Open D

Open D string notes

Low to high: D, A, D, F#, A, D. Against standard tuning (E, A, D, G, B, E), only the 5th and 4th strings stay where they are.

The D sits on the 6th, 4th and 1st strings and the A on the 5th and 2nd; the F# on the 3rd string is the one note that makes the chord major. Neighbouring strings are a perfect fifth, a perfect fourth, a major third, a minor third and a perfect fourth apart, and strummed open they sound D major. Unlike open G, the lowest open note here is the root, so the chord sits in root position with D at the bottom.

How to retune from standard

Four strings move: the 6th, 2nd and 1st down a whole step each, and the 3rd down a half step, from G to F#. The 5th and 4th strings stay put, so they are your references.

Match the 6th to the open 4th string, which is the same note an octave higher, and the 1st to the open 4th string again, the same note an octave lower. The 2nd has its twin in the open 5th string, the same note an octave lower. The F# on the 3rd string has no twin, so find it at the 4th fret of the 4th string, which is the same note.

The tuning is one string away from DADGAD: lower that tuning’s 3rd string down a half step, G to F#, and you are in open D.

What Open D is good for

A rich choice for slide and fingerstyle blues, folk, and singer-songwriter work.

Barre all six strings at the 5th fret for G major and at the 7th for A major: with the open strings, that is the I, IV and V of D under a single finger or slide. The same shapes sound a whole step higher in Open E, and a capo on the 2nd fret of this tuning gets you there without raising a string.

Famous songs in Open D tuning

Blues players call this tuning Vestapol.

• Even Flow — Pearl Jam
• The Cave — Mumford & Sons (capo on the 2nd fret)
• Big Yellow Taxi — Joni Mitchell (capo on the 2nd fret)

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