Guitar tuning
Open D Tuning
Open D tunes the open strings to a D major chord and gives slide and fingerstyle players a resonant lower-register open tuning.
- Notes low to high
- D, A, D, F#, A, D
- Strings
- 6
- Default frets
- 24
- Open pitch range
- D2 to D4
- 24-fret pitch range
- D2 to D6
- Also called
- Vestapol, DADF#AD
How this tuning changes the guitar
The open strings spell D-A-D-F sharp-A-D, a D major chord with three D roots. Its lower overall pitch and repeated tonic and fifth create a resonant foundation for slide and fingerstyle playing.
Fretboard and chord implications
A full barre moves the major-chord voicing chromatically, and the open D and A strings can continue as drones under partial shapes. The F sharp strings determine the tuning's major quality.
Open D Tuning fretboard notes
Open D Tuning string notes
| String | Note | Pitch |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | D | D2 |
| 5 | A | A2 |
| 4 | D | D3 |
| 3 | F# | F#3 |
| 2 | A | A3 |
| 1 | D | D4 |
Common uses
- slide guitar
- fingerstyle
- folk
- blues
Practice this tuning
- Tune from low to high as D A D F# A D, then play each open string while saying its note name and string number aloud.
- Locate every D, F sharp, and A through fret 12, then play those chord tones against an open D drone.
- Arrange a three-chord progression using full barres first, then reduce each chord to a smaller voicing that preserves open-string resonance.
Open this tuning in the fretboard tool
Start with open d tuning loaded, then adjust root, scale, fret count, labels, colors, and orientation.
Open in interactive fretboard