tuning to c

fadlan bassman · #1 08-27-2002, 01:00 AM

Does any one else hate the fact that your guitar players love drop tuning? we have 7 originals and some are in C and some are standard tuning, I learned how to play all of these in standard (some require a bit of a stretch). The main guitarist has now gotten rid of his 7 string (low B i.e. standard tuned) so everthing has suddenly just become C tuned. Now the two guitarists are writing new material that is all but impossible to play in standard; for example: G e G g G e G f# G g#
upper case G is open string, lower case g is octave. I mean don't get me wrong I love the music, but everthing else I know music wise is in standard. I don't want to have change tunings every time I practice (daily).

FalsehoodBass · #2 08-27-2002, 01:20 AM

Option #1
your profile says that you have an ibanez and a spector... tune one how the bandmates want you to, and the other standard. Then the only time you need to change both to the band tuning is when you'll want a backup...

Option #2
I was in a band that played in dropped C#... which is drop D, and then all strings one half step down. I thought it was wierd, but i could play all of their songs on a standard 5 string. Not saying that you can, but maybe working on string switching would help out.

For example, bar the G and play the rest of the line with the remaining fingers. the 5 string should give you the range you need for all the notes on your list.

Option #3
Don't play what they play... not having the same readily available notes forces you to make basslines that aren't just copies of the guitar powerchord's root. Often a musical situation that forces you to change your current routine can have the potential to make you improve yourself as a player/musician.

Obviously, whatever works for you works, but those are my suggestions.

oh, what is C tuning exactly?

jbandbabyj · #3 08-27-2002, 01:36 AM

FalshoodBass's 3rd suggestion is right on!!!!

I've played in a heavy band where the guitarists wanted to use whacky tunings like that... I went thru the same sort of questions. Eventually they started playing songs where both guitars were tuned differently... that's when I stopped trying to follow their tuning. It opened up a whole world of new ideas.

good luck!

Lackey · #4 08-27-2002, 01:57 AM

Same with me. I would follow Option 3 and play higher notes,, but with our hard rock band that sounds out of place in some of our songs. Thank God our guitarists only tune down to D,, I would hate to have to go lower with my 4 stringer!

Its been wreaking havoc on my poor MIM jazz dragging the strings up and down 1 step.

As soon as I recieve my 5 string, I'm going to try and make the switch,, but I'm afraid some of the harmonic stuff is not going to work with standard tuning.

The Lowest · #5 08-27-2002, 05:21 AM

IMHO...stay in standard tuning and transpose. It's good practice, good ear training, and good for your ax.

fadlan bassman · #6 08-27-2002, 09:54 AM

C tuning is C G C F# A. I have the ibanez but the comparison in sound is the spector is active and loud, the ibanez is passive and too quiet on the same amp setings (of coure the spector sounds like a million bucks and the ibanez sounds like 50k). maybe I will play a different bassline But it seems like i'll have to drop some notes, which may take away from the song since the guitarists are moving pretty fast. one of my concerns is that tuning the E,A,D,G strings 1.5 steps down will put undue pressure on the neck, my new spector has graphite re-inforced neck but not sure if that is enough.