00:27Hi everyone, my name's Jamie Humphreys
00:29and in this lesson we're going to be talking about drop D tuning. Now drop D tuning is one of
00:35the
00:35most popular altered tunings and it is also probably one of the easiest ones for you to
00:40achieve and for you to use. Basically the concept is that we take our sixth string, our E string
00:49and we lower that in pitch by a whole tone.
00:59Now by lowering our sixth string down by a whole tone, it enables us to achieve a power chord,
01:05a D5 power chord on the open bottom three strings.
01:12Now although this tuning is used in a wide variety of different musical genres,
01:17due to the nature of the sound, that kind of thick and heavier tone that you can achieve
01:22with drop D tuning, it's very popular with rock, metal and alternative guitar players.
01:27So in this lesson we're going to be really looking at drop D tuning from a rock perspective.
01:33Okay, so let's take a look at example number one. Now example number one is making use of that
01:39D5 power chord that we now achieve on the bottom three strings. What you're going to be doing
01:44is just playing a four bar riff where we are mixing up different rhythmic combinations,
01:51just to get you used to playing on the bottom three strings, as well as introduce you to the
01:56sound of drop D. Try to take care with your picking hand, make sure that you keep the movement
02:01smaller so that you are not striking any unwanted strings. And also you can try experimenting with
02:08mild amounts of palm muting and removing the palm muting as well. Experiment with accents,
02:13that's going to make your playing a little bit more dynamic. But you can also hold an open position
02:20D5 chord as well so that if you do strike those unwanted strings then it's not going to sound
02:27horrendous with the strings sort of clashing with the sound of the D5 achieved on the bottom three
02:33strings. So I'm going to play through the example for you first of all with the backing track and then
02:37I'm going to play it at a slightly slower tempo with the click.
03:25Did you just think you can do it very much, so that it must be called for you first of
03:25all it is.
03:26Let's see if this is the perfect set of thundering.
03:26Let's hear it.
03:26Let's see if you don't have a little bit more and feel as important.
03:26Let's get started.
03:27Let us see if you want to get started.
03:27Let's see if you want to get started.
03:28Let's see if you don't have a small bit more.
03:30Let's see if you want a big deal.
03:30Let's see.
03:36Let's see if you want to go through this process here.
03:40Now let's take a look at example number two. For example number two we're going to experiment
03:44playing power chords on the bottom three strings with one finger. Because we can play that open
03:50D5 power chord on the open bottom strings, we can now play power chords with one finger and move
03:57them around. So this is a really effective technique and it's a great way of you being
04:06able to play quite fast riffs because you're only using one finger. So what we're going to do in this
04:12riff is we are going to be playing a series of power chords. Basically we're going to be playing
04:17the open D5 power chord. We have an E flat 5, we have an E5 and an F5. So we're
04:27going to be playing
04:28power chords, open power chords and then power chords on the first three frets. And this riff is
04:34going to be pedaling off of that open D5 power chord. So you're playing predominantly a consistent
04:42eighth note rhythm, although there are a few quarter notes, stabs and accents in there. So once again,
04:50pay attention to the picking hand, just try to strike those lower three strings and make sure when you're
04:55fretting the power chords with one finger, you sound all of the notes and get it sounding nice and clean.
05:01Okay, so I'm going to play through example number two for you first of all with the backing track
05:06and then I'm going to slow things down and play it for you with the click.
05:38So I'm going to play through this. So I'm going to play through this. So I'm going to play through
05:59this. So let's go.
06:09Now let's take a look at example number three and for example number three we're going to be
06:13looking at combining our power chord that we play on the bottom three strings either open
06:18or with one finger and how we can combine that with a power chord on the next group of three
06:24strings based off of a movable A shape with the root note on the A string. For this riff you're
06:30going to be once again pedaling off of the bottom three strings even when you're playing these
06:37movable power chord shapes with the root note on the A string and as well as that we're also going
06:42to be including power chords performed with one finger across the bottom three strings. So take
06:49care with this because you're going to be moving across your focus is going to be changing in terms
06:55of where the root note is and where you're picking is going to be where you're going to be attacking
07:01the
07:01strings when you're playing a power chord with the root note on the A string you don't want to be
07:06striking that low E and you're going to be pedaling off of that open D5 power chords. There's a little
07:13bit of moving around with this riff so really pay attention to the rhythm and pay attention to how you
07:20move your picking hand try to keep everything nice and clean. So I'm going to play this riff for you
07:27with the backing track up to speed and then I will demonstrate it for you at a slower tempo with
07:33the click.
