GuitarTuner.online

6-String Guitar tuner – Open Dm

D-A-D-F-A-D · Open

Also known as Open D minor, Bentonia

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Microphone off
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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 Dm 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 Dm tuning

Compared with Standard E, Open Dm 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.

How Open Dm differs from Standard E, string by string.
StringStandard EOpen DmChange
1E2D2down 2 semitones
4G3F3down 2 semitones
5B3A3down 2 semitones
6E4D4down 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 minor third, a major third, a fourth, and that is what decides how chord shapes fall under the hand.

Strummed open, with nothing fretted, the strings spell Dm. 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 Dm shapes in this tuning →

Open D minor is the Bentonia tuning – the sound of Skip James, whose "Devil Got My Woman" is its best-known document, and of the small Mississippi tradition that followed him.

It is Open D with the third lowered by a semitone, which turns the open chord from major to minor and gives the tuning its haunted, unresolved quality. Everything you know in Open D transfers directly; only one string moves.

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 Dm tuning comes from

Open D minor is associated above all with the Bentonia school of Mississippi blues and its best-known player, Skip James, whose 1931 recordings such as “Hard Time Killin' Floor Blues” used this dark, haunting tuning. Blues musicians called such minor open tunings “cross-note”. Jack Owens, also from Bentonia, carried the style on into the 1990s.

History of the instrument: 6-String Guitar →

Other 6-String Guitar tunings

Standard

Standard E E-A-D-G-B-EHalf Step Down (Eb) D#-G#-C#-F#-A#-D#Whole Step Down (D) D-G-C-F-A-DB Standard B-E-A-D-F#-BPlus 1 (F) F-A#-D#-G#-C-FPlus 2 (F#) F#-B-E-A-C#-F#

Drop

Drop D D-A-D-G-B-EDouble Drop D D-A-D-G-B-DDrop C# C#-G#-C#-F#-A#-D#Drop C C-G-C-F-A-DDrop B B-F#-B-E-G#-C#Drop A A-E-A-D-F#-BDrop G# G#-D#-G#-C#-F-A#Drop G G-D-G-C-E-ADrop F# F#-C#-F#-B-D#-G#Drop E E-B-E-A-C#-F#

Open

Open C C-G-C-G-C-EOpen D D-A-D-F#-A-DOpen Dm D-A-D-F-A-DOpen E E-B-E-G#-B-EOpen Em E-B-E-G-B-EOpen F C-F-C-F-A-FOpen G D-G-D-G-B-DOpen Gm D-G-D-G-A#-DOpen A E-A-C#-E-A-EOpen A 2 E-A-E-A-C#-EOpen Am E-A-E-A-C-EOpen B B-F#-B-F#-B-D#CGDGBD (Open G Low C) C-G-D-G-B-DFACGCE (Fmaj7) F-A-C-G-C-EWahine (G) D-G-D-F#-B-D

Modal

DADGAD (D Modal) D-A-D-G-A-DG Modal D-G-D-G-C-DOrkney C-G-D-G-C-D

Alternative

Double Daddy D-A-D-D-A-DAll Fourths E-A-D-G-C-FNew Standard (NST) C-G-D-A-E-GNashville (High Strung) E-A-D-G-B-EEADF#BE E-A-D-F#-B-EOstrich D-D-D-D-D-D

Chords for this tuning

CGDAEFAll 6-String Guitar chords →
How do I tune my 6-String Guitar to Open Dm?

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 Dm tuning?

Open Dm 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.