Guitar players use Drop D tuning to obtain a deeper, more powerful sound by tuning the top E string to a D. Obviously, this is going to change some of the fingering we use to make chords. Lets take a closer look at Drop D chords. 

Fifth Chords

From the Power Chord lesson, we know that the power chord is made up 3 notes: a root note, its 5th and it's Octave (Power chords are also played with 2 notes, a root and its 5th; but this really isn't a chord since it only uses 2 notes. From the Chord Construction lesson, we know that a chord is made up of 3 notes. Anyway, back to the lesson). When we use Drop D tuning, the E string becomes a D. This means that the top 3 strings on your guitar become D-A-D. 

To form a Drop D chord, simply move your finger on the 6th string up 2 frets (a whole step), barring the top 3 strings on your guitar. It's as simple as that! Lets use the A5 chord as an example.

In Drop D tuning, the 7th fret on the 6th string is now A. The root and octave notes remain the same, because we did not change those strings. This chords is created by simply barring the top 3 strings of your guitar. These are the most common chords used in Drop D tuning. 

Here is riff from a song using fifth chords in Drop D tuning.

Song: Unsung, by Helmet

E||--------------|--------------|--------------|-------------|
B||--------------|--------------|--------------|-------------|
G||--------------|--------------|--------------|-------------|
D||--2---2---2---|--2---0---2---|--2---2---2---|--2---0---2--|
A||--2---2---2---|--2---0---2---|--2---2---2---|--2---0---2--|
D||--2---2---2---|--2---0---2---|--2---2---2---|--2---0---2--|


------------------|------------------|------||
------------------|------------------|------||
------------------|------------------|------||
--2---2---2/--3---|--3---3/--5---5---|--5---||
--2---2---2/--3---|--3---3/--5---5---|--5---||
--2---2---2/--3---|--3---3/--5---5---|--5---||

Standard  Chords

Here is a chart showing standard chords, along with Drop D fingering. 

Chords which do not use the 6th string are obviously not affected, but other chords are. In most cases, you simply move the finger on the 6th string up 2 frets. In some cases though, it may be easier to use different fingering. This is why it is helpful to know which notes are in each chord. 

Now that you know how to form a Drop D chord, its time to play some songs using Drop D.