Free Online Drop D Guitar Tuner
Drop the low E to D, see exactly when you get there.
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Left to right: 6th string, the thickest, to 1st, the thinnest. Tune one string at a time.
Allow microphone access to begin
How to use this tuner
Click Start Tuning and allow microphone access. Play one open string at a time, and the tuner shows how sharp or flat you are from that string’s target in cents. Tap a string button to hear the note and lock the tuner to it.
The bar spans −50 to +50 cents. Zero is perfectly in tune. In string mode the value is the distance to the target string, not to the nearest chromatic note, so a string that is a long way off pins the needle at the edge until you get close.
The tuner reads against the nearest open string of Drop D tuning (D2, A2, D3, G3, B3, E4), so the cents value is the distance to that string, not to the nearest chromatic note. Tap a string to hear its reference pitch and lock the tuner to it; tap again to release.
Guitar is already selected and no transposition is applied: guitar is written an octave above where it sounds, and the tuner shows the sounding octave. Changing the dropdown to another instrument turns string mode off; tapping a string turns it back on.
Default is A440. Tap + / − to match a recording or another instrument that cannot be adjusted.
Drop D tuning is D2, A2, D3, G3, B3, E4. The only change from standard is the sixth string, which comes down a whole step from E2 to D2, 73.42 Hz at A440. Every other string stays where it was, so a guitar in drop D can go back to standard in a few seconds, which is why it is the most used alternate tuning in rock, metal, folk, and fingerstyle.
The trouble with tuning down a whole step on a chromatic tuner is the moment halfway there: the string reads as E♭, then as a very sharp D, and a needle that keeps swapping note names is easy to misread. This page reads the sixth string against D2 from the start, so the needle simply travels from far right to centre as you loosen the peg. Tap the D2 button to hear the target, or to lock the tuner to that string while you turn. Tune down past the note by a few cents and then bring it back up: a string that arrives at pitch from below sits on the nut and the peg with the slack taken up and holds tune better.
Once the low string is at D, play the octave against the open fourth string, D3. The two D strings should sound a clean octave with no beating; the tuner can confirm each one at zero, but the ear check catches a sixth string that is in tune but buzzing against the nut slot, which happens because the loosened string vibrates wider. If the low D rattles on the first fret or the nut, the slot was cut for the tension of an E; a slightly heavier sixth string, .052 or .054 instead of .046, restores the feel and the volume.
Drop D makes power chords a one-finger barre across the bottom three strings and puts a low tonic under any song in D. Most players who use it also want DADGAD eventually, which starts from the same low D, and a whole family of drop tunings (drop C, drop B) that shift everything down and then drop the sixth string further. For those, tune every string down first with the half-step-down page or the chromatic tuner, then drop the sixth string a further whole step.
Frequently asked questions
What are the notes in drop D tuning?
From the lowest string to the highest: D2, A2, D3, G3, B3, E4. Compared with standard tuning only the sixth string changes, down a whole step from E to D. The open sixth and fourth strings then sound an octave apart.
Will drop D damage my guitar or strings?
No. Lowering one string reduces the total tension on the neck slightly, which is harmless. The string may buzz more because it vibrates in a wider arc at lower tension; a heavier sixth string gauge fixes that if it bothers you.
Why does the tuner show D when I am halfway between E and D?
This page is in string mode, so it measures the sixth string against its drop D target, D2, the whole way down. The cents value tells you how far you still have to go. A chromatic tuner would show E♭ in the middle of the journey instead.
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