Guitar tuning · B F♯ B E G♯ C♯
Drop B tuner.
B F♯ B E G♯ C♯: String 6 dropped to B1. Tune with your mic or by ear, at A4 = 440 or any pitch you need.
Tuner · Any tuning
Tune your guitar.
Pluck a string and the meter shows how far off it is. Tap any string to hear it at its true pitch and tune by ear.
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- Set A to anything: 440, 432, 442…
B F♯ B E G♯ C♯ · Drop D shape · −3 st
Check string tension →The sound never leaves your device.
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tab: D
Strings 1 → 6
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Tuning
Drop B
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Moves every string a little, for example to match a recording.
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Notes from C0 to C8. Type a note like D2, F♯3 or B♭1, or use − and +.
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Reference A
Slider 380–500 Hz. Type any value from 300 to 600 Hz.
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Sound
Violin, viola, cello and double bass start with Bowed, the rest with Acoustic.
Note length
Match a recording Beta
Find the A a song was recorded at, then tune to it and play along.
…listening
Play the song, loud and clear.
Result
This recording sits on A 440
The tuner already matches it: nothing to change.
A recording is only known within a half step: if the song is a half step down, also change the tuning.
Beta: tested on real records and synthetic songs. Check the result by ear.
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Settings
Mode
Guided: one string at a time, from the thickest.
Meter
Bar: a slider with a mint in-tune zone.
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How long a tapped string and Hear sound. Repeat plays the string again every few seconds, Continuous holds it: tap it again to stop.
Reference sound
Violin, viola, cello and double bass start with Bowed, the rest with Acoustic. A sound you pick stays.
Volume
Phone speakers play very low notes an octave up.
Note names
Sharps and flats
Octave numbers (E2, E4)
Tells the two E strings apart: E2 is the low one, E4 the high one.
Frequencies (Hz)
Each string's pitch in hertz, such as 82.4 Hz.
In tune within
Precise is not used with harmonics: Normal ±3 applies.
Harmonic mode
For one low string: play its 12th-fret harmonic (×2) or its 5th-fret one (×4).
Pro view
The pitch heard in Hz, tenths of a cent and the input picker. Turns on octave numbers and frequencies.
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Guitar · Drop tuning
About Drop B
C♯ Standard with String 6 dropped a whole step, to B1: B F♯ B E G♯ C♯. Drop tunings make a power chord from one finger across the lowest three strings, so heavy riffs get easier to play.
Drop B is a common tuning for modern metal on a 6-string. It keeps the one-finger power chords of Drop D, three half steps lower.
Also written: BF#BEG#C#
How to get there from standard
- String 6: lower 2½ whole steps (E2 → B1)
- String 5: lower 1½ steps (A2 → F♯2)
- String 4: lower 1½ steps (D3 → B2)
- String 3: lower 1½ steps (G3 → E3)
- String 2: lower 1½ steps (B3 → G♯3)
- String 1: lower 1½ steps (E4 → C♯4)
Quicker from C♯ Standard: lower String 6 a whole step (C♯2 → B1).
Why players use it
Why Drop B
Drop B, B F♯ B E G♯ C♯, gives a six-string the low B of a 7-string, plus something a 7-string in standard tuning does not have: a fifth between the two lowest strings. That fifth is what makes the one-finger power chord, so the heavy, stop-start riffing of modern metal keeps its easy shape three half steps below Drop D.
Above the low string, the guitar is in C♯ Standard, and Slipknot's Mick Thomson describes his tuning exactly that way: C♯ with a dropped B. The upper strings keep enough tension for clear chords and leads, while the bottom string carries the weight.
On the records
Who plays in Drop B
Slipknot are the Drop B band: 74 of TuneLit's 94 songs, every studio album from the 1999 debut to The End, So Far, with the bass tuned B F♯ B E. Their songs here include (sic), Wait and Bleed, Duality, Before I Forget and Unsainted. The debut is the odd one out: its songs spread between Drop B and a flat Drop C, with (sic) and Wait and Bleed about 40 cents sharp, so use their own Tune buttons.
Slayer turn to it on 13 songs from God Hates Us All (2001), Christ Illusion (2006) and Repentless (2015). Rammstein's Zeit (2022) adds three songs, Linkin Park two from Meteora, and Guns N' Roses and Sepultura one each, from Chinese Democracy and Roorback.
Songs on TuneLit
Famous songs in Drop B
Each song has its own page: the exact tuning, the pitch of the record and how to get there string by string. Tune sets the tuner to the record, cents included.
- (sic)Slipknot · Slipknot (1999) · +7 ¢Tune
- Wait and BleedSlipknot · Slipknot (1999) · +7 ¢Tune
- Spit It OutSlipknot · Slipknot (1999) · +7 ¢Tune
- Left BehindSlipknot · Iowa (2001) · +9 ¢Tune
- DualitySlipknot · Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) (2004) · +5 ¢Tune
- Before I ForgetSlipknot · Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) (2004) · +5 ¢Tune
- Vermilion Pt. 2Slipknot · Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) (2004) · +5 ¢Tune
- UnsaintedSlipknot · We Are Not Your Kind (2019)Tune
94 songs · 6 bands
Every Drop B song on TuneLit
Open a band to see its songs in this tuning. Each song opens on its album page, at its own Tune button, set to the pitch of the record.
