Stupid question on tuning a 5-string!

[Metal_SR505]

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[Nedmundo]

What notes are the other strings when you're in drop A? Maybe you can just leave them as they are. If you really need to tune them up, perhaps try lower tension strings, like some DR's.

[EADG mx]

Why not just use B standard?

[salcott]

Unless "drop B" is some exotic tuning I'm not aware of, you can just get a 5 string set. Most manufacturers make sets in multiple gauges since it's standard tuning with a low B string.

[Metal_SR505]

B, F#, B, E, G# are the official notes for the strings. I have been using the DR Lo-Riders .125-.45 and it doesn't seem to help. When the bass is in standard tune it read.... B, E, A, D, G So I'm keeping my low B string at it's "Normal" tension, but in order to match my two guitarist I have to tune the remaining 4 strings up one whole step..... It doesn't make much sense when you think about it or put it on paper that I would be tuning Strings higher, but this is what i have to do in order to match my guitarists.????

[tom once dead]

maybe try even lighter gage strings.

[beelzelboss]

Well you can always go a lighter gauge strings, and that looks like your only choice really, or if you want your strings really really really sloppy, you can take the five top strings out of a 6 string pack (the E A D G C strings) and then tune down, but thats only if you like the "playing a piece of spaghetti" strings, and for that you would have to get heavies at least.
My four string is at CGCF and is pretty bad but thats with medium gauge, I want to try heavy but i like the looser feeling to it, helps me lock in a beat for some reason.

good luck
~craig

[snapple]

If you absolutely need to be in the same tuning as the guitars (I'd use standard tuning if you could get away with it), then you'll have to use a lighter gauge for your higher four strings.

This is where you run into trouble, because you might have to make a custom set. I suggest somewhere around a 90 for your F#, and gauge down proportionately with each higher string.

But really, unless you play a lot of open notes you should keep it B E A D G

[olaff421]

I was 'in' a band with that tuning for about a week. It made no kind of sense to me. I did just happen to have a set of 6 string bass strings setting around, a gift from someone that knew I play bass, but no idea about the bass. I took the top four strings and tuned down. It work fine. Not too floppy. Good luck with that weird tuning.

[Saetia]

Keep your B and get a light 4 string set. Should be just fine.

I dunno why people call drop tuning a weird tuning since it's not really that weird at all.

-Benny

[NKBassman]

Originally Posted by beelzelboss

My four string is at CGCF and is pretty bad but thats with medium gauge, I want to try heavy but i like the looser feeling to it, helps me lock in a beat for some reason.

I totally know what you mean! We play in the same tuning, and I was using a medium gauge string for a while, and loved the feel, but trying to record with it sounded like balls, so I moved up to a heavier set now. The tone is better, but I liked the feel of the lighter strings better, because I really like to dig in when I play.

[SpawnofHastur]

...how about you keep it in Drop A and capo it?

Simple solution, no?

[salcott]

Why not just tune it like a bass?

[dystopiate]

Ah, the plight of the alt tuner. Don't worry about those who poo-poo your choice of tuning. They're probably the same ones who would have poo-poo'd the advent of the bass guitar around 60 yeras ago.

I go with d'Addario for my alt tunings since they publish their tension charts and you can buy individual strings for resonable cost via their website. Without actually checking the chart, if I were in that tuning, I'd guess I would gauge somewhere in the ballpark of:
130, 90, 70, 50, 35. I like light-medium total tension, and relatively uniform tension from string-to-string (standard gauges in standard tuning do not provide anything near uniform tension from string-to-string).

If you're a DR die-hard, you could try a six-string set sans E-string. You could also speak to a DR dealer near you and see if they'd be willing to order you a fistful of single strings for a reasonable cost.

[salcott]

Not poo-pooing anything, just asking a simple question. I've been playing 5 string BG since 1976 with a hipshot on the B for the low A when I want/need it. I have yet to run into any style of music that required another tuning.

[dystopiate]

I guess I was just taking exception to the following:

Originally Posted by salcott

Why not just tune it like a bass?

It seemed to imply that there is only one correct way to tune a bass. What if he were to tune his bass to C# standard and just leave his detuner open all the time. Would this be tuned more like a bass, or would it only apply if he were in standard BEADG?

I get defensive about the alt tuning thing partially because I've been in a band where I would not have been capable of fulfilling my responsibilities without an alt tuning. I'm sure there are bassists who could have, but they would have been putting themselves through a lot of high-speed finger gymnastics just to avoid tuning one string down a whole step (FWIW, I'm far from being a great bassist, but I am a fast bassist, so I mean it when I say finger gymnastics). There also seems to be a general anti-alt tuning climate at TB, so I like to stick up for us underdogs.

In the end, I've found that drop tuning facilitates some chords and fast passages. It also makes some other chords and passages more difficult to play, so I feel like the choice of tuning should depend entirely on the music and not on a perception of what "should" be. Heck, I'd tune in 6ths if I had a good reason to.

[salcott]

Good enough answer for me. I'm old-fashioned, I guess; it would be more hassle for me to retune every time I encountered something hard to play.

[olaff421]

I like alt. tunings. One of the bands I'm in has four tunings we go to in one of our sets. I only have one bass too, more fun for me and I go through quite a few strings. I just don't like the drop B tuning. It's weird. Mainly because I'm used to having the low B string as an accent string. When I want to go low I go to the B. Not so much on having the low B the bottom string like the E string on a four banger.

[Arpeggiator]

i sway toward the stay in standard 5 string tuning, iv played in metal bands using drop B and drop C, i have never had trouble keeping up with the guitarists whilst staying in standard , the capo idea is also a great idea

[Infernal Affair]

Originally Posted by SpawnofHastur

...how about you keep it in Drop A and capo it?

Simple solution, no?

That's what I was thinking.