DGCGCD Tuning on 6-String Guitar: Notes, Chords and How to Use It
DGCGCD is an open-sounding alternate tuning that many players know as the "Rain Song" tuning, after the Led Zeppelin track that made it famous. Strum it with no fingers on the frets and you get a shimmering, unresolved ring that hangs in the air like a question. It's a wonderful tuning for slow, atmospheric pieces, droning open-string melodies and chords that sound far richer than the shapes you're actually holding. If standard tuning has started to feel a bit familiar, this is a lovely place to explore.
What Changes From Standard Tuning
Standard tuning, from the thickest string (string 6, nearest your chin) to the thinnest (string 1), is E A D G B E. In DGCGCD, five of the six strings move:
- String 6: down a whole step, E to D
- String 5: down a whole step, A to G
- String 4: down a whole step, D to C
- String 3: unchanged, stays G
- String 2: up a half step, B to C
- String 1: down a whole step, E to D
A quick vocabulary note. A half step is the distance of one fret. A whole step is two frets. So "down a whole step" means the open string should now sound like the old string did at what would be fret -2, two frets lower than before.
How to Tune Into It, Step by Step
Go slowly and use string 3 (G) as your anchor, since it doesn't move. Lower strings gently; when tuning up, approach the note from below so the string holds its pitch.
- String 6 to D. Your string 4 is still an open D at this point. Lower string 6 until it sounds the same note as open string 4, just deeper (an octave lower).
- String 5 to G. Fret string 6 at fret 5. That's a G. Lower open string 5 until it matches.
- String 4 to C. Fret string 5 at fret 5. That's a C. Lower open string 4 until it matches.
- String 3 stays G. Check it: string 4 at fret 7 should match open string 3.
- String 2 up to C. Fret string 3 at fret 5. That's a C. Raise open string 2 by one fret's worth until it matches.
- String 1 to D. Fret string 2 at fret 2. That's a D. Lower open string 1 until it matches.
Because you've loosened most strings, the guitar may drift a little for the first few minutes. Give it a second pass before you start playing.
What the Open Strings Sound Like
Strum all six strings and you hear only three different notes: D, G and C, repeated in different octaves. Musicians call this kind of chord a suspended chord. It's neither happy-sounding (major) nor sad-sounding (minor). It sits in between, wanting to move somewhere but never quite insisting. You could hear it as Gsus4 (G, C, D) or as Csus2 (C, D, G), depending on what you play around it.
Listen for the way the notes blur together and keep ringing. That open, unsettled quality is the whole point of this tuning. It gives you a background wash, called a drone, a sound that keeps going underneath whatever you play on top.
Look at the gaps between neighbouring strings too. From string 6 up, they go: perfect 4th (D to G), perfect 4th (G to C), perfect 5th (C to G), perfect 4th (G to C), major 2nd (C to D). That final tiny gap of a major 2nd, just two frets, between strings 2 and 1 is what creates those close, chiming clusters of notes that rub against each other so beautifully.
Why Players Use It
Rich sound from simple shapes. Because so many open strings are doing the work, one or two fretted notes can produce a full, ringing chord. For example, play strings 5 to 1 open but put one finger on string 1 at fret 2. That gives you G, C, G, C, E, a C major chord with G as the lowest note, using a single finger.
Open-string drones. You can play a melody on the top strings while the open strings ring underneath, which sounds lush and almost orchestral.
A deeper low end for riffs. The bottom string is now a low D, so riffs have more weight. And here's good news: strings 6, 5 and 4 still sit a perfect 4th apart, exactly like standard tuning. That means your familiar power chord shapes still work on those three strings, just a whole step lower. Play string 6 open, string 5 at fret 2 and string 4 at fret 2, and you get D, A, D: a big, heavy D power chord.
How Scale and Chord Shapes Shift
Think of the neck in two halves. On strings 6, 5 and 4, the relationships between strings are the same as standard, so scale patterns you know still fit there. They just produce notes a whole step lower than you're used to.
From string 4 upward, things change. Strings 4 to 3 are now a 5th apart instead of a 4th, strings 3 to 2 are a 4th instead of the major 3rd you're used to, and strings 2 to 1 are only a major 2nd apart. So your usual chord and scale shapes on the top four strings won't give the results you expect. Rather than forcing old shapes, treat the upper strings as new territory and let your ears lead.
A useful trick is to play melodies along a single string. On string 1, these frets give you the notes of the C major scale: open (D), 2 (E), 3 (F), 5 (G), 7 (A), 9 (B), 10 (C), 12 (D). Slide up and down those spots while the other open strings ring, and every note will sit comfortably against the drone.
A First Thing to Try
Let strings 5, 4, 3 and 2 ring open, and with one finger pick out that string 1 melody slowly: open, fret 2, fret 3, fret 5, then back down. Let every note sustain. Then try strumming the whole guitar and moving just that one finger along string 1 to the same frets. Listen to how each new top note changes the colour of the whole chord, some sweet, some tense. Spend ten minutes simply hunting for the combinations that make you smile. That's exactly how players have been finding songs in this tuning for decades.
More on the instrument itself: the 6-String Guitar guide.