What does E-F tuning feel like?

bassisten · #1 03-16-2006, 03:17 PM

Hi boys!

Anybody tried out E-F tuning on their 6-stringer? Tell me about it...

I need a new dimension and I think the E-F tuning could be the solution since I'm playing a lot of chords and stuff.

**TheEmptyCell** · #2 03-16-2006, 05:56 PM

I recently switched to this tuning, and I'm really liking it. I never used my B much, and I don't really miss it all that bad. The F is great for chords, and you can always drop the C and F to B and E and play stright guitar chords.

bassisten · #3 03-16-2006, 05:59 PM

Hi there Cell!

Well, I'll order a E-F string set and see where it goes from there.

I've got a drop-tuner on my B-string (to drop to A below B) which might come in handy for de-tuning the E to D after changing the tuning. Yeah...

**TheEmptyCell** · #4 03-16-2006, 06:05 PM

I couldn't readily find an E-F set, so I got a set of D'addario XL's for octave paired 8 string, and used 2 of the octave strings for the C and F. Sadly, the F is a plain steel, so it doesn't blend with the other strings, but I plan on ordering a 4 string set and singles soon.

bassisten · #5 03-16-2006, 06:22 PM

Hi again Cell!

Well, Overwater Basses here in the UK is selling 7-string sets, do I asked them to send me an E-F set.

Garry Goodman · #6 03-16-2006, 11:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassisten

Hi boys!

Anybody tried out E-F tuning on their 6-stringer? Tell me about it...

I need a new dimension and I think the E-F tuning could be the solution since I'm playing a lot of chords and stuff.

I've been using E-F for 42 years.Although they left the factory tuned an octave below a guitar,I,for one, tuned 6-string basses in 4ths.
It was the core for the 7-string.
E-F helped me create many new sounding bass parts.Here's a photo from 1977.

bassisten · #7 03-17-2006, 04:02 AM

Hi Goodman!

RESPECT...!

Peter McFerrin · #8 03-17-2006, 04:30 AM

Man, I don't know what's better...the hair, or the shirt!

That's cool that you were such a pioneer. I briefly tried playing guitar in EADGCF tuning a few years back but gave it up because it really screws up your voicings for full barre chords. I would imagine that if you're doing fingerpicked basslines with your thumb and chords with your fingers, whether on bass or guitar, that this tuning would be much nicer.

Garry Goodman · #9 03-17-2006, 10:21 AM

Hi-yeah.....well the 70's....That photo was taken at a place in Los Angeles called "The Starwood".It was like a full scale concert night club.The hair and the clothes were something you might see back then.

The band I was in, "Jasmine" was a full blown Fusion band.High energy grooves with jazz chords.I played bass lines,chord melodies, chords in harmonics and because I had a vibrato "arm" or what we called a "Whammy Bar" on the Fender Bass Vi, I could bend everything like crazy.

My playing evolved out of the "play by the dots",or fret position markers,so fourths tuning made single note playing easier than dealing with the B string found in guitar tuning.I just had to finger the chord voicings differently.

Back then,not very many guys played a 6-string bass.I usually heard "Are you trying to be a guitar player?" or a classic example was a review in a newspaper where the writer said "The lead guitarist is excellent,the rhythm guitarist sucked(me?),only playing a few notes at a time,and the band needs a bass player". Well I always held down the low end ,but everyone knows that a bass doesn't have 6 strings,right?

There is much that can be done with E-F tuning,IMO.

bassisten · #10 03-17-2006, 10:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Garry Goodman

The band I was in, "Jasmine" was a full blown Fusion band.High energy grooves with jazz chords.

There is much that can be done with E-F tuning,IMO.

Well man, you're a pioneer and cheers to that!

I'm looking forward to recieving the Overwater strings I've ordered and get it in on with recording into the loops of my spankin' new Echoplex!

P.S.: Do you have any recordings with your old fusion-band? Does it sound a bit like Mahavishnu?