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Anybody play in drop B? How did you do it?

Ethanol

Ethanol

Jun 18, 2022
37
44
#1
I'm joining a metal band that writes in C# standard for half their songs, and for the other half they drop the low C# to a B. This is probably the worst tuning imaginable for a bassist. If all their songs were drop B, I could just stay in standard on my 5 string and it would be a non-issue. But transposing all their C# songs up a step would be a huge pain. They're groove/thrash, so lots of riding the low open note, while playing fast stuff pretty high up the fretboard on the other strings. I'd like to use one bass for both tunings because the guitarists don't change instruments between songs, I would be holding up the rest of the band.

There are two main solutions I can think of:

Option A: I'm used to a .130 for B on a 5 string, so a .120 would work fine for C# I think? I would just have to learn to live with a floppy B on the dropped songs. However, I would have to get these mailed in as I don't have a place locally that carries sets like these.

Option B: Use a set of .135 DR DDT's and tune everything down so that my E string becomes a C#, and my 5th string becomes a thumb rest. This sounds like it would be worse because a 115 for B would be even lower tension than 120, but it's the easier option because the music shop in my town actively carries these at the ready.

Option C: slap a capo on the second fret for half their songs and call it a day (not very "metal", might get made fun of)
 
#2
You could always try tuning the lowest string to B and the next one to C# and then have the rest of the strings as you normally would. It would probably take some getting used to, but that would give you both the B and C# to ride when needed. Having a 6 string would make that even better, but could work with a 5er.
 
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#3
Two 5 strings, one tuned to C# and the other tuned BEADG.
Unless tuning, re-tuning, and constantly wondering what tuning you are playing in and where your fingers should go next really turn you on.
The secondary 5er could be a cheapo like a Squire Squier P.
The primary bass should be the one that you play the most, which I gather would be C#.
 
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#4
Ethanol said:
Option B: Use a set of .135 DR DDT's and tune everything down so that my E string becomes a C#, and my 5th string becomes a thumb rest. This sounds like it would be worse because a 115 for B would be even lower tension than 120, but it's the easier option because the music shop in my town actively carries these at the ready.
Click to expand...
DR DDT5-55, chuck the 115 (or give it to somebody else), add a 40 on top.

Or:
first, try and uptune your 130 to C#, see if you like it; especially check how it fares up the neck tonewise, if the band's existing riff go there, or if you envision going there in future ones. (You already know you do when it's at B.) If you don't, go down a notch, to 125.
Then get a D'Addario EXL220BT for the remaining F#-B-E-A.
 
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#6
knumbskull said:
Option A all the way. It's a suboptimal situation for bass strings, but dropping the low string a step is pretty easy.

.120 should work for this. It's tighter than I'd like for c# but probably ok overall.
Click to expand...

I plugged it into the handy dandy string tension calculator, and a 120-100-80-60-40 set for C# would be SUPER tight. For the closest tension to medium gauge strings in standard, I'd have to go more like 115-90-65-50-35. Which makes me lean more towards the downtuning with DDT's route. If .115 at C# is close to the same tension as a .100 for E, then the .115 dropped to B must be comparable to the .100 dropped to D. And I do that all the time no issues
 
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#8
Gauges around 130 100 75 55 40 tuned to C# F# BEA.
Drop C# to B as required. Or tune in BEADG using the same strings. I tune C# standard 4 stringers. Currently a .132 flat gauge for C# on one, and the other a .128T flat. I can tune BEAD CFBbEb or C#F#BE with the same strings. My preference with those gauges, tension wise, is C# standard
 
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#9
Just spitballing here, but does anyone here know if there's a chromatic pitch-shifting pedal that would sound good for this? That way, the OP could use the bass tuning of his/her preference and let the pedal shift all the notes down by the desired amount.
 
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#15
jdaunt said:
One other thing, i’d recommend a D-tuner instead of tuning on the fly constantly. If you’re going to be retuning between songs without the D-tuner, might as well use a second bass, going to take the same amount of time, if not less, to switch basses as opposed to retuning.
Click to expand...
That’s what Tony Campos of Static X does. They started out in C standard, then Wayne Static decided that they should tune down to Bb standard for some of their newer music, so instead of doing that, Tony installed a Hipshot Xtender and played in drop Bb. He also uses a 5.
 
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#16
bertthebassist said:
I'm confused. Why spend time tuning the strings up and down?
If you using a 5-string tuned standard to BEADG, you are covered for B.
Why don't you just slide your hand up two frets to play C#?
Or add a capo on the C#.
Click to expand...

The OP mentioned playing a lot of open low notes. Fretting the C# on the low B string and trying to play certain patterns on the bass would be quite difficult. Some parts might prove to be impossible.

Is there a capo that would work on one string only? If so, please recommend one. I have never seen that used on a bass in person.

For my Black Sabbath tribute band, I tune G# C# F# B E on one of my 5 strings and the other 5 string is BEADG tuning. Although I am not using the low strings, it is MUCH easier to play Sabbath songs in the original tuning. There a few songs that would be nearly impossible and awful to play live if I just transposed. In addition, it would sound different than the original tune.

OP - I recommend two basses here. BUT, perhaps the C# tunes could be transposed. Have you given that a try yet? I would not spend a dollar until you determined if the C# tuned songs could be transposed and still made the songs sound good overall.
 
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#17
I would just play 5 string basses with one in normal B tuning and the other up a whole step to C#.

if I’m being honest…I would just use a regular 5 string and learn to play the parts without a reliance on open strings…but that me lol.
 
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#20
For what it's worth, back in my uni days my metal band used to play a lot of drop D and C#, and I had my 5 string tuned to CEADG because I'm stubborn and refused to retune after learning one song that required it.
Also, because I'm stubborn, I played every song chugging along on frets 1 and 2 and still did all the fiddly bits up higher also.

It was difficult, clumsy, and required a lot of concentration.
But one thing it did do, was make me an infinitely better player, and gave me rep as a bit of a beast across campus bands as it looked like I was doing some wickedly complex lines. Which I was - but it was totally unnecessary.

Would I recommend it?
Only if you like a challenge and think you can pull it off - otherwise I vote get a second bass because we all need more basses, right?
 

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