Does anyone here use an unusual or non-standard tuning?

[Fassa Albrecht]

Just wondering how many people here use tunings OTHER than EADG/BEADG/BEADGC etc.?

I've grown rather fond of using DADC sometimes.

[2Loud4You]

I just joined a band that tunes drop D flat. I play a 6 string so I drop every string a 1/2 step then drop my E to D (D flat) and low B to A (A flat)

[Deluge Of Sound]

Is C-Standard unusual?

Other than that, all my bass playing is standard, though my guitaristry(new word? you bet) tends to run in Sonic Youth inspired Open/Drone tuning.

[GeddyisGod]

Here are a couple of unusual ones. The band I play in uses both;

CGCF
AECF

[Flintc]

Nonstandard tunings ('Joni Mitchell Syndrome') are typically used either to make certain chords easier to strum on the guitar, or to sound better while using a slide on the guitar. 'Drop' tunings on the bass are typically used to reach some note ordinarily below the range of the bass - usually an indication that you're playing the wrong bass. Bass players do not often strum chords or use slides.

Bass strings are tuned a fourth apart to make the entire 12 tones of an octive easily accessible without a position shift. News flash!: that's all the notes there ARE in an octave. If you're only playing one or two notes at a time, standard tuning is ideal.

If you change this, I suppose it's possible that some particular song would be marginally easier - IF you always play it exactly the same way and no new ideas ever cross your mind, because those would be harder and changing tunings would only confuse you.

So understand: the band you play in doesn't "use a tuning", it plays a song in a key. If you're strumming 4 (or more) note chords on a 7+ string bass, maybe for some songs some tuning changes might help. Otherwise, forget it.

[Hawaii Islander]

D, G, C, F

[MoD_Scotty]

My band plays Drop B. So I tune my 4-strings: B F# B E

[Benjamin Strange]

My standard tuning on all my basses is CGDA. I've been playing this way for 10 years, and now I struggle with EADG tuning.

[nsmar4211]

We're down 1/2 step and i play a 5 so

Bb Eb Ab Db Gb

This way I can do drop D songs......and 1/2 step tuned songs.... without changing guitars (since we never play the songs in the same order changing would be a PITA). Course it also means I hardly every play open strings

[GeddyisGod]

Originally Posted by Flintc

Nonstandard tunings ('Joni Mitchell Syndrome') are typically used either to make certain chords easier to strum on the guitar, or to sound better while using a slide on the guitar. 'Drop' tunings on the bass are typically used to reach some note ordinarily below the range of the bass - usually an indication that you're playing the wrong bass. Bass players do not often strum chords or use slides.

Bass strings are tuned a fourth apart to make the entire 12 tones of an octive easily accessible without a position shift. News flash!: that's all the notes there ARE in an octave. If you're only playing one or two notes at a time, standard tuning is ideal.

If you change this, I suppose it's possible that some particular song would be marginally easier - IF you always play it exactly the same way and no new ideas ever cross your mind, because those would be harder and changing tunings would only confuse you.

So understand: the band you play in doesn't "use a tuning", it plays a song in a key. If you're strumming 4 (or more) note chords on a 7+ string bass, maybe for some songs some tuning changes might help. Otherwise, forget it.

That's a wonderfully one-sided argument.

Just because I down-tune does not mean I'm using the wrong bass. I'm not a soloist, so I don't have much use for the higher register of a five string. Playing the A an octave up is not an option when you play heavy music. The "heavy" goes away. In this case the band very much "uses a tuning".

Heavy riffs sound bigger when played in unison. Some of the impact is lost if the bass is noodling around on its own. Not tuning with the guitars can put you in the position to have to make awkward stretches, making yourself work harder than is needed, especially when things get fast.

One size, or in this case one tuning, does not fit all.

[bigthemat]

If I am playing a baroque trumpet, it is in A415. Kind of non standard, since A440 is the accepted norm.

[Bob Clayton]

CGCF for me, and occasionally DADG.

when i play guitar i'm usually in standard or DADGAD

[The BurgerMeister]

i'm in CGCF and DADG.

[Taylor Livingston]

Originally Posted by Flintc

Nonstandard tunings ('Joni Mitchell Syndrome') are typically used either to make certain chords easier to strum on the guitar, or to sound better while using a slide on the guitar. 'Drop' tunings on the bass are typically used to reach some note ordinarily below the range of the bass - usually an indication that you're playing the wrong bass. Bass players do not often strum chords or use slides.

Bass strings are tuned a fourth apart to make the entire 12 tones of an octive easily accessible without a position shift. News flash!: that's all the notes there ARE in an octave. If you're only playing one or two notes at a time, standard tuning is ideal.

If you change this, I suppose it's possible that some particular song would be marginally easier - IF you always play it exactly the same way and no new ideas ever cross your mind, because those would be harder and changing tunings would only confuse you.

So understand: the band you play in doesn't "use a tuning", it plays a song in a key. If you're strumming 4 (or more) note chords on a 7+ string bass, maybe for some songs some tuning changes might help. Otherwise, forget it.

Yeah, totally. There's some guy named Mitchell Manring, I think, I see him around these parts sometimes. That guy sucks so bad that he needs to change his tuning for nearly every song he plays - often several times within the same song! What a hopeless fool. I keep encouraging him, telling him one day he'll be good enough to play every song in standard tuning. Maybe you could give him some lessons?

[bluestarbass]

I play 2 steps down, thats pretty standard stoner rock tuning. Not all that wierd since its just lower, but the relationship between the strings is the same.

[MoD_Scotty]

Originally Posted by conical johnson

Yeah, totally. There's some guy named Mitchell Manring, I think, I see him around these parts sometimes. That guy sucks so bad that he needs to change his tuning for nearly every song he plays - often several times within the same song! What a hopeless fool. I keep encouraging him, telling him one day he'll be good enough to play every song in standard tuning. Maybe you could give him some lessons?

LMAO!