KUDOS - Music Issue | Page 25

Top 7 Hard Rock And Heavy Metal Guitar Tunings

By Johnny Stall
There are many different guitar tunings that are used in Rock and Metal music besides standard tuning. Guitar players in these genres like to use these tunings because they give a heavier and darker sound to their music.
Some of the more popular tunings used are Dropped D, Dropped C, Dropped B, E Flat, D, C and open G. Here are the descriptions of how the strings should be tuned and some of the bands that use them.
Dropped D tuning: E----------1st string B----------2nd string G----------3rd string D----------4th string A----------5th string D----------6th string( thickest)
This tuning enables power chords to be played with a single finger on the lowest three strings and produces a dark sound with it. If you ' re music doesn ' t fit together with this dark sound, you can place a capo on the 2nd fret and can still easily play power chords. Some bands that use Dropped D tuning are:
Alice in Chains, Foo Fighters, Godsmack, Led Zepplin, Nirvana, Rage Against The Machine, Silverchair, Soundgarden and Velvet Revolver.
Dropped C tuning: D----------1st string A----------2nd string F----------3rd string C----------4th string G----------5th string C----------6th string( thickest)
Dropped C tuning is the Dropped D with each string lowered one whole step. Dropped C tuning produces a very low and heavy sound and is used by many of the new Heavy Metal bands. Some bands that use Dropped C tuning are:
30 Seconds to Mars, Atreyu, Buckethead, Bullet for My Valentine, Children of Bodom, Godsmack, Bad Religion, Metallica,
Mudvayne, P. O. D., Papa Roach, Rammstein, Shadows Fall, System
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