Bass Problem When Downtuning

[honeyiscool]

I hated five string necks until I actually decided to stick with one for a while. Most people I know who say they hate fives claim they need 19mm spacing and will refuse to try one of those ergonomic 16.5 or 17.5mm spaced basses that make fives such a snap to play. Never understood that.

 

[Burwabit]

What's the solution?
Five string bass.
It makes detuning unnecessary.

Not always true. My band plays a set in drop D. Several of the songs would be much more challenging on a 5 (e.g. Velvet Revolver's Slither and Tonic's Open up your Eyes). I take a 5 and a 4 to gigs.

 

[Sixgunn]

I hated five string necks until I actually decided to stick with one for a while. Most people I know who say they hate fives claim they need 19mm spacing and will refuse to try one of those ergonomic 16.5 or 17.5mm spaced basses that make fives such a snap to play. Never understood that.

I played 4s for decades and was a bit intimidated by 5s but decided to dedicate myself to mastering it anyway. Now I don't play my 4s at all. Also there's a 5er for everyone IMHO. You just have to find it.

 

[knumbskull]

Mathematics tells us that when you downtune a whole step, you lose about 11% in total string tension. When you then downtune the bass string by yet another whole step, that string has 21% less tension than when tuned to E, which shouldn't be surprising, it's only a half step away from B in a 5-string. Ideally, then, you should be using much heavier strings. I feel like a standard set of light bass strings would be something like 45-60-80-100. If you're used to that, then for standard D, you should be using 50-70-90-110 to have about the same tension. Ideally, a drop C set would then be 50-70-90-120. However, if you're not always in drop C, you might find 120 a little too stiff when tuned to D (and especially to E). A 115 would split the difference, so you might look at 50-70-90-115, or if you like a slightly slinkier feel, 50-70-85-110 or something like that. Websites like Circle K or JustStrings will let you buy single strings to do exactly that.

Keep in mind, once you're set up with heavier strings, tuning up to Standard E will make the strings feel quite stiff, that's why 50-70-85-110 might be a good idea so that you kind of strike a balance that works well for everything.

Good stuff

I find 50-70-90-125 works well for drop C - the lowest string benefits from a bit of extra tension to level it out with the rest. I'd also say that if you're going that route, ideally you want a bass properly set up for that tuning, that stays in that tuning only.

Check the D'Addario tension chart if you want to go down the rabbit hole that is string tension!

http://www.daddario.com/upload/tension_chart_13934.pdf

 

[Ric5]

Hi there,

I have a problem when I downtune to Drop C / Standard D. Whenever I downtune roughly the first four frets are basically unplayable as they have no note to them whatsoever and just have a very sudden buzz noise, anyone experienced this problem before and know an easy solution to save me having to pay lots of money to get my bass setup again when it's only been a few months since it last was?

Get a 5 string bass

 

[MDBass]

Hi there,

I have a problem when I downtune to Drop C / Standard D. Whenever I downtune roughly the first four frets are basically unplayable as they have no note to them whatsoever and just have a very sudden buzz noise, anyone experienced this problem before and know an easy solution to save me having to pay lots of money to get my bass setup again when it's only been a few months since it last was?

Your setup is probably fine, for standard tuning; as many others have said, when de-tuning that far you'll either need to add some relief to the neck (counter clockwise on the truss rod) to compensate for the decreased string tension when using standard gauge strings, or switch to a heavier gauge.

Each method has it's merits; some guys prefer the pliability and darker timbre of looser strings, some guys can't stand the 'floppy' feel and 'muddier' tone.

 

[MDBass]

Then we're getting into the realm of F# frequencies.And we all now there's so much controversy over whether it can be used,heard and reproduced.
How low do you want to,need to go?

No, there really isn't. You'll mostly be hearing the 1st and 2nd harmonics instead of the fundamental, but there are plenty of guys who tune that low without any of said usability/audibility/reproduction problems.

 

[MDBass]

What's the solution?
Five string bass.
It makes detuning unnecessary.

Incorrect.

Especially in the heavier and more instrumentally technical genres, certain riffs and parts will literally be unplayable in standard tuning; additionally the timbre of an open low D or C is quite different than it's fretted counterpart.

 

[Watchootognbout]

Incorrect.

Especially in the heavier and more instrumentally technical genres, certain riffs and parts will literally be unplayable in standard tuning; additionally the timbre of an open low D or C is quite different than it's fretted counterpart.

OK.I am corrected.

 

[bholder]

No, there really isn't. You'll mostly be hearing the 1st and 2nd harmonics instead of the fundamental, but there are plenty of guys who tune that low without any of said usability/audibility/reproduction problems.

The fundamental down there is really more felt than heard, but still can be musically useful, in my opinion. You can still tell whether it's the right note to go with the chord or not, low frequency dissonance isn't really (personally) recommended. Ask my neighbors.

 

[MDBass]

The fundamental down there is really more felt than heard, but still can be musically useful, in my opinion. You can still tell whether it's the right note to go with the chord or not, low frequency dissonance isn't really (personally) recommended. Ask my neighbors.

Absolutely.

And there are guys out there with better articulation and note definition at a low F# than other fellows are at E standard...it's a good time to be a bass player