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6 string with high string tuned to B?

T

Tombolino

Dec 28, 2012
326
17
#1
Hi all

Im relatively new to bass playing, currently just have a 4 string. I started off on guitar. Curious on your thoughts, I may get a 6 string bass and well, what if I tuned the C string to B like on guitar. Why? So I can just use the guitar chord shapes I spent the last 15 years memorizing on guitar. Thoughts?
 
#2
I play guitar too and have tried the high b on a bass.


I found it works fine but there is little advantage to it, you actually get one less note to play.


All fourth tuning.

All chords, intervals and scales retain their "Shape" all over the fingerboard.

If you were to have a six string bass with a high and low b your chords will be on different string sets than you are used to.

You might be better of B E A D F# b or E A D G b e.
 
#4
Tombolino said:
Im relatively new to bass playing, currently just have a 4 string. I started off on guitar. Curious on your thoughts, I may get a 6 string bass and well, what if I tuned the C string to B like on guitar. Why? So I can just use the guitar chord shapes I spent the last 15 years memorizing on guitar. Thoughts?
Click to expand...
I've thought about it.
It's one reason why I have a D-Tuner on my C.
(Mostly it's so I can do that cool dropped-harmonic thing Michael Manring does...)
Although it's been like that over a year, it has helped me exactly zero in chording.
For one reason, although it is a B, it still screws with your head because the strings are 'off by one.'
I can still see guitar chord shapes in my head but I can't make myself shift them over a string.
And the reality is that having a B rather than a C doesn't make very many of the shapes easier.
So I'm relearning chord shapes based on High C (and High F)...

I'm actually thinking about what it would take to start tuning guitar in fourths. I have learned to like the symmetry.
I have heard that Stanley Jordan tunes his guitar in straight fourths.

I have seen references to 6-string chord charts, and I think I've even bookmarked some posted links.
But I have not found a commercially available book of bass chords written for 5-, 6-, or 7-string bass.

It will be a good exercise just to make my own. I even bought a cute little 6-string fretboard rubber stamp for this purpose...
 
#8
Tombolino said:
Sorry, but none of this made any sense. lol
Click to expand...
Ok.
6 string bass is usually tuned
B E A D G c
6 string bass with c tuned to b
B E A D G b

The string relationship isn't the same as guitar the major third is in a different place.

To put in a guitarist perspective imagine playing the chords you do know on a guitar tuned.
E A D G C E
That what it'd be like.

If you want to retain your guitar chords, patterns, licks etc
Better choices would be

E A D G b e - octave below guitar, would require a newly cut nut and thinner string gauges 20-100.

B E A D F# b - octave below baritone guitar, would only require detuning the two highest strings by a semitone.

Hope that's clearer.
 
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#10
Yeah - I got that from your OP.
I think you'll find it doesn't help you as much as you think it will.
Chords in 'open position' are challenging because the frets are a lot farther apart on a bass than a 26" scale guitar.
Farther up the neck you're simulating barre chords and moving the top string up a fret is not a big deal.
And the shapes aren't exactly the same anyway since they're shifted over a string.
Go ahead a try it - if it works for you, cool deal. I think you'll find chords on a bass of limited real-world usefulness...
 
#14
Kael said:
I played 6's exclusively for about 15 years. I always tuned the high string to B. Just felt more natural to me. All my target notes were in the same position that they would have been on a guitar. Just made sense to me.
Click to expand...
It works for some people.
Although I played rhythm guitar for many years and knew all the chord shapes I was never much good at 'lead' parts - the asymmetry always got in my way.
Ironically, I'm much better at playing melodic parts on bass - maybe I was really a bassist all along ;-)
So I'll say again: do what works for you...
 
#15
Just do what bassmon said. So your top 3 strings would be D, F#, B. This way your 6 string bass functions exactly like a 6 string guitar for chord shapes all over the neck and on every string. The only difference is they'll be a 4th (and an octave) down. So if you're playing with a 6 string guitarist in standard tuning, all your chord shapes will be different than his, but you'll have the exact same "vocabulary" to work from (just shifted by a 4th).

So if you're playing a song in A major, he could just play a regular open A, while you would play a "D" chord (shape). This might seem bad, but in fact it can be an advantage because it can open up voicings and patterns that he can't play as easily in a given key, and vice versa. obviously, if you guys wanted to play unison lines, it could get a little trickier, in which case you could tune the F# back up to G, but of course anything that requires his high E string, you will still have to move up a position anyway. So if he's playing something around the 5th fret, you would have to play it around the 10th fret and a string lower.

It really just depends on the material and what you're going for what might make most sense.
 
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#16
So in the A major example I mentioned, this is what the 2 chords would look like.

E-0 E4
B-2 C#4
G-2 A3
D-2 E3
A-0 A2
E-0/X (E2)

B-2 C#3
F-3 A2 (F# string)
D-2 E2
A-0 A1
E-0/X (E1)
B-X

So you have 3 octaves of A, with the A2 doubled, 3 or 4 octaves of E, with E2 possibly doubled, and octaves of C#. So that's as many as 11 strings for one chord (although I would probably leave out the E1), and that's just a basic major triad. If you started adding in jazz chords with 7ths, 9ths, etc... and sus chords and all that, you could get some really wild stuff going. And all you really need to know is that whatever the guitarist is playing, you just play it like it's a string higher (ie A translates to D, G translates to B, etc...).
 
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#18
I tune mine to b, the reason is because I switch back and forth from guitar to bass and all of the scale/chord patterns fall in the same place so it's easier to remember. If you do scales by steps instead of patterns you may find it easier to use a c. I'm sure it just comes down to personal preference.
 
#19
I play 6-string, and here's how it is in my eyes. I often keep my bass strung EADGCF and will often tune it D-d like a drop tuned guitar. I find it works for me BECAUSE I know guitar chords, even if I usually don't start playing chords till around the 10th fret. I don't much use a low B, even when I have it available. The lowest I'd normally go is probably around a C, and that's easy enough to drop my E down without it effecting my playing too much.

Now, of course I don't always keep it like that, save for keeping it detuned at a bare minimum of a half step (helps my fingers. Long story).
 
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#20
raventepes said:
I play 6-string, and here's how it is in my eyes. I often keep my bass strung EADGCF and will often tune it D-d like a drop tuned guitar. I find it works for me BECAUSE I know guitar chords, even if I usually don't start playing chords till around the 10th fret. I don't much use a low B, even when I have it available. The lowest I'd normally go is probably around a C, and that's easy enough to drop my E down without it effecting my playing too much.

Now, of course I don't always keep it like that, save for keeping it detuned at a bare minimum of a half step (helps my fingers. Long story).
Click to expand...

I'm so with this.

Singing my song bro
 

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