness" and "All Shall Fall" albums, original songs in E tuning are played in this tuning after "Sons of...")
• Insomnium
• James Bay
• Led Zeppelin (at the 2007 reunion gig)
• Tony Iommi (used when playing live)
• Job for a Cowboy
• Judas Priest (live performances during the Tim "Ripper" Owens era)
• Kalmah
• Killing Joke
• Killswitch Engage
• Kiss (all live performances since 2012 and on Yume no Ukiyo ni Saitemina
• Kreator
• Manowar
• Mastodon
• Megadeth (on the album Dystopia, on all songs live since late 2012, Prince of Darkness & the entire Super Collider album)
• Melechesh
• Metallica (on "The Thing That Should Not Be", "Sad But True", "Devil's Dance", "Sabbra Cadabra", "Whiskey in the Jar", "The Small Hours", "Crash Course in Brain Surgery" and in live performances of "Seek & Destroy" (2000-2015), "The God That Failed" (2010-2012) and "Jump in the Fire" since 2004.)
• Monster Truck (band) (Most Songs)
• Mötley Crüe (most songs)
• Mobile Deathcamp
• Mumford and Sons (Timshel among others)
• Napalm Death "(The Code is Red and Smear Campaign)"
• Necrophagist
• Neil Young
• No Use For A Name(on the album, "The Feel Good Record of the Year")
• Nightwish (since the Century Child album)
• Nirvana (on the songs "Lithium", "Come as You Are" and "Drain You" from the album Nevermind)
• Obituary (band)
• Obscura
• Oceansize (used on all albums)
• Omnium Gatherum
• Orianthi
• Panic! at the Disco (on "The Ballad of Mona Lisa" and "I Write Sins not Tragedies[acoustic versions])
• Pantera (Numerous songs since "Vulgar Display Of Power", tuned D Standard -48 cents)
• Paradise Lost (band)
• Paul Kantner (on some Jefferson Starship live shows, usually for "Sketches Of China" and "The Mountain Song")
• Paul McCartney (on "Yesterday")
• Pestilence "(Consuming Impulse)"
• The Pillows (on "Instant Music")
• Pink Floyd ("Dogs" from the album Animals)
• Placebo
• P.O.D.
• Poison the Well (on The Opposite of December)
• Power Quest (on the albums "Master of Illusion" and "Blood Alliance", and live since 2008)
• Psycroptic
• Pvris (on "My House acoustic")
• Queen (on "Fat Bottomed Girls" from Jazz)
• Queens of the Stone Age (on "18 A.D.")
• Quo Vadis (band)
• The Red Chord
• Rush Most of Test For Echo, live versions of "2112," "Hemisphere: Prelude" (R40 Tour) and "Circumstances" from Hemispheres
• Sabaton (in live performances, and their re-recording of "7734" as a bonus track for the album, Heroes)
• Saosin (most songs)
• Savatage
• Scorpions (live performances of the songs Bad Boys Running Wild, Tease Me Please Me, Big City Nights, No One Like You, Coast to Coast, Loving You Sunday Morning, The Zoo, Dynamite, Blackout and Raised on Rock)
• Seether (on "Country Song")
• Sentenced (during their gothic metal era)
• Sepultura (A lot of songs since "Chaos AD" album ("Refuse/Resist", "Territory" and "Spectrum" for example). Since their "Roots" album, E tuned songs are played is this tuning during live performances.
• Severe Torture
• Shadows Fall
• Shining (Sweden)
• Sister Sin
• Slaughter (on debut album)
• Sodom (in some songs from "'Til Death Do Us Unite" and since "Code Red")
• Son of Aurelius
• Sons of Butcher (band) (Yes The T.V. Show band as well Most songs are in this tuning)
• Soziedad Alkoholika (most songs since "Ratas" album are on this tuning, during live performances E tuned songs are in D standard)
• Strung Out (On most songs)
• Suffocation (band)
• Sunny Day Real Estate (exclusively on first two albums)
• Symphony X (on most songs)
• Tame Impala
• Testament (notably on First Strike Still Deadly)
• Theory of a Deadman - (on some songs including "Bad Girlfriend")
• Therapy? (on their latest albums)
• Thrice (some songs on Vheissu, their primary tuning from The Alchemy Index onwards)
• Toxic Holocaust "Hell on Earth"
• Robin Trower (on later albums)
• Underoath (on some songs from Ø (Disambiguation))
• Vader
• The Velvet Underground
• Venom (on some albums and live performances)
• Volbeat
• Wolf Parade (on "Modern World")
• Wintersun (on their self-titled debut album)
• Within Temptation (on their debut album "Enter")