Dropped D tuning to get a strong bass line

A tuning I have come to use a lot is the Dropped D tuning where you lower the 6th or low E string down to D.  I generally do this by pinch playing it and the D or fourth string and lowering the 6th strung until they sound a clear octave apart.

In the song Cold and Dark I use this tuning to easily generate a strong bass line with the thumb pick while strumming the higher strings with the fingers.  

This recording features just the guitar and vocal tracks recorded in one take and without enhancing them or adding any effects at all.  The thumb picked bass line comes out strongly even without enhancing it in any way through studio effects.  The chord fingerings used for this one are very easy and are given below the music.

For the F, G and A chords I barr the lower three strings with the 2nd finger and slide this barr as I move it up and down.  This allows the thumb pick to generate a bass line using only the 6th string, while the other two barred strings generate the chords and are usually dampened slightly by barring so that only the 6th string is fully down.

At certain points I lift the barr and lead into the next chord with an open 6th string D note.

This recording formed the basis for a fuller recording with Ted Burton playing bass and Nanci Hobson and Ted Burton providing backing vocals. 


This version of the song was released on the Wojoergy (2011) CD featuring songs by Ted Burton and I:

Wojoergy CD on Alonetone

This CD also features the other two songs (Road Unknown and Gone with the Night Time) that together with Cold and Dark form the Goldenbridge Orphan Trilogy inspired by Bernadette Fahy's harrowing account of life in the orphanage: 

 Freedom of Angels 

The song Road Unknown is also done in the dropped D tuning using similar chords to Cold and Dark.