Guitar Drop A Tuner — Tune to Drop A in Your Browser
Mic-based chromatic tuner pre-set to Drop A. No download, no sign-up, works in your browser.
Tuning summary
- Notes (low to high)
- A1 · E2 · A2 · D3 · F#3 · B3
- Instrument
- Guitar
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- About this tuning
- Extreme low tuning — usually a 7-string territory pushed onto a 6. Demands heavy gauges and careful intonation.
Start tuning
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About Drop A on guitar
Drop A on a six-string is extreme territory: A E A D F# B, low to high. The lowest string at A1 is below the lowest string of a four-string bass. Almost no standard six-string guitar holds Drop A playably without baritone gauges or a long scale length — this is firmly in 7-string-converted-to-6 territory.
Where it does work is in a small slice of modern progressive metal and djent. Animals as Leaders, Veil of Maya, and several technical metal acts use Drop A occasionally, almost always on a baritone 7- or 8-string transposed to mimic a 6-string layout. The pitch is genuinely sub-bass — at A1, the fundamental is 55 Hz, below where most guitar speakers reproduce cleanly.
The string-gauge requirements are severe. A 13- or 14-gauge low string is the minimum on a 25.5-inch scale, and many players move to 17- or 18-gauge bass-ish strings on baritone-scale necks. Pickups also become important — passive single coils struggle to translate the fundamental cleanly, so most Drop A players use active humbuckers designed for extended-range work.
Honest beginner advice: do not start in Drop A. Master Drop D, then Drop C, then Drop B before considering Drop A. The fundamental drops below the range where most guitar amps and recording chains work well, and the technique demands clean palm-muting and pinch-harmonic control that takes years to develop. If you really want this register, a 7-string in standard tuning gives you the same low note while keeping the rest of the neck familiar.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I tune a normal guitar to Drop A?
- Mechanically yes, but the low string will feel floppy and sound muddy without baritone gauges and a longer scale. Most players who claim 'Drop A' actually use baritone or 7-string instruments.
- What strings work for Drop A?
- 13-72 minimum on baritone scale; 14-78 or thicker on standard scale. Many players use individual heavy bass-style strings for the bottom slot.
- What bands use Drop A?
- Animals as Leaders (some songs), Veil of Maya, Periphery (rare), and other modern progressive metal acts. It is rare even within metal.
- Is Drop A the same as a 7-string in standard tuning?
- It produces the same low pitch on the bottom string, but the strings above are tuned differently. A 7-string standard keeps the rest of the neck in regular tuning.
- Why do my pickups sound muddy in Drop A?
- 55 Hz is below the response curve of most guitar pickups and amps. Use active humbuckers and a high-pass filter at 60-80 Hz on the amp or in mixing.