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As I have mentioned previously, there are many groups today which employ the Drop-D tuning as their overall guitar sound. The Drop-D tuning gives a deep and rich guitar sound, especially when matched with heavy distortion. This combination of Drop-D tuning and distortion on guitar reminds me at times of the deep resonant tone quality that is produced with the low strings, such as the double bass and cellos in an orchestral arrangement. This is not to say that they sound the same, but somehow the overall depth and atmosphere is a bit similar.

Last week we looked at a couple of groups which used this tuning in their songs, especially as it pertained to chordal arrangements when using variations on the basic power chord.

This week, let's look at another sample by the group System of A Down and their song "Aerials."

I chose this song as our next example of Drop-D tuning because it uses an arpeggio style conceived in 4/4 time using a repetitive pattern on strings 6, 5, 4. The one variable throughout is the fret movement along String 6.

We could analyze this as basically playing in the key of D with no specific chord harmony. Also, what makes this interesting is the fact that there are two overlapping patterns occurring at the same time. One is the rhythm of steady 16th notes, which if divided up evenly gives us a feeling of even 4s or 2s. At the same time, our musical pattern is mostly moving from String 6 to 5 to 4, over and over again, thereby creating another pattern consisting of grouped threes. So we end up with a musical note pattern of three superimposed over a rhythm of four. This combination produces some interesting musical movement. To be perfectly honest, without this conjunction of three over four, this particular pattern might end up being quite musically boring if not done in this way.

Give this a try along with our other samples from previous lessons. Hopefully you will start to see some interesting potential inside the Drop-D tuning.

Norman Learo is a musician, teacher and composer who has released several compilations of original guitar music.