Alternate Tunings for Power Chords

[Maxwellz Demon]

E (standard)
Eb (11 half-steps up from bass E) **Edit: 6 half-steps up from standard A
Bb (18 half-steps up from bass E) **Edit: 8 half-steps up from standard D
Eb (23 half-steps up from bass E) **Edit: 8 half-steps up from standard G

Or
E (standard)
Bb (18 half-steps up from bass E) **Edit: 13 half-steps up from standard A
Eb (23 half-steps up from bass E) **Edit: 13 half-steps up from standard D
Bb (30 half-steps up from bass E) **Edit: 15 half-steps up from standard G

**Edit: Requires thinner strings.

To play a power chord with octave doubling:
—— Bass Root
—— + 1 fret
—— + 1 fret
—— + 1 fret

This would be easier:
—— Bass Root
—— + 1 fret
—— + 1 fret
—— X

And this would work for the 1st tuning setup:
—— X
—— Midtone Root
—— Same fret
—— Same fret

It keeps the 5th in the midtone and/or treble rather than in the bass range. I think these would sound better than drop-D tuning. Having a 5th in the lowest octave is okay for some music but not spectacular in general (my personal taste, but some people really like it). And the E string is the same as standard tuning. Only 1 fret differences because the bass frets are spaced so far apart, and the index finger is in a natural position. Easier to play.

For an E, it's easy to play these with a standard tuning. Sounds amazing! Just downright sick! Here are the fingerings:

—— Open E
—— 7th Fret
—— 9th Fret
—— 9th Fret

And
—— Open E
—— 14th Fret
—— 14th Fret
—— 16th Fret

But for other notes it's very difficult. A right-handed player would have to hold the frets with both hands while simultaneously hitting all the strings with the right thumb. Wouldn't it be cool to play all the notes?... Thoughts?

[Traver]

You lost me somewhere around the first line.

Why would you need alternate tunings to play power chords? Power chords are easy to fret.

[chaosMK]

Whatever works for you!

[ysand]

I also want to ask 2 things:

- Why change the tuning for power chords, since they are easy to fret (as the fellow above said)

- Why do u need so much power chords? Especially on the low frets, it's all mud!

[tomas_almeida]

I think he's being sarcastic. I can't imagine anyone tuning 30 half-steps up.

[onlyclave]

Originally Posted by tomas_almeida

I think he's being sarcastic. I can't imagine anyone tuning 30 half-steps up.

+1. It's a failed attempt at a joke post. He forgot the part about getting the short-scale 6 string bass. Perhaps a Jackson flying V or a BC Rich Bich. They sound best thru a Marshall Stack.

[wizay]

Oh. I though the 23 half-steps up was the stringbreakage recipe o_0

[Maxwellz Demon]

Those half-step numbers are compared to the standard E string, not the corresponding standard strings (A, D, G). And no, I wouldn't use the same size strings. There's an assortment of thicknesses for bass guitars. I'll see what they have at the local music shop or order something online...

If you're not a big fan of treble, you can at least appreciate this:
E (standard)
Eb (11 half-steps up from bass E, 6 half-steps up from standard A)
Bb (18 half-steps up from bass E, 8 half-steps up from standard D)

—— Bass Root
—— + 1 fret
—— + 1 fret

As ysand said, power chords in the bass sound muddy. But here I moved the 5th up to the next octave and it's easy to play. To play a G:

—— 3rd fret (bass G)
—— 4th fret (G, one octave up)
—— 4th fret (D, one octave up)

Sure, you can do a G power chord on a standard tuning like this:

—— 3 (bass G)
—— 5 (bass D)
—— 5 (G, one octave up)

Or
—— 15 G
—— 17 D
—— 17 G

But it's not going to sound as good. The first way sounds muddy and kills the fingers (which is why some do a drop D tuning). The second misses the lower bass G and just plays notes that a regular guitar can play.

Try those fingerings for E in my original post, then tell me that doesn't sound really good...

[Jim Carr]

This tuning would cause the bass to have one string in the bass's lower octave, and all three others in or close to the guitar's range.

IMHO, instead of being a good thing, this decreases the usefulness of the tuning by making the bass into a "3-stringed guitar, playing along with a 1-stringed bass player who only plays chord roots on the E string."

Not too musically useful, IMHO. But then, I laughed at the boy-band craze, too.