I started playing guitar seriously since September. Nothing really consistent lesson-wise though I did get a hold of some websites and pdf files and a chord book, which I have to admit is pretty complicated at a lot of points. While I can wing my way through some songs and have a pretty firm grip on at least the Am pentatonic scale, before coming here, I was wondering something.

For the longest time, I've been enamored with Tool, and they playi n Drop-D, which I actually like more because of the more soothing sound. Is it necessary to master standard tuning, and then Drop-D, or can you just go straight to alternate tunings without getting involved with standard?

For more information, I had started out with an acoustic, but the strings keep hitting frets something fierce past the tenth fret, so I am currently playing on a Peavy Predator my dad owns (and is it just me, or are the tone knobs on the Predator there for decoration, cause they haven't done anything but spin...)

Thanks for answering.