Drop B Tuning Chords: Verified Shapes and Voicings

The six open strings in drop B

Read the fifth column first. Five of the six strings drop exactly three semitones from standard tuning, and the sixth drops five. That single difference is the whole reason drop B chord shapes behave the way they do.

Targets are in 12-tone equal temperament at A4 = 440 Hz, rounded to two decimals. Only A4 is fixed by convention, and ISO 16:1975 specifies 440 Hz for it:ISO 16:1975, Acoustics — Standard tuning frequency (Standard musical pitch).

How drop B moves your shapes

Three rules cover every shape on this page. They follow from the interval layout of the tuning.

Which shape to reach for

Find what you are trying to play, then use the shape family in the second column.

The last row is the mistake that makes copied shapes sound wrong. Played as written in drop B, 0-2-2-1-0-0 sounds B1, G#2, C#3, F3, G#3, and C#4 — B, G#, C#, F. That is not a B chord. The shape has to change, because the string it is rooted on moved two semitones further than the strings above it.

Drop B chord chart

Frets run 6th string to 1st, with x for a string you do not play. The note column lists what each string actually sounds, so any row can be checked one string at a time. This section prints on its own.

Root on the sixth string

Root on the fifth string

Every row is arithmetic from the open strings above: the fretted note is that string's open note plus one semitone per fret. Print this section for a paper copy.

Same grip, new name

Every grip below is a shape players already know from drop D. The last three columns show what it is called there, what it is called here, and what those frets actually sound.

Nothing about the fingers changes; only the name does, by a minor third every time. Moving a song from drop D to drop B is that one move: the shapes stay and the frets stay, and the chord symbols come down three semitones. Keep the same fret numbers, because the grip simply sounds three semitones lower; move a shape up three frets only when you must hold the original sounding pitch.

How to check a voicing yourself

The chart is only useful if you can audit it. This procedure works for any shape on the page.

1. Tune the six open strings to B1, F#2, B2, E3, G#3, and C#4. Everything here assumes those targets.
2. Pick a row and read its fret column. Each digit is a fret number, starting at the 6th string; x means that string is not played.
3. On the 6th string, count up from B1 one semitone per fret: fret 2 is C#2, fret 5 is E2, fret 7 is F#2, fret 10 is A2.
4. Do the same on every other string from its own open note, not from the 6th string's note. Every string has its own starting point.
5. Compare what you counted with the note column. If a note there is not in the chord you intended, the shape spells something else.
6. Check the octave at the 12th fret: its harmonic is the same note name one octave up, which confirms which octave the shape sits in.

One worked row, so the method is concrete. Take E, 5-5-5-4-3-3. From B1, fret 5 is E2. From F#2, fret 5 is B2. From B2, fret 5 is E3. From E3, fret 4 is G#3. From G#3, fret 3 is B3. From C#4, fret 3 is E4. That is E, B, E, G#, B, E — an E major chord with its root in three octaves. The tuning frequency chart on this site runs the same arithmetic on standard tuning.

What this page cannot tell you

• It does not listen to your instrument. There is no microphone here and no audio playback. Every note is arithmetic on the open-string targets, not a measurement of your guitar.
• Six-string guitar only. On a four-string bass the notes are different; the drop B bass reference covers that instrument.
• These are shapes, not a full chord vocabulary. The 23 voicings listed are low-position or common barre shapes. Inversions, extensions, and shapes above the 12th fret are not covered.
• Drop B is not open C. Its open strings spell a power chord, not a full triad, so you get one-finger low chords rather than a whole open major chord. The open C chord shapes reference is the contrasting case.
• Looser strings are part of the deal. At a given gauge and scale length, tension is proportional to the square of the frequency, so three semitones down is about 71 percent of the original tension and five semitones down about 56 percent. Expect a looser feel if you stay in drop B.
• Setup work is not covered here. Relief, truss-rod, nut, and saddle adjustment belong to your instrument's maker or a qualified guitar tech; follow the maker's official manual.
• A correct shape can still sound wrong. If every string reads in tune and the chord is still sour, that is usually intonation rather than the shape; the intonation and setup checks on this site cover what to look at.
• A low string that keeps dropping. If the 6th string reaches B1 and drifts flat within minutes, work through the restringing and tuning-stability checklist, then the setup-order walkthrough, before you blame the shape.