Drop B Tuning for Metal Guitar

Part of the Video Series How to Play Heavy Metal Guitar

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Learn how to use drop B tuning in heavy metal guitar playing in this free video lesson.

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Drop B Tuning for Metal Guitar
Hi, my name is Gary Schutt. We are talking about heavy metal guitar. Today we are talking about drop-B guitars. A drop-B Guitar is a regular six string with a heavy gage set of strings on it, tuned down to B. What you need to do is get yourself some really thick and heavy gage string like 13 through 56 or a 7 string set and just not use the 9. Once you have your strings on, you tune everything down to perfect fourths. So both of your outer strings will be B’s and they will have the same lowness and chunkiness as a 7 string without the high E string. So those of you like me get lost on a 7 string this is a good way to play similar style the same low B chunkiness without the confusion of an extra string involved. You can play your normal 6 string chords. They will just sound much different. So you don’t have to spend hours and hours thinking about how you are going to record because you have an extra string on there and what if I take this chord and how does this work with an extra string. There is just a lot less involved and you can have so much more fun right off the back. It makes experimenting a lot more fun because you are already familiar with the 6 strings. You just have a completely different sound.

About the Expert

Expert: Gary Schutt has a degree in songwriting from the Berklee College of Music. Gary has written over 150 songs, has 5 CDs, and 1 DVD currently available. Read More