Drop B tuning is a heavy metal guitar tuning for a six-string guitar where the strings are tuned to B-F#-B-E-G#-C# (or B-G♭-B-E-A♭-D♭). This is a "drop 1" tuning in the key of C# (i.e. tune the whole guitar down a minor third from standard tuning, then the 6th string is lowered an additional whole step down). As a result, it uses the same fingering as all other "drop" tunings.
Bands that have used Drop B
- Abigail Williams
- Acid Drinkers
- A Day to Remember
- Affiance
- All Shall Perish
- All That Remains (on their first album Behind Silence and Solitude and on some songs from their latest album Madness)
- Alter Bridge
- Amenra
- A Perfect Circle
- Architects
- Art of Dying[1]
- As Blood Runs Black on several songs on Instinct
- Asking Alexandria
- Attack Attack!
- Attila
- August Burns Red (on some songs starting from "Rescue & Restore")
- Baroness
- Betraying the Martyrs
- Black Light Burns
- Black Stone Cherry[2]
- Black Veil Brides (on the songs I Am Bulletproof, World of Sacrifice, Stolen Omen and The Last One)
- Bleed From Within
- Bleeding Through
- Blind Witness
- Blinded colony
- Breaking Benjamin
- Bring Me The Horizon (on all of their material prior to Suicide Season,Suicide Season has songs on Drop C, Drop G, And Drop A#)
- Buckethead (on the song "Frozen Brains Tell No Tales")
- Bullet for My Valentine (on most songs from their new album Gravity)
- Bury Tomorrow
- Carpathian
- The Chariot
- Chevelle on a lot of songs, some examples: "Family System", "Send the Pain Below", "Wonder What's Next", "Antisaint", "Well Enough Alone"...
- Children of Bodom (on I Worship Chaos)
- Code Orange
- Coheed and Cambria
- Conquer Divide
- Crossfaith
- Crown The Empire (on The Fallout)
- Crowbar
- Creed (on 1/3 of Full Circle)
- Cult of Luna
- De La Tierra
- Celtic Frost (on their final album Monotheist)
- Damageplan (on "Wake Up", "Pride", "Explode", "Save Me", "Crawl", and "Blunt Force Trauma" from New Found Power)
- Dark Tranquillity (on much of their material starting from Fiction)
- Dead to Fall
- Demon Hunter
- DevilDriver (on their self-titled and The Fury of Our Maker's Hand albums)[3]
- The Devil Wears Prada (It is the primary tuning on Zombie EP and Dead Throne. It is also used on With Roots Above and Branches Below and 8:18)
- Disturbed (on most tracks on Immortalized)
- Dope
- Down[4][5]
- Dream on Dreamer on their album Heartbound
- Eighteen Visions (Except for XVIII)
- Elder Druid
- Elitist
- Eyes Set to Kill (on their album Masks)
- Famous Last Words
- Five Finger Death Punch
- For All Those Sleeping (on their album Outspoken)
- For Today (on their Prevailer EP)
- From Ashes to New
- Funeral
- The Gazette
- Gemini Syndrome
- The Ghost Inside on their album Fury and the Fallen Ones
- Greeley Estates on their album No Rain, No Rainbow
- Halestorm (on the songs "Freak Like Me", "I Get Off", and "I Like it Heavy", though only Lzzy Hale uses drop B on the latter two)
- Hamlet (on most songs on Syberia, and the songs "Arruinando Nuestra Vida", "En Mi Nombre" and "Bajo Su Cuerpo" of the album Pura Vida)
- Heart in Hand
- I Killed the Prom Queen (on their album Music for the Recently Deceased)
- Ice Nine Kills (on some songs starting from Safe Is Just a Shadow)
- Intronaut
- In Extremo (songs "Rasend Herz", "Horizont", "Lieb Vaterland, magst ruhig sein")
- I See Stars
- Isis
- Islander
- It Prevails
- Iwrestledabearonce
- Karnivool (highest 3 strings are all tuned to E Standard tuning)
- King's X on their album Dogman (specifically, "Shoes", "Black the Sky" and "Don't Care")
- Knights of the Abyss
- Lamb of God (on the song "Straight For The Sun")
- Limp Bizkit
- Linkin Park (on "Don't Stay" and "Nobody's Listening" from Meteora)
- Lorna Shore
- Machine Head (tuned 40 cents sharp)[6]
- Marilyn Manson (on the song "Antichrist Superstar")
- Memphis May Fire
- Möngöl Hörde[7]
- Motionless In White
- Mudvayne (on their album L.D. 50)
- Mark Tremonti (on "Leave It Alone", "Giving Up", "Proof", "Decay", "All That I Got" and "Gone" from the All I Was sessions)[8]
- Mike Shinoda (On "Selector" from MTV VMA Score 2005 )
- Nickelback (on the song "Side of a Bullet")
- Nightwish (on the song "the Islander")
- Oceana
- Of Mice and Men
- Origin
- Palisades
- Papa Roach (on the songs "Revenge" "Warriors" and "Falling Apart")
- Parkway Drive
- Pathology (on the song "A Bleak Future")
- Pierce The Veil
- Projected[9]
- Raunchy
- Rob Zombie
- Seether (On the songs "Given" and "Tonight")
- Sepultura (On the song Roots Bloody Roots for example)
- Sevendust (primary tuning, although several variations of it are also used)[10][11]
- Skillet (On select songs from their album Comatose, as well as several songs transposed to Drop B for live concerts)
- Soilwork
- Slayer (On select songs from God Hates Us All, Christ Illusion, "Americon" from World Painted Blood, and half of the songs of Repentless")
- Slipknot[12]
- Stone Sour[13]
- Sienna Skies
- The Amity Affliction
- The Kills - "Future Starts Slow"
- Theory of a Deadman
- This or the Apocalypse
- Thousand Foot Krutch
- Three Days Grace (on the song "Drown" from their self-titled debut album)
- Triptykon
- The Dweller Beyond
- UFOMAMMUT
- Vanna
- Veil of Maya
- Vorvaň
- We Came as Romans
- Weekend Nachos
- Wretched
- Young Guns
