Drop D Tuning

So you've heard of Drop D guitar tuning, but what the hell is it? Drop D tuning is a type of guitar tuning used to produce a deepened bass sound on the low E string. This string is lowered down to the D note, while all of the others remain in standard tuning.

Bands such as Megadeth, Lamb of God, and Breaking Benjamin play many of their songs in Drop D tuning to produce the low powerful sounds that are needed to convey certain messages.

In order to tune your guitar into Drop D tuning, you must first tune your guitar to standard tuning. Once your guitar is successfully tuned in standard tuning, you have to tune your low E string down to a D. To do this, simply loosen the string using the corresponding tuning peg. Once the 7th fret of the low E string matches the open A string, then you are done.

What you've done is tuned your low E string down two notes which leaves you with the D as the lowest string. For this reason, it is called Drop D tuning. When you want to go back to standard tuning, all you have to do is tighten the low E string tuning peg until the 5th fret matches the open A string.

History of the Electric Guitar

I've decided to start off this electric guitar blog with a brief history of the electric guitar. I've always found it interesting to know the origin of the things I take for granted today. Since I love the electric guitar I figured why the hell not list the history on my electric guitar blog. Enjoy:

The concept of the electric solid body guitar developed from the popularity of Hawaiian music in the 1920s and 1930s. The electric Hawaiian guitars were the first instruments to produce sound electrically. And thus begun the history of the electric guitar.

The first electric guitar was created in the 1930s by a man named Adolph Rickenbacker. The first electric guitars had small soundholes in the body. This type of guitar is called a semi-hollow body electric guitar. This type of guitar is still popular today.

Further along in the history of the electric guitar comes the pickups. The first pickups used on the original electric guitars were called tungsten pickups. These electric guitar pickups made it possible to create guitars without the small soundholes. These were named solid body electric guitars or hard body electric guitars.

The electric guitar began to get more popular during the 30s and 40s. During this time of the history of the electric guitar, bands were starting to incorporate its sound in their music. They needed to have

louder guitars to be overheard by sections of their bands such as the brass sections. The acoustic guitars could not produce the necessary volume.

In the 1950s Gibson introduced Les Paul's unique guitar known as the Gibson Les Paul. This guitar is still around today and used by many excellent guitarists.

Then came Leo Fender. He designed the Fender Broadcaster which later became known as the Fender Stratocaster. This guitar is known as the Strat for short. The Fender Strat became an extremely popular guitar.

There you have it, a brief history of the electric guitar. Nothing intense, just a little something to help you appreciate the this great toy that we all take for granted! Keep checking back to my electric guitar blog for daily updates on the electric guitar.