What makes the music heavy in a punk/death metal band?

[scorpionldr]

I'm playing in a band (as one would hope) and I've come to a crossroads: as it's probably been read before, I'm the only string player, and i do things primarily overdriven (through pedal). I've been thinking for the past three days, that since I don't want to get a five string, whether it'd make sense for me to tune a string up (GCFBb) from my drop tuned settings? I like the tone I get higher, but I'm stuck with that bombastic D string that seems to go to distorted mud when I use it, plus it seems slightly less heavy.

Guys, tell me what to do. This is a free range experiment.

[Freaky Fender]

Heaviness doesn't come from how low you can tune your instrument, it comes from the song writing and the musicality of the group. Just work with whatever instruments you have, find YOUR sound within that context, and build songs from there.

[FLEMMERAN]

Originally Posted by Freaky Fender

Heaviness doesn't come from how low you can tune your instrument, it comes from the song writing and the musicality of the group. Just work with whatever instruments you have, find YOUR sound within that context, and build songs from there.

agreed, my band and ones i have been involved with in the past have written some very heavy songs in standard tuning

[Matt Till]

Heavy also has nothing to do with uber distortion, or for that matter, distortion that says "Death Metal distortion" on it. Check out the band Witchcraft or for that matter: Pentagram's music from the 70s. A tad bit of overdrive, but for the most part, fairly clean for a metal band. What makes music heavy is like what makes jazz, jazz. Phrasing, scales, etc.

[hartke20g]

[quote=scorpionldr]as it's probably been read before, I'm the only string playerQUOTE]

wait....do you mean that you're the only person who plays an upright, or that you're the only peron who plays an instrument with strings?

[gsys]

If you're not doing it already, it might help to blend in some clean tone with the overdrive. If you're the "bass" instrument in the band, I wouldn't recommend tuning your lowest string any higher than an E, since you'd be likely to miss it. IMO, heaviness requires a certain apparent depth of pitch and weight of tone that would be difficult to attain in a higher tuning.

[scorpionldr]

[quote=hartke20g]

Originally Posted by scorpionldr

as it's probably been read before, I'm the only string playerQUOTE]

wait....do you mean that you're the only person who plays an upright, or that you're the only peron who plays an instrument with strings?

I'm the only guy playing a stringed instrument.....like the entire thing is based around 4-string bass and drums.


I'm considering changing because I think I've been blending a lot. the odb-3 I'm using (which i'm not getting rid of because i like it's tone) has the EQs boosted full, the blend at a 1/4, sometimes less. On top of that, in response to being the "bass" instrument: Since I am pretty much the only melodic element (the lonely bass), I am looking at two requirements for myself, namely being clear, and being insanely heavy. The D string is good when used in moderation, but in terms of playing any fast lines (as I said before, into Pig Destroyer, half wankery/fret-scaling half hardcore) all clarity goes to the upper three strings.....BTW, can anyone clue me in to what guages to use?? I posted something in the strings section with no success....If i'm playing tuned to D with my low string guaged at 110 and I wanted to move a string up, what would I use? Are there any graphs on what is appropriate for a guage being set to a tuning?

[morf]

Buy a guitar.