Music Theory Tools

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
DADF#AD
Strings
6
Default frets
24
Open pitch range
D2 to D4
24-fret pitch range
D2 to D6
Also called
Vestapol, DADF#AD

Common uses

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
D Major (Ionian) Guitar Scale matches the open major chord center D Major Pentatonic Guitar Scale simple major vocabulary over the open chord D Mixolydian Guitar Scale dominant slide and blues color D Major Blues Guitar Scale major blues phrasing around the open chord

Scale diagrams in this tuning

D Major (Ionian) Guitar Scale Open D Tuning D Major Pentatonic Guitar Scale Open D Tuning D Mixolydian Guitar Scale Open D Tuning D Major Blues Guitar Scale Open D Tuning
D Major Guitar Arpeggio matches the open major-chord center D Dominant 7 Guitar Arpeggio dominant slide and blues color D Major 7 Guitar Arpeggio major seventh color over the open chord D Minor Guitar Arpeggio minor-triad contrast against the open tuning

Arpeggio diagrams in this tuning

D Major Guitar Arpeggio Open D Tuning D Dominant 7 Guitar Arpeggio Open D Tuning D Major 7 Guitar Arpeggio Open D Tuning D Minor Guitar Arpeggio Open D Tuning