5 string bass tuning with drop D guitars

[Darkstrike]

DADGC is another option...

 

[Ric5]

DDDDD

 

[rick0link]

have a Hipshot on my B so i'll flip between BDADGC and ADADGC.

 

[rockstarbassist]

I know most of you haven't played a hammer-on or off in your life, but in rock, it's kind of a standard deal... Way to ruin yet another tuning thread by outing yourself as a nuub.

The correct tuning is ADADG. We play in Drop C and I tune ACGCF just b/c I don't like an open low G, even though my rig and bass+string setup can handle it easily. However technically that would be the correct tuning to "match".

 

[Ric5]

I will never understand why bass players in this situation cannot simply tune BEADG. I suppose they are suffering a guitar based point of view. That is the same reason the early 6 string basses were tuned EADGBE. That is a dumb tuning for a bass. Now if you are starting with a bass tuned EADG I can understand a DGCF tuning. But if you have a bass tuned BEADG you then have the low D and 4 notes even lower. And I don't buy the open D argument. If a band is playing can anyone in the audience actually tell if the low D is fretted or open? Of course they can't. And they don't care. Yep it doesn't matter. So tune your bass BEADG and you can play ANY drop D song.

The same thing is true if your band plays in E flat. You can play all of the songs with a BEADG tuned bass. The same is true for drop C.

 

[lokikallas]

If you play rock or metal, use the adadg with heavier gauges. I recommend the circlek stuff. Yes, you can "just use the b string" but it's not the same as chugging on an open string. And I'm sure the riffs are based on the drop d spacing.

 

[DavePlaysBass]

Play it like a 5 string tenor down a whole step

D G C F Bb

 

[KwinS]

Another one for ADADG. There's plenty of heavy/technical riffs that just cannot be pulled off smoothly or efficiently with a standard BEADG.

 

[BassmanAK]

I would say either keep it BEADG, or just do a drop D on your E....
This is what I do in one of the projects I play in.... I just do it depending on what makes it easier on my left hand... lol
Believe it or not, some drop D stuff is EASIER in BEADG than it is in drop D.... But I'll also say using a drop D does NOT make one a lesser player, which is what the vibe I'm getting here is....
Like everything else we do, do it based on what the SONG calls for....

 

[bassist4dalord]

I just stay in B Standard (BEADG) and just transpose it onto that instead, it saves me alot of effort in the long run (Retuning during gigs etc.....)

+1. That's the way to do it. Mental transposition is a skill that every bassist should have.

EDIT: Not bashing on those who tune BDADG, or whatever else. I'm just saying if it were me, I'd stay standard. Do what works best!

 

[Gearhead17]

I have gotten away with the the low D on the Low B string for awhile and I am glad I have.

One song in particular I can think of as being difficult on BEADG, is Pantera's "Walk". The song is much easier to play in DADG. You are doing constant string bends from Eb to D. Do you want to do it with one finger or two fingers? I vote for one finger.

To the OP, tune to whatever makes playing the songs easier. But if you can get away with BEADG tuning the whole time, it will save you the hassel of tuning several times live.

 

[Von Felgenhauer]

well i know in my band, we play drop D and drop Db so i started building a fiver for it thinking it would be easier. except the fact that the songs were written for drop D not E so the riffs were actually harder playing BEADG. I ended up sticking with the 4 string cause its everything i need for now but i would of done the ADADG tuning because of the speed and technical riffs we have. Like Kwin Smith said, sometimes it standard tuning doesnt work for un-standard(bad at spelling) bands

 

[john_g]

What kind of strings are you guys using that are tuning down to A? I find that if I go below the low D it almost gets unusable (if that makes sense)

 

[Atomik Rooster]

ADGCF opens it right up.

 

[InsaneBassninja]

Or tune the 5 string DGCFA#

You may need another String gange for doing that. But I have tryed it and borke my D and G string trying that.

 

[Jon Moody]

seriously dudes, I think the OP knows that 3rd fret on the low B is a D, but having the D on an open string is that much easier when he's going to play along with the guitar riffs ...

This.

I played for years in a band that did a number of Drop D riffs; at the time I played a 5 string and was a very staunch BEADG player, citing that the B string can handle everything.

Last year on a whim, I was fiddling around with a bass, playing some of those old grooves and decided to give Drop D a shot and see what the hoopla was about. The grooves that I could navigate on a standard tuned bass became so. much. easier. in Drop D.

Can you play a Drop D groove in BEADG? Absolutely.

Is wanting to play in ADADG or any other tuning inferior or wrong? Absolutely not. Give it a shot, you might find that you prefer it.

 

[Jon Moody]

What kind of strings are you guys using that are tuning down to A? I find that if I go below the low D it almost gets unusable (if that makes sense)

I did a test on this in the office with our Rene Martinez Tapercore strings, and it goes down to A no problem. Got the B string down to an Ab-G before it turned into a floppy mess.

 

[Ric5]

I just got my 5 string. My band plays in drop D and I want to play along with them, but I still want to use the low B string, what tuning should I tune my bass to that would let me best use the low string (? D A D G)

BEADG ... I am totally sold on this tuning .... the only time it doesn't work for me was once when I needed a low B flat. That was one time for one song with one band

 

[DannyBob]

Sometimes 3rd fret B isn't possible.

A few of my bands songs are in drop d, and the bass has a melody around the 12th fret with a low d thrown in as a pedal. This would be absolutely mental to play with a 3rd fret D, as I'd probably strain my arm trying to get from one end of the neck to another.

 

[Thrash3r]

When we play Drop D songs, I just drop the E to D, playing without the open D just isn't an option for the stuff we play.