Drop-D Tuning : Why Are Some Guitarists Afraid Of It and Why Do Others Use It As a Crutch?

 

Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden)

A while back I happened upon an article (here: https://guitar.com/news/music-news/adrian-smith-drop-d-tuning-iron-maiden/) where Adrian Smith from Iron Maiden was talking about being the only guitarist in the band to utilize drop-D tuning. Personally, I like the idea of just one guitarist using an alternate tuning, because it adds a unique layer to a song, be it a new tune or a reimagined classic. 

I didn't really get into Iron Maiden until I was probably in my late 20s or early 30s, but I was especially intrigued when Adrian came back into the band and they kept both Dave and Janick around, making it a three-guitar band. I usually don't really care at all for bands that have more than two guitar players, but Maiden and the Foo Fighters get a pass on this one, because they both distribute the duties well, with each player adding their own chord voicings and differences in tone, and the overall sound in both cases ends up being huge. But back to the topic at hand, which is "drop-D tuning"...

Dropping your low E string down to D is one of the simplest alternate tunings one can do, and in my opinion it's also one of the easiest ones to navigate and become competent with. For me, it doesn't work for everything, and I'm not sure I would like it if that was the only tuning I ever used, because there are some chordal limitations with it. However, sometimes when I feel like I'm in a songwriting rut, it's a nice way to break the monotony a little bit, and I'd say more than half the time, I end up accidentally stumbling upon some cool new riff or idea. Plus adding that tuning to your toolbox can expand your repertoire exponentially if you're playing a lot of covers, especially alternative, grunge or some metal, but also with other genres as well. Even some old classic rock tunes used the tuning but a lot of people don't realize it. So it's a good thing to get used to, even if you're only using it part of the time.

I think the only real problem I have with the tuning is that there are some people who use it exclusively but only seem to be able to write songs utilizing that open D string (same goes for people who down-tune their guitars lower as well for a lower variant of "drop-D", such as "drop-C/B/A/etc"). So you'll have people who have entire setlists that are all in the same key, and after a while it just all starts running together. When it becomes a crutch, or you can't figure out how to make it sound more interesting than that, I think that's when it's time to change things up and try a completely different tuning altogether. I don't even really have a problem with having a lot of songs in the same key, some of my favorite artists would utilize certain keys a lot on some albums, and there is something to be said about the satisfying power and zing of an open string on some chords/riffs. But when it becomes obvious that you are incapable of doing anything that doesn't center around chugging on that open low string, it will bore the pants off of some listeners. Others might not care or notice, but I even hear some new artists these days who seem to use a couple of the same exact chords in a good chunk if not all of their songs (not just "drop-tuned" players either), and I guess I've always just been too self-conscious to allow myself to do that, and I force myself sometimes to write in keys that deviate from something else I just wrote previously.

I was a little shocked to hear that Adrian couldn't get any of the other guys in Iron Maiden to down-tune with him, but I ran into it myself. Albeit, not with any one of that kind of caliber of playing or talent, but there are some guys who are deathly afraid, it would seem, to deviate from standard tuning. Also with Murray and Gers, I doubt it's inability, fear or boneheadedness at play, it's probably just a preference that became habit over the course of the last 50 years, and that's a lot more understandable when one is a well-established player who's formed their own styles in their career. 

Back in 2005 through 2007, I played in a band with my dipshit ex-brother-in-law, I started on bass but moved over to guitar after about a year (long story there), and I was trying to expand the set list, both when it came to covers and original songs. On more than one occasion I tried to implement drop-D, but dipshit-Daniel just wasn't having it. For whatever reason, He just couldn't wrap his head around how to play the guitar tuned that way. The dude who turned "lead guitar playing" into a repetitious noodle-fest of a sideshow hamming it up while the rest of us stuck to actually playing "the songs" just could not wrap his head around the concept of turning those lowest three strings into a power-chord or readjusting his brain to understand only the lowest string changed and everything else was still the same. That wasn't the only thing we butted heads about of course, we were constantly in some sort of conflict over the excessive unnecessary guitar solos, him running around trying to be a Temu Angus Young who literally knows one "blues scale" (insulting to me, as an actual fan/disciple of Angus' nuances, vibrato and FEEL) with his wireless cutting out sounding like shit, and us battling volume on amplifiers and stuff. Frankly those were just some of the many things I was actually relieved not to have to deal with anymore when I left that group, even though I would miss one or two of my other bandmates until we reconnected later. But digressing.

The point is, no matter how hard I tried, and no matter how simple the song, it just wasn't going to happen. To this day I still don't understand the disconnect or why it was so confusing for him. Perhaps it was too much to ask to expect him to take a weekend or two to play around with a new guitar skill when he could be out trying to fuck teenage girls. Shame on me for suggesting such a thing. I seem to recall also not being able to do some Red Hot Chili Peppers songs because of some odd chord shapes and the requirement to play with a little more finesse, but thankfully later after that project I would be able to reconvene with players who could pull all of the above off competently.  There was a mix of stubbornness, fear and apathy at play, and I feel like it was a disservice to the rest of us to be held back by one person's aversions. In this case, he was not a veteran player (had only been playing 3 or 4 years at that point), and should've been thirsty and eager to soak up new ideas and techniques. About 5 or 6 years into playing I had gotten accustomed to playing in standard, drop-D and 3 or 4 different open tunings. 

With Iron Maiden, I think now I'm going to have to go back and listen to some live stuff so that I can listen for the different guitar tunings, that's got me curious because I haven't noticed up until now and I don't know why I'm just now realizing this.