Here is a question that may be obviouse, but if you tune down a half step doesn't that throw all of your chord fingering and scales off a half step also? What I mean I guess, is do you move your scale patterns back one fret also?

---5
---5
---3 Would this still be a C chord?

If this is so, being so new at playing guitar, it would be like learning scale positions all over again. I don't even want to think what drop D would do to my learning proceess. I guess you all got there one step at a time... thanks again