6-String Guitar tuner – Open D
D-A-D-F#-A-D · Open
Also known as Vestapol, Sebastopol, DADF#AD
Press “Start tuner” – the browser will ask for microphone access. Sound is analysed on this device and never uploaded.
This free online tuner listens through your microphone and shows how close each string of your 6-String Guitar is to Open D tuning (D-A-D-F#-A-D). Play a string, watch the needle, and turn the peg until the meter glows green. If you prefer tuning by ear, tap any string card to hear its reference tone.
About Open D tuning
Compared with Standard E, Open D moves 4 strings. Every change is downward, the largest by 2 semitones, so the instrument sits at lower tension than in Standard E.2 strings stay exactly where they were.
| String | Standard E | Open D | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | E2 | D2 | down 2 semitones |
| 4 | G3 | F#3 | down 1 semitone |
| 5 | B3 | A3 | down 2 semitones |
| 6 | E4 | D4 | down 2 semitones |
Played open, the strings sound D-A-D-F#-A-D – from D2 at the bottom to D4 at the top, a span of 2 octaves. Step by step across the neck the intervals are a fifth, a fourth, a major third, a minor third, a fourth, and that is what decides how chord shapes fall under the hand.
Strummed open, with nothing fretted, the strings spell D. That is what makes a tuning like this useful for slide playing and drones – a full chord is one straight barre away at any fret. See D shapes in this tuning →
Open D, historically called Vestapol, is the other great slide tuning. The open strings spell a D major chord across the full range of the guitar, with the root doubled at the bottom and the top, which gives it a much fuller ring than Open G.
Joni Mitchell built a personal language out of tunings like this one; Elmore James and generations of bottleneck players used it for the same reason Open G works – one straight barre gives you the whole chord. Note that all but two strings move, so retuning back to standard is a real operation rather than a quick tweak.
The drop is small enough that a standard set handles it. If the lowest string starts to rattle against the frets, one step up in gauge fixes it.
History
Where the Open D tuning comes from
The old name for open D, “Vestapol” (or Sebastopol), comes from a 19th-century parlour guitar piece: “The Siege of Sebastopol”, a descriptive fantasy on the Crimean War published by Henry Worrall in the 1850s–60s and played in this tuning. The piece was so widely learned that blues players adopted its name for the tuning itself.
Open D became a basic tuning of country blues and slide guitar – Elmore James, Blind Willie Johnson and Bukka White used it – and later of folk and singer-songwriter music, from Bob Dylan's early records to Joni Mitchell.
Other 6-String Guitar tunings
Standard
Drop
Open
Chords for this tuning
How do I tune my 6-String Guitar to Open D?
Allow microphone access, pluck a string, and the tuner will detect it automatically. The needle shows whether the string is flat or sharp – adjust until the reading is within ±5 cents (D-A-D-F#-A-D).
Which notes are used in Open D tuning?
Open D tuning for 6-String Guitar uses the notes D-A-D-F#-A-D, listed from the lowest string to the highest.
Can I tune without a microphone?
Yes. Every string card plays a reference tone – tap it and match your string to the sound by ear.