Here's a guide to Open D tuning for acoustic guitar players.
If you're into blues and electric guitar music, you have likely already heard music in Open D tuning.
In fact, you may have heard open D tuning should be taught before standard tuning because chords are easier. Although that's true for playing some major chords, it's false for other chord shapes.
And Open D does present some challenges to acoustic guitar players, notably for fingerstyle guitar, if you want to modulate away from the home key. We'll explore some interesting ways to help you achieve that.
What Is Open D Tuning
Open D tuning is an alternate guitar tuning where the strings are tuned to D, A, D, F♯, A, and D, from the lowest (6th) to the highest (1st) string. This tuning is exactly one whole step above Open E tuning. When you strum the open strings without fretting any notes, the guitar produces a D major chord, hence the term "open" tuning.
Blues guitarists long ago discovered the magic of Open D tuning when using a slide, and songs in Open D are common in Delta Blues. But Open D tuning also allows you to perform unique techniques more easily in fingerstyle guitar, such as harmonics or wide skips in registers.
Open D tuning allow you to use guitar harmonics much more readily and much easier than with standard tuning. You can use percussive harmonics and produce a major chord simply by slapping the guitar at the 12th fret.
What Key Is Open D
Open D tuning is in the key of D major, as the open strings form a D major chord consisting of the root note D, the major third F sharp, and the perfect fifth A. Although Open D tuning allows you to easily form other major chords by barring all strings at different frets, you can also use partial barres or very simple fingerings to create other major and minor chords.
What Is The Difference Between Open D and Standard Tuning
Open D tuning differs significantly from standard tuning (E, A, D, G, B, E). In Open D, the strings are adjusted as follows:
- 1st string (high E): Lowered a full step to D.
- 2nd string (B): Lowered a full step to A.
- 3rd string (G): Lowered a half step to F#.
- 4th string (D): No change.
- 5th string (A): No change.
- 6th string (low E): Lowered a full step to D.
How To Tune A Guitar To Open D
You can tune a guitar to Open D quite easily by using a clip-on tuner or an online tool or app. It's a fairly common tuning and you should find it in the settings. Follow these steps to go from standard tuning (E, A, D, G, B, E) to Open D.
- Lower the 6th string (low E) a full step to D, matching the pitch of the 4th string open.
- Keep the 5th string (A) and 4th string (D) unchanged.
- Lower the 3rd string (G) a half step to F sharp.
- Lower the 2nd string (B) a full step to A, matching the 5th string open.
- Lower the 1st string (high E) a full step to D, matching the 4th string open.
After tuning, strum all six strings open to confirm a clear D major chord. If the sound is off, recheck each string, as alternate tunings affect string tension.
Chords in Open D Tuning
Beyond simply strumming all the open strings to produce a D major chord, Open D offers you several chord shapes that go from easy to those requiring a barre chord.
D7 Chord in Open D
You can play the D7 chord in open D simply by holding down the second string at the third fret, using the pattern 000030.
You can also play D7 a little higher up on the fretboard, taking advantage of some open strings to sound tones which are lower than the stopped notes.
D Minor Chord (Dm)
It's quite simple to play a D minor chord in Open D tuning, using a simple triangle shape at the third fret.
C Major Chord over G (C/G)
Since the G Major chord is performed in Open D simply by barring at the 5th fret, you can add a variation with the C chord simply by adding extra fingers as you hold the barre shape.
G Minor Chord (Gm)
Less common in blues but useful in fingerstyle, this minor chord is played by muting or avoiding the fifth string.
E Minor over B (Em/B)
This minor chord shape sound a little weak on its own, but you can also add the open 6th string to make a Em/D chord.
Songs in Open D Tuning
The first song I heard using Open D tuning was Blues Before Sunrise By Elmore James. Tommy Emmanuel has a fingerstyle guitar arrangement of the song Heartbreak Hotel by Elvis where he skillfully uses hybrid picking to play licks in Open D tuning.
