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Advice for De-tuner strategy

bucephylus

bucephylus

Supporting Member
Aug 18, 2002
12,459
18,919
Central Ohio
#1
Need any advice that some of you might have for dealing with cover band de-tuning.

We move pretty quickly from tune to tune at the gig; so, actual re-tuning is somewhat undesirable.

I had been using a 5, but recently "discovered" the hipshot de-tuner on the 4 and have been using that for a handful of tunes that are in Eb. No problem.

Now, we are doing a tune in drop D. I assume if I want to use the 4, I have to actually shift the drop to D. Only problem is that will make playing Eb tunes rather more awkward. Any way around this, or is it just back to the 5?

Thanks for any input you might have.

- pt
 
#5
I actually had a 4-string jazz bass set up for BEAD to fix this (and other) problems. It takes a little getting used to, and you need a good luthier to be able to 'help' the B-string sound and feel tight at a 34" scale, but it's cheaper than buying specialty hardware all the time ;-) I'm finding that I miss the high G less and less the more I play it, but YMMV.
 
#7
I have 2 basses:

1. A 5-string that I use for standard tuning and Drop D. I can get to drop D so fast, I don't need a fancy piece of equipment installed on my bass.

2. This bass is tuned down a half-step. I also drop the Eb string down another step to handle the Seether and Tantric songs we play.

We create our sets in such a way that there are minimal changes in guitars and tunings. Works for us. :D
 
#10
I used to be in a band that used standard and drop d tunings. I just learned how to play all the drop d songs on my 5 & 6 string basses in standard tuning. It takes some getting used to at first but saves time from having to retune between songs.
 
#12
bucephylus said:
Need any advice that some of you might have for dealing with cover band de-tuning.

We move pretty quickly from tune to tune at the gig; so, actual re-tuning is somewhat undesirable. I had been using a 5, but recently "discovered" the hipshot de-tuner on the 4 and have been using that for a handful of tunes that are in Eb. No problem.

Now, we are doing a tune in drop D. I assume if I want to use the 4, I have to actually shift the drop to D. Only problem is that will make playing Eb tunes rather more awkward. Any way around this, or is it just back to the 5?

Thanks for any input you might have.

- pt
Click to expand...

Back when I played four string, I was a huge fan of the Hipshot Xtenders... I had them on all of my basses. Once they're set up correctly, they work wonderfully. However the situation you describe is a big reason why I moved to five string. The Hipshots are great for detuning to one note, but I wound up needing more detunings than even the Double Stop can handle.

My recommendations are, in order:
  1. Play fiver! Made life simple for me, and I much prefer it even when I never travel below low E. I no longer own a four string.
  2. Use the Hipshot for Eb, manually tune to D
  3. Detune your entire bass a half step, and use the Hipshot for low D. The complication is that you'll have to transpose up a half-step for many of your songs... but if you don't rely much on open notes, maybe it's not a big deal. :ninja:
 
#13
Little update here:

Thanks first to Ken; your suggestion #2 makes the most practical sense, and that's the one I'm using. I have tried setting the Hipshot to D and then playing the tunes in Eb with that setting. It works, but requires a lot of shifting and the string crossing to A when playing in Eb is a little obtuse.

Turns out this technique is becoming more of a concern to me. For various reasons, I am downsizing the arsenal, and my only Fender capability is going to be a 4. Just the way it is.

One extra foot note for those who may be manually de-tuning to D. This is really easy for me with the following technique (presuming the rest of the band shuts up for a second). Hit the octave harmonic on the A string and then the open E, and then detune the E while both are ringing. When the E hits the D, you get a perfect cello like 5th interval which is really easy to hear with pretty high accuracy. Works for me, anyhow. Of course, you can also use a tuner, but that takes a little more time. GL
 
#14
Hopefully your band can arrange your set in ways that require less flipping.

My Jag had a drop-switch already installed (thank you, Limp Bizkit guy) so I just persist with playing standard 4 and flipping it as needed... I only need drop D for two songs in our set, and my band graciously decided to put them back to back, at the beginning of one set, to make things easy for me.
 
#15
when you say Eb are you referring to rock tunes that are normally done in E with 1/2 step down tuning? are your guitar players bringing guitars tuned a 1/2 step down .....i usually take the reins in my cover bands and send out mps for Eb tunes that are pitch shifted via sony sound forge to E standard so every body gets on the same page.....the singer sings a 1/2 step higher unfortunatley.

to the point ....if you use a good quality pedal tuner like the polytone or the boss tu2 or tu3 dropping to D is very quick and easy ....i've never owned a hipshot although that would be nice too ....are they dead on for tuning?
 
#16
The Hip Shots are really accurate, certainly enough so to be reliable. Is there some variability that you could see with a stroboscopic tuner? - mmm.. probably, but I am not that discerning on a cover gig.

The tunes we are doing in Eb are usually just recorded that way. I Wish, Settlin', Sober, Black Velvet, that kind of thing. Also, we're doing Chain of Fools in Bb and it helps having the low Eb for the line. These are isolated cover tunes and not situations where the whole band is de-tuned all night. In fact, we only have one guitar player. The keys player doesn't worry about keys other than playing in the right ones.
 
#18
Schizo Sapiens said:
Why detune when you have 5-string?

When a song requires that low note to be open note (for rock/metal style riffs), I use a capo on my 5-string (4rd fret for Eb song, for example).

Otherwise, I just play in standard 5-string tuning.
Click to expand...
I intended the thread to discuss approaches for managing the Hip Shot on a 4; so your point is maybe a little OT?

But, you do describe a technique I hadn't considered to handle the 5. Interesting. In my own case, I usually play the 5 in standard tuning. The few tunes that just lay right on the detuned E, like Slither or Fallout Boy's cut of Beat It - for those I just manually detune the E on the 5, but your approach of using a capo is interesting.
 

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