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Anyone else tune their basses as I do?

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#161
OP- I played in a band for a while that used your exact tuning. (On a bass setup for it with the bottom four strings of a five string set.)

At first it was a huge pain in the neck, I had to just set aside that bass for that tuning. Once I got used to it though, it was great!

Just make sure you have the right strings and set up, and don't worry about anything except the songs.
 
#162
tfer said:
Western music is based on scales. Every musician should know at least the basic diatonic scales.


2 octave scales and tetrachords simply ingrain the fingerboard onto your mind. Having the freedom to play all over the fingerboard allows you the ability to play anything you hear in your head. Tetrachord combinations teach a player the fingerboard horizontally, rather than simply vertically, and are based on a tuning of 4ths. The shifts are out of reach when you tune in 5ths.
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I understand what scales are, and why knowing them is useful. I started out on upright bass, and did a classical music degree. I know the scales and arpeggios, I know the key signatures and how they are related. I know the intervals, and I know standard classical positions, and I understand how the two are related. I also have an (admittedly more limited) knowledge of modes and non-standard scales, from spending time around jazz musicians.

I also know that playing rock music with a dropped D string is not limiting. I have done it so much that I am as comfortable moving around with a dropped D as I am in standard tuning. In the same way, I can play a guitar which has that awkward major 3rd interval, despite all of the other intervals being a 4th. I fully expect that if I chose to tune my instrument entirely in 5ths, or minor 3rds, or octaves, or whatever combination of intervals I wanted, I would be able to find my way around and perform without issue in the correct musical situation. It wouldn't be too useful for playing Chic basslines since they were all written to be played on an instrument tuned in 4ths, but I probably wouldn't be using that instrument to cover Chic songs.
 
#164
tfer said:
But you could. You have the knowledge and the ability - why would you decide to change it?
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Because it would be easier to play Chic songs on an instrument tuned in 4ths. The point I'm trying to make is that 4ths tuning is fine - for some music. For other music, alternate tunings are better.
 
#165
Happynoj said:
Because it would be easier to play Chic songs on an instrument tuned in 4ths. The point I'm trying to make is that 4ths tuning is fine - for some music. For other music, alternate tunings are better.
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I'm doing a poor job of explaining myself.

I've spent literally thousands of hours since 1983 learning scales and intervals, to the extent that I don't have to think anymore - I simply play what I hear in my head.

Alternate tunings would create an immediate obstacle for me, in that I would have to think again.

My hands are trained to play the intervals I hear in my mind, so moving the Minor 6th (for example) would cripple me.
 
#166
tfer said:
I'm doing a poor job of explaining myself.

I've spent literally thousands of hours since 1983 learning scales and intervals, to the extent that I don't have to think anymore - I simply play what I hear in my head.

Alternate tunings would create an immediate obstacle for me, in that I would have to think again.

My hands are trained to play the intervals I hear in my mind, so moving the Minor 6th (for example) would cripple me.
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I see what you mean. I'm now unsure whether it's a curse or a blessing that I never reached this stage... :D
 
#169
Kamatori said:
I down tune a whole step on all strings for that fat low D on my pbass with chromes. I found the tension to be just right between the pickup and the bridge.
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Chromes are a high tension string, already. They take well to drop tuning.

I've also read that A440 is at a discord with our ears & brains. Drop tuning sounds more pleasant because it puts us closer to A432 (well, lower but more sympathetic).
 
#170
tfer said:
I'm doing a poor job of explaining myself.

I've spent literally thousands of hours since 1983 learning scales and intervals, to the extent that I don't have to think anymore - I simply play what I hear in my head.

Alternate tunings would create an immediate obstacle for me, in that I would have to think again.

My hands are trained to play the intervals I hear in my mind, so moving the Minor 6th (for example) would cripple me.
Click to expand...

so, you want to be able to easily play scales at home?? Or are we talking in a band situation? Because if you have "lines" for the songs that you play in a band and you've written those lines in an alternate tuning, and you feel comfortable if you need to solo a bit, then what the hell are you talking about?? ........ I cannot think of a single song that I've ever played that required me to play a two octave scale? ....... so if the tuning for a specific song or genre allows for easier playing in that style then why are you knocking it? Nobody here is saying to abandon standard tuning....and yet you almost seem defensive that your opinion is fact and we (because of 100s of years) should follow it?
 
#176
tfer said:
Alternate tunings would create an immediate obstacle for me, in that I would have to think again.

My hands are trained to play the intervals I hear in my mind, so moving the Minor 6th (for example) would cripple me.
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OK, this is making me giggle because when people say that they use alternate tunings for inspiration, it's because they WANT to be forced to think again (besides the new open strings). So you're actually agreeing that a wacked-out tuning creates the need for thought but you view it negatively because of course it's not as easy as jamming on auto-pilot. :D

I'm too lazy right now to look for the guy that posted the relationship between limitations and creativity, but I agreed with that link. Robert Fripp is a guy that a) sets obstacles for his musicians and himself and b) came up with his own reinvention of the wheel (crafty tuning). On one of the 1980s King Crimson albums he instructed Bill Bruford to use zero cymbals. This obstacle forced Bruford to be creative in other directions.
 
#180
awilkie84 said:
I tried getting my band to try tuning to 432Hz. They didn't understand what I was saying. :( They "just wanna play music". lol Not that there's anything wrong with that.
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You don't have to explain. The newer Snarks cost $13 and let you adjust the Hz, so you could buy a few, set them to A=432 and then pass them out to your band. "Hey, I got these so that we could tune faster on stage." If you've got a keyboardist you'd need to clue him in though
 
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