Drop-D Tuner

[blues_bassist]

Not sure if this is the right spot for this, but here it is anyways. I say a drop-D tuner on a bass at my local music store and I played around with it, but I don't really get how it works. If you drop your E-string to a D-String, how does that affect your playing on the neck. Wouldn't all of your scales be out of place?

[Bryan R. Tyler]

Detuners (the most popular of which is the Hipshot Xtender) are able to drop your tuning anywhere from a half step to several whole steps down- the amount of room you have between the tuners on your headstock plays a part in this (flipping the detuning switch moves the tuner more and more as the amount you detune increases). You can drop an E string all the way down to a B on a lot of basses.

Yes, your scales will be out of whack once you've flipped the detuning lever. If you know your scales well enough, it's easy enough to compensate for it. A lot of players will flip it down just to hit a low D every once in a while then flip it right back so they don't have to deal with remembering the rearrangement of the fingerboard.

[aus_bass]

Just watch Entwistle's 5:15 solo on Youtube, and see how he makes use of the D-tuner.

[deckard]

Check out YouTube for clips of Michael Manring, esp. "The Enormous Room" and "Selene" - astonishing use of D-tuners (and alternate tunings AND a de-tunable bridge) on all 4 strings of his Hyperbass!!

Also check out "Excuse Me, Mr. Manring": he uses standard EADG tuning, flipping the D-tuner on his E-string to get a low B, down & back again.

Truly, the King of D-Tuning!!