Open Chords In Drop C Tuning

When talking about open chords in Standard Tuning, we have the big five for the C Major Scale:

C Major
A Minor
D Minor
G Major
E Minor

In this lesson, we will talk about the open chords that belong to the C Major Scale on Standard Tuning. From there, we will take those chords shapes and adapt them to the Drop C Tuning, under the B♭ Major Scale.

In order to complete the chords in scale, we will look into the changes for the F Major barre chord, as well as for the B diminished chord.

C Major Shape to Drop C (B♭ Major)

The good thing about Drop C Tuning is that the finger position does not change for chords that exclude the Sixth String.

So, the C Major chord is kept intact, but the notes are shifted a whole step back. So, the C Major in Standard Tuning, shown in Figure 1,

Figure 1: C Major chord in Standard Tuning

becomes the B♭ Major shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: B♭ Major chord in Drop C Tuning

However, since the root note is a note with an alteration, you may be asking why B♭ was chosen over A#. The answer lies in the theory bits. Here are the notes for C Major:

C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C

Then, the notes for B♭ Major:

B♭ - C - D - E♭ - F - G - A - B♭

Finally, the notes in A# Major:

A# - B# - C## - D# - E# - F## - G## - A#

And from just that, you can see the problem: the A# Major Scale has a lot more of accidentals, which makes it unusable and pretty much theoretical only. Hence, the chord becomes B♭ Major and not A# Major.

A Minor Shape to Drop C (G Minor)

The shape of A Minor, in Figure 3, is also easy to port.

Figure 3: A Minor chord in Standard Tuning

Pretty much, we keep the shape and relabel the notes to get G Minor, shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4: G Minor chord in Drop C Tuning

We got the easy ones out of the way. Now, we start the complicated stuff.

D Minor Shape to Drop C (C Minor)

The shape for D Minor in Standard Tuning is shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5: D Minor chord in Standard Tuning

Now, this is also pretty easy to transfer to Drop C, to yield the chord C Minor, as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6: C Minor chord in Drop C Tuning

But… we can also do the C Minor chord with the whole six strings, as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 7: C Minor chord in Drop C Tuning, across six strings

Then, for C Minor we can keep using the four-string version, or use the six-string version. Up to you.

Here we encounter our first real problem: If the D Minor chord from Standard Tuning became the open chord on the Sixth String as C Minor on Drop C Tuning, what happens to the E Minor from Standard Tuning?

E Minor Shape to Drop C (D Minor)

The E Minor shape in Standard Tuning is shown in Figure 7.

Figure 8: E Minor chord in Standard Tuning

However, as this chord involves the Sixth String in Standard Tuning, there is no open chord position to match it as is. In order to make this work as a D Minor chord (following the formula of “same chord, one tone down”), we need to add an extra finger to cover fret 2 on the Sixth String, as shown in the Figure 9.

Figure 9: D Minor chord in Drop C Tuning

And, as with the C Minor chord from Figure 6, we can do the chord with just four strings, as shown in Figure 10.

Figure 10: D Minor chord in Drop C Tuning, in four strings

G Major Shape to Drop C (F Major)

If the last shape transformation started to be troublesome, we are now into the most convoluted shape of them all: the G Major chord in Standard Tuning (Figure 11).

Figure 11: G Major chord in Standard Tuning

This will be F Major in Drop C Tuning (again, following the “one whole step down” or the “fifth degree of the major scale”). In order to have it in an open position, we could try the chord shape in Figure 12.

Figure 12: F Major chord in Drop C Tuning

Going into inversions, the Figure 13 shows the chord in its First Inversion (using the third degree of the chord as the lowest note): F/A.

Figure 13: F Major in First Inversion (F/A) chord in Drop C Tuning

Using four strings, we could do the Second Inversion of the chord (F/C), as shown in Figure 14.

Figure 14: F Major in Second Inversion (F/C) chord in Drop C Tuning

F Major Shape to Drop C (E♭ Major)

Strictly speaking, the F Major is not an open chord on Standard Tuning. Its shape is shown in Figure 15.

Figure 15: F Major in Standard Tuning

From there, the barre chords only need (somehow) a finger for the note two frets up in the Sixth String, as shown in Figure 16, for the E♭ chord in Drop C Tuning.

Figure 16: Eb Major in Drop C Tuning

If for Standard Tuning there is a tendency to go into the four-string F Major chord, it is much more needed in Drop C. For that, the E♭ Major chord can be done ignoring the Fifth and Sixth String, yielding the chord in Figure 17.

Figure 17: Eb Major in Drop C Tuning, four-string version

B Diminished Shape to Drop C (A Diminished)

To end this guide, we will copy the B Diminished chord shape, that is neither an open chord nor a barre chord. The shape in Standard Tuning is shown in Figure 18.

Figure 18: B Diminished in Standard Tuning

We preserve the shape for Drop C, lowering the notes a whole tone, to yield the A Diminished chord, shown in Figure 19.

Figure 19: A Diminished in Drop C Tuning

With this, all seven diatonic chords of the C Major Scale in Standard Tuning have been transfered to the B♭ Major Scale in Drop C Tuning, preserving the shapes that could be preserved.