1/2 Step Down

[Craig_S]

I'm curious. How many of you in classic pop/rock cover bands drop tune for the singer? I've always been against doing it, but not adamant.


MODS: Oops. this ended up in the wrong place.

[acubass]

I am currently doing this. It isn't horrible but it throws my ear off when learning new material.

[kuys]

I do. Most of the 90's radio rock we play is in half step down to begin with.

It's gonna sound weird but when I first started playing my parents bought me one of those silvertone strat clones that would not stay in standard tuning. It would hold half step for days on end sans any major climate change. I got so used to it, (It was 6 years before I ever bought a tuner) I found that I can nearly tune any instrument to half step by ear but for the life of me I can't ever find standard and I have to get out a tuner.

[Brad Johnson]

Originally Posted by Craig_S

I'm curious. How many of you in classic pop/rock cover bands drop tune for the singer? I've always been against doing it, but not adamant.


MODS: Oops. this ended up in the wrong place.

I don't have to. Are you playing a four string?

[Craig_S]

Originally Posted by Brad Johnson

I don't have to. Are you playing a four string?

I have three four strings and one five, so yes. Also, I don't like to change the sound of an open string or to lose the ability to play a riff open--if the song is written that way.

[Rickett Customs]

The band I gig with did standard (440) tuning and 1/2 step (435)..... I made them decide on which tuning they wanted to go with (due to the time gaps between songs and the lack of the singer not really having the "gift of gab"). This has significantly done away with any "gaps" between songs, plus the singer has better stamina throughout the night.

[MrRumble]

We went to drop tuning 1/2 step earlier this year for our singer.
It seems to help and it's a bit easier on my fingers with the strings loosened up a bit.

[ddwilkins]

I'm a half step down all day everyday!!!!

[fullrangebass]

I work with several different singers (apart from my own lead vocal parts) so I'm used to play the same songs in different keys and both standard and half-step down. And with my Dingwalls, the half step down, sounds as punchy as the normal tuning

[Diogenes]

I'm in an original band and we ended up having to drop tune 1/2 step down for half of our songs. Partly because my guitarist/vocalist has cancer of the lymph nodes which has hindered his vocal range.

[NicJimBass]

My band does this as well- anything not tuned down on the original recording we play half step down; if it was tuned down to begin with, we leave it as-is.

I play by ear, so learning a song at the original pitch, then tuning down would really mess with my ear. I bought a program called Transcribe! that allows me to alter the pitch of any file, so if I need to lower a song by 1/2 step, I can. It makes things much easier.

To keep the open strings the same, I also tune down a half step, even thought I play a 5. For me, it makes things that much simpler.

[Craig_S]

So far, I've only set up my Stingray 5 for the drop tuning. It sounds a little odd to me, honestly. Not bad, but odd.

[JTE]

Originally Posted by NicJimBass

My band does this as well- anything not tuned down on the original recording we play half step down; if it was tuned down to begin with, we leave it as-is.

That's just weird. So, the singer can't sing in A, but can in Ab. So, if the original song is already in Ab, you gotta take it to G, but if the same song was recorded in Ab tuned down a half-step, you'd play it in Ab? That's silly to me.

I've only had to deal with this once. An Stevie Ray Vaughn-abee who insisted we tune down a half step "for my voice", but we changed the keys of most of the songs anyway to fit his range. He was using 10's, not SRV's manly 13 gauge strings too, so it wasn't that.

I guess I've been blessed to work with singers who can sing, and musicians who can change keys. My last band did a lot of Aretha stuff and had to move most of it a step or a minor third to fit Sharon's voice. The only ones that gave me fits were "Chain of Fools" in Bb and "Heard It Through The Grapevine" (Gladys' much superior version BTW), which we did in A. I was never really happy with what I came up with for "Chain..", and "... Grapevine" had to be adapted some too, but we worked it out. In neither case would a half-step have made any real difference. If I was gigging with them now, the 5-string would solve the problems.

John
John

[LilRay]

I've tuned 1/2 step down for the majority of the time I've been playing. It's so natural to me that when I tune by ear, I'm automatically 1/2 step.

Guess it's a matter of where you're comfy.

God Bless, Ray

[pasta4lnch]

my main band tunes to Eb. it's a drag - though it was WAY more of a drag when I used my J V as my main bass. . . the B was like a rubber band. I use a P now and it's really ok.

IMO singer sometimes use it as a crutch. I understand doing a bunch of nights in a row etc - but you're a singer! It's what you do. . . the whole diva mentality.

I guess I'm just venting - fwiw I've pretty much just gotten used to it and it doesn't really effect me anymore . . .

[CrispyDelicious]

Currently a half step down on my 6 while I get ready for an audition. I started in standard tuning, but even though the half step isn't NECESSARY, it's helpful for certain fingerings because of the way the riffs are written.

[Rickett Customs]

I don't think it's a diva mentality (crutch)........ Not every singer has the same range. you move a key 1/2 step back, makes it that much easier to sing. Look at Jon Bonjovi, the keys have stepped back over the years, it just an example, but there are many bands who have done so.

[pasta4lnch]

maybe you're right. like I said, I used to be more pissed about it when I played my 5'r cuz it made the night a tad uncomfortable for me. still though, in my band the singer decides what songs we do (covers anyway) if it were me, I certainly would suggest a song I couldn't play and ask the whole band to do something different to compensate . . . maybe I'm being the diva?

[jnuts1]

my band tunes down 1/2 step but i play a standard 5 string & a dropped 4 banger. i am going to make the switch to the drop 4 permanantly so i can switch my 5 back to having the high C instead of the low B.

but i will say everyone should play with a group that drop tunes & you stay standard. it made me work so hard that now i can switch keys to a song with ease. & now i am trying to rotate between the two basses each week on gigs so i can get used to playing both tunings on the same tunes.

[lomo]

Our singer says it saves his voice over the course of the set, so we do it. I barely sing, so I just go along with it.