De-tuning? When did that start?

[EdwardofHuncote]

I've been wearing out this new Fleetwood Mac "Rumours - Live" set the past few days, and what with my finely-honed sense of listening from not being able to play for so long, I have taken notice of some things that I hadn't really zeroed-in on before.

One of the tracks is "I'm So Afraid", the close-out song from the eponymous 1975 "White Fleetwood Mac Album" dirctly before "Rumours". The original take is in G min. But every time it's played live, it's been a step down in F min. Either way, on the studio record or live, John McVie is very clearly playing notes below the low E... so he had to have de-tuned his bass... and for a tune like "So Afraid" in F minor, that low string had to be a C to get him the relative fifth. This makes me strongly suspect he had a bass setup for this... I know for sure he has in recent years. Not only for this tune, but others. How did he manage this in 1977 though? Just tune on the fly?

So anyway, I started wondering; when did de-tuning a bass guitar, at least the low string, become a thing? I would have thought it was a while yet, before mechanical tuners for this came about.

Here is the (remastered) original take-

And here's the live one from '77-

Anybody remember the first time you heard a sub-E played on a 4-string bass guitar? How, or why was it? Convenience? When did a mechanical detuner for the E-string become a commercially available item?

 

[Geri O]

Been hearing about Nashville artists tuning down for years, no idea when it started. It's probably always been around in some form or another.

I started playing with a Country Music artist 3 years ago. He wants us tuned down 1/2-step. No playing things 1/2-step lower on the instrument. He sez it can be too much confusion if he "pulls an old tune outta my a$$" and calls a key and everyone is tuned differently. Fair enough.

I bought a bass to specifically set up for 1/2-step down tuning, but I realized that my basses tolerate the different tunings just fine.

 

[Les Fret]

Not sure when it started on bass but with guitar they already did tune the E to D sometimes around 1800 or so.

In the ‘77 live recording the bass is too soft in the mix so it’s hard to hear what he does exactly.