07:50the
07:58Thanks for listening!
08:00You
08:01You
08:02I
08:05You
08:19You
08:20You
08:20You
08:20You
08:33now on to example number four and for example number four we're going to be looking at some
08:37extended chords and how we can really change the sound of chords and how we can breathe new life
08:44into our chords by simply dropping our E string down a whole tone to D. Now I'm a big fan
08:51of King's
08:52X and a big fan of Thai Table so this example is reminiscent of something that he might play
08:58with some nice chord arpeggios. We're backing the volume off a little bit although I've still got a
09:03driven tone. Okay I'm cleaning the guitar up ever so slightly by just dropping the volume down. Now
09:14we are going to be moving around the neck quite a lot with this example. It's possible for us to
09:20achieve some very rich sounding chord extensions with this new altered tuning especially when we
09:28incorporate the open string so it's really important that when you are moving between
09:34these chords even when you're climbing up the neck try not to mute out the open strings. Let the open
09:40strings ring out as they will give you time to move into the next chord shape and also pay attention
09:47to
09:48the picking as well. This one's going to be a little bit trickier because we are mixing up eighth note
09:53and
09:53sixteenth note rhythm so it's a little bit more intricate with your picking hand but this is a
09:59really cool technique and this will really breathe new life into your chord playing and allow you to
10:07add some pretty elaborate sounding extensions. Okay so I'm going to play the example for you first of all
10:14with the backing track up to speed and then I will demonstrate it for you at a slower tempo with
10:20the click.
10:31And I will show you how to check it out.
10:34We are going to end here.
10:34Go.
10:36Go.
10:37Get started.
10:38Go.
11:57The cool thing here is that we have a certain amount of symmetry that occurs because of the fact that
12:04we are dropping the E string down to D.
12:08In other words, whatever we play on the 6th string, we can play on the D string.
12:17Okay, so it's the same shape, so you can get some very interesting intervallic sounding riffs.
12:29Now, this riff is a little bit fiddly. The rhythm can be a little bit tricky. We're mixing up some
12:3416th notes in there as well as some dotted 8th and 16th.
12:42Okay, it's got a really cool groove about this riff. And as well as that, there's some slightly troublesome pull
12:49-off figures.
12:52Where we're pulling off to open strings. And we're also moving this riff around the neck. So again, make sure
12:59that you really pay attention to allowing those open strings to ring out.
13:03You don't want to mute the open strings. They really do play a big part in the sound of the
13:09riff as well as the consistency of the rhythm.
13:12I've also gone on to the neck pickup of my guitar to sort of echo the sound of Tom Morello
13:17with that really fat neck single coil tone.
13:20So now I'm going to play riff 5 for you up to tempo with the backing track and then I
13:26will play it slowly with the click.
14:09I'm going to play riff 5 for you.
14:09I'm going to play riff 5 for you...
14:13...saturated video.
14:19Amadeura 2
14:29guitar solo
15:08Now let's take a look at example number six and example number six is our mini piece and I've tried
15:14to cram as many of the different ideas into this riff.
15:18We're going to be pedaling off of the low power chord that we achieve on the bottom three strings and
15:25playing power chords with the root note on the A string.
15:34And also playing power chords on the bottom three strings.
15:43And we've also got this really cool little melodic phrase further up the neck.
15:47Again, this just demonstrates how introducing the open tuning can really affect the harmony that we can achieve.
16:00A little single note riff in there as well and this really cool chord.
16:09I've also included some chord arpeggios.
16:12So take care with the shift in the rhythm including some 16th notes.
16:15And also look out for this section.
16:17We have a section where we're going to be moving on the drop sixth string.
16:25But playing the open D and G strings to really observe that we need to allow those strings to ring.
16:32Okay, so now I'm going to play through example number six for you with the backing track and then at
16:38a slightly slower tempo with the click.
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