Slipknot 74 songs
- Slipknot (1999): 742617000027, (sic), Eyeless, Wait and Bleed, Surfacing, Spit It Out, Tattered & Torn, Frail Limb Nursery, Purity, Liberate, Prosthetics, No Life, Diluted, Only One
- Iowa (2001): (515), People = Shit, Disasterpiece, Gently, Left Behind, The Shape, I Am Hated, Metabolic
- Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) (2004): Prelude 3.0, The Blister Exists, Three Nil, Duality, Opium of the People, Welcome, Vermilion, Pulse of the Maggots, Before I Forget, Vermilion Pt. 2, The Nameless, The Virus of Life, Danger – Keep Away
- All Hope Is Gone (2008): .execute., Gematria (The Killing Name), Sulfur, Dead Memories, Vendetta, Butcher’s Hook, All Hope Is Gone
- .5: The Gray Chapter (2014): XIX, AOV, Killpop, Skeptic, Lech, Goodbye, Nomadic, The One That Kills the Least, Custer, Be Prepared for Hell, The Negative One, If Rain Is What You Want
- We Are Not Your Kind (2019): Insert Coin, Unsainted, Birth of the Cruel, Death Because of Death, Nero Forte, A Liar’s Funeral, What’s Next, Spiders, My Pain, Not Long for This World, Solway Firth
- The End, So Far (2022): The Dying Song (Time to Sing), The Chapeltown Rag, Hive Mind, Warranty, Acidic, Heirloom, H377, De Sade, Finale
- Slipknot: every album and its tuning
Slayer 13 songs
Rammstein 3 songs
Linkin Park 2 songs
Guns N' Roses 1 song
Sepultura 1 song
Playing tips
Playing in Drop B
Strings decide whether Drop B works. Mick Thomson has used a .011 to .058 set; Kerry King keeps his C♯ set and swaps in a .056 for the low string when he drops it to B. Lighter strings flap and go sharp the moment you dig in, which also makes the tuner reading jump.
The open B sits at about 62 Hz, low for a phone mic. If the reading wanders, play the 12th-fret harmonic and switch on the ×2 harmonic mode. On a 7-string, Drop B riffs need new fingerings, because its low B has a fourth above it, not a fifth. The bass tunes to B F♯ B E, as Slipknot's does.
6 strings
Notes and frequencies
| String | Note | A = 440 | A = 432 | A = 442 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | B1 | 61.74 | 60.61 | 62.02 |
| 5 | F♯2 | 92.50 | 90.82 | 92.92 |
| 4 | B2 | 123.47 | 121.23 | 124.03 |
| 3 | E3 | 164.81 | 161.82 | 165.56 |
| 2 | G♯3 | 207.65 | 203.88 | 208.60 |
| 1 | C♯4 | 277.18 | 272.14 | 278.44 |
The tuner on this page works at any A4 from 300 to 600 Hz, and can shift the whole tuning by half steps or fine cents.
Measured
How the tuner hears B1
Drop B goes down to B1 on String 6, 61.74 Hz. A phone mic hears B1 faintly: in our phone-mic model its fundamental arrives 9 dB quieter. Read from its overtones, B1 stayed within 1 ¢.
No tuner for Drop B?
The capo trick
If your tuner only knows Drop D, clamp a capo across fret 3 and tune the strings, capo on, to Drop D (D A D G B E) as usual. Take the capo off: every open string drops 1½ steps and you are in Drop B (B F♯ B E G♯ C♯).
A capo pushes the strings a little sharp, so the open strings can end up a few cents flat. Check each one again without the capo: the tuner on this page reads Drop B directly.
String tension
Strings and tension
String 6: about 44% less tension. Strings 5–1: about 29% less tension (approx., same strings, same scale length).
To keep the feel of a 10–46 set at standard pitch, try about 12–62 (approx.: string makers' charts differ, and many players simply like it looser).
A longer neck helps too. Compared with a 25.5″ guitar, a 27″ scale gives back about a half step of tension and 28.6″ about a whole step (approx.).
Check string tension → String by string, with your own set and scale length.
Neighboring tunings
Higher tunings first. Each rung moves every string of Drop B by a half step; in the tuner, the ◂ ▸ arrows on the tuning chip do the same.
- Drop C♯Drop D, 1 half step lower
- Drop CDrop D, 2 half steps lower
- Drop BThis pageDrop D, 3 half steps lower. Notes: B F sharp B E G sharp C sharp
- Drop B♭Drop D, 4 half steps lower. Notes: B flat F B flat E flat G C
- Drop ADrop D, 5 half steps lower
Questions
What are the notes of Drop B?
From String 6 to String 1: B1 F♯2 B2 E3 G♯3 C♯4. At A4 = 440 Hz the lowest string is 61.74 Hz and the highest is 277.18 Hz.
How is Drop B different from B Standard?
B Standard lowers all six strings 2½ whole steps (B E A D F♯ B). Drop B takes only String 6 that low; the other strings stay at C♯ Standard (F♯ B E G♯ C♯).
Do I need heavier strings for Drop B?
String 6: about 44% less tension. Strings 5–1: about 29% less tension (approx.). To keep the feel of a 10–46 set at standard pitch, try about 12–62 (approx.: string makers' charts differ, and many players simply like it looser).