Press Play for the low D, then each string below: D A D G B D, both E strings lowered.
Double Drop D Tuning: 73.42 Hz sawtooth tone
Start with your device volume low.
Sawtooth wave · both channels
73.42Hz
Period 13.6 ms
Wavelength 4.67 m (15.3 ft)
The note D2
Ready. It starts quiet and fades in over half a second.
A steady tone can harm ears and speakers before it sounds loud. Hear nothing? Do not turn it up to find the tone: small speakers cannot play very low tones, and many adults cannot hear very high ones.
Percent of this tool's loudest. Your device volume does the rest.
6th string D2, dropped from E73.42 Hz, two semitones under the low E of standard tuning (82.41 Hz). Its match with the 5th string's A moves up to fret 7.
5th string A2, not retuned110 Hz, where standard tuning has it. With the 6th and 4th strings it makes the open D power chord. Held at fret 5 it sounds the 4th string's D.
4th string D3, the D to tune from146.83 Hz, where standard tuning has it. Both dropped strings are set against this D: the 6th an octave under it, the 1st an octave over. Fret 5 sounds the 3rd string's G.
3rd string G3, not retuned196 Hz, where standard tuning has it: the root of the G major chord that the top four open strings sound. Held at fret 4 it sounds the 2nd string's B.
2nd string B3, not retuned246.94 Hz, where standard tuning has it. Held at fret 3 it sounds the 1st string's D; before the drop the match was at fret 5.
1st string D4, dropped from E293.66 Hz, two semitones under the high E of standard tuning (329.63 Hz). The top D of three, two octaves over the 6th string.
How it works
Double drop D tuning is D A D G B D, low to high (DADGBD). Both E strings of standard tuning come down a whole step to D; the four strings between them stay where they are.
Read the full guide
How to tune a guitar to double drop D
1. Start in standard tuning. The fifth, fourth, third and second strings stay.
2. Press Play: the sixth string's D sounds. Lower your low E to it, one octave under your open fourth string.
3. Press the first string's row and lower the high E to that D, one octave over the fourth string.
4. Check the two ends by fret. The sixth string at fret 7 sounds the open fifth, and the second string at fret 3 sounds the open first.
Every tone is a sawtooth wave, rich in overtones, so the low D is heard even where a speaker has little bass.
Questions and answers
What is double drop D tuning?
Standard guitar tuning with the sixth and the first string each lowered from E to D. The guitar then has three open D strings, each an octave from the next, with A, G and B between them.
How is double drop D different from drop D?
Drop D lowers only the sixth string: D A D G B E. Double drop D lowers the first string as well, so the highest open note is D, not E. The bottom three strings sound the same open power chord in both.
Is double drop D guitar tuning the same as open G?
Nearly. Open G is D G D G B D, so one string differs: take the fifth string from A down to G and double drop D becomes open G. The top four open strings, D G B D, already sound a G major chord.