Drop-D Stomp

Utilizing drop-D tuning to play “Hard Wired”

- JAMES JARED NICHOLS

THIS MONTH, I'D like to go over the namesake song of my column, "Hard Wired," which appears on my self-titled 2023 album. I wrote this song with my good friend Tyler Bryant, and it grew out of a jam session, as many songs do. It's played in the key of D and in drop-D tuning.

Tyler and I had this idea to write a bluesy "stomp" type of song, like the old traditional blues of Howlin' Wolf, but for it to have an intensity and energy that would make it heavy. The main riff, to me, has that classic Mountain/Leslie West, Nazareth/early Blue Öyster Cult vibe. FIGURE 1 shows the opening riff, which starts with a pickup on a low G note, followed by the initial phrase, which is based on the D minor pentatonic scale (D, F, G, A, C). Notice the slight bends on the C and F notes. When playing this lick, be sure to use an aggressive attack, to attain that heavy, "mean" quality. I fingerpick everything, so I'll snap the strings here.