Notes From The Studio

Essays on music, practice, and the craft of building better tools.

We write when we have something worth saying — about learning an instrument, about the engineering that goes into a good tuner, about the musicians whose apps we build.

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Deep Dive

Music Theory January 30, 2026 10 min read

Alternate tunings, explained: DADGAD, Drop D, and why they matter

Alternate tunings aren’t just tricks for show-offs — they unlock sonorities and fingerings that standard tuning simply can’t produce. A plain-English walkthrough of the five most useful alternate tunings, what kind of music they shine in, and how to try each one without breaking strings.