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Dealing with "drop-D" guitar on a 5-string

friedlbug

friedlbug

May 15, 2009
295
585
Orlando, Florida, USA
#1
First off, this is a great site, and I've been reading a lot here since I joined. Thanks for making a great resource. Now to the question: How do you prefer to deal with drop-d guitar parts on a bass with a low B? Do you detune your E like the guitar, play from the third fret on the B string, or tune the low string up to D and play whichever low string is needed for the song (having both a low D and an E string at your disposal)? I've though of all of these as ways of dealing with playing with a guitarist who alternates between standard and drop-D.
 
#2
I usually just keep the bass in standard tuning and use the third fret of the B string for the low D. If you use tabs, this can be unpleasant as many parts will be written for Drop-D instead of 5 string.

Also, you could consider what I think is called a Hipshot D-Tuner or something like that...but I don't know enough about them to recommend.
 
#3
Unless you absolutely need to have that D as an open string, there's no advantage to detuning. The whole point of a five string is having that added range, so detuning wouldn't make much sense. There are some bassists who will detune a half-step across all strings to make it easier to play in flat keys, but if all you're worrying about is that drop-D, I wouldn't even bother.
 
#4
i have a hipshot on my bass, and it gets pretty much zero use... i set it up for the dropped d but it doesn't hold on to the E so when I switch it back im almost in Eb, so i have to tune anyways.

fortunetly for me our songs don't really go lower than F so even though my guitarist will drop the d, he does it more for the extra meat provided for his power chords rather than nessesity.
 
#5
playing in standard BEADG tuning is the way forward, i think. you've got the range, use it! i think it counts as 'better' technique too... ;)

that said, make sure you are comfortable and it isn't affecting the integrity of the notes. the only reason to drop tune your E on a B-strung fiver is if you are playing insanely complex high-low riffs that use the dropped string as the pedal note.

..then again, you can always practice! that's what i should be doing now...
 
#6
When I was young, my technique sucked and I couldn't always play everything correctly without hurting my wrist. When faced with drop tunings (which were about half the set in the band I was in) I used to drop both the e and the b if I couldn't play along without it hurting, or sometimes just the e and not play the b at all.

In my current band though, I've got no real use for anything lower than c#, so I just drop tune my Jazz V to that like my guitarists do. I've removed the b and put a high c on instead, so I can play more melodic arpeggios and stuff, (or at least so I thought.)

o/t; To top it all off, I broke a string and had to borrow a trashed four banger from the studio to rehearse. Turns out I don't need the high c, so I'm buying a four string (Epiphone EB3 if it matters) for this band. I'll restring my Jazz V to BEADG as soon as it arrives! I'm not lazy btw, I also play a six string BEADGC, and have learnt to play that properly-ish since the days when my poor technique necessitated frequent on-stage retuning! Practice is key!
 
#8
I have never tried a drop D on a 5 stringer but I have tried the open D String on a 4 string and its very nice to have the low D available for chords etc....but I dont like the position change..its too confusing for me..

The best 4 string drop d on the market is the Kubicki X Factor..the device extends the length of the string and the G note on the E string is in the same place along with the other notes on the E string.. IMHO of course
 
#9
It really depends on the song. We have a couple pieces where I we bounce off of the open D-string (dropped) in some maniacal riffage. I can *almost* play them up to speed when using the low B-string, but I find there's too much unecessary string skipping and my technique is far sloppier than detuning a step and playing dropped.

I like dropping the E and B to D and A (respectively) anyways for the added low A. If I play in drop D, I can almost guarantee that "A" will be a chord in there somewhere, so why not?
 
#13
i normally just tough through it if its a bunch of chords, but riffs like RAtM "testify" lose a LOT of groove if not dropped.

ill drop my E, leave my B alone, and then tune right back up once the song is over. if i cant get to it on my B string, then i just leave the B string alone for a bit.
 
#15
GearHeadBassMan said:
i have a hipshot on my bass, and it gets pretty much zero use... i set it up for the dropped d but it doesn't hold on to the E so when I switch it back im almost in Eb, so i have to tune anyways.

fortunetly for me our songs don't really go lower than F so even though my guitarist will drop the d, he does it more for the extra meat provided for his power chords rather than nessesity.
Click to expand...

You know you're using it wrong, right?

It's supposed to go out of tune once you flip it. So what you do, is tune up to almost E (so that you're a little flat) then when you flip the lever up and down, it'll bring you into E. That then sets the string tension and you can flip up and down as much as you like without going out of tune! It takes some trial and error of knowing how flat to be to bring yourself in tune, but I just look at the LED's on my tuner to know where I need it to be.

To tune the D note you do the same. Flip the lever up so your in E, twist the knob, flip the lever down and up again to set the tension, then flip it down, and check your in tune. If not, flip the lever up, sharpen or flatten (depending on how out of tune you were) and repeat until your in tune.

I find it invaluable (my band do alot of stuff in both tunings) and once you get the hang of it you'll be tuned up in no time. It's awesome flipping the lever mid-song if you want to take the riff down below E for one section then flip it back up again :)
 
#17
Corey_Bass said:
I prefer to tune up my B string, I kinda lose the natural feel of the E string when i drop it down to D
Click to expand...

this may sound obvious, but if you or anoy others spend most or all of your time dropped, try a bigger e string. I used a 110 for c# and was pretty happy with that. I've gone back to 105 as I needed one in an emergency, (snapping string as detailed in previous post) and actually, with fingers, it still feels pretty good, not to mention it sounds FAT when I'm using my nails to play downstroke power chords.
 
#18
friedlbug said:
First off, this is a great site, and I've been reading a lot here since I joined. Thanks for making a great resource. Now to the question: How do you prefer to deal with drop-d guitar parts on a bass with a low B? Do you detune your E like the guitar, play from the third fret on the B string, or tune the low string up to D and play whichever low string is needed for the song (having both a low D and an E string at your disposal)? I've though of all of these as ways of dealing with playing with a guitarist who alternates between standard and drop-D.
Click to expand...

I've been experimenting lately with transposing some covers from Eb and dropped Db tunings to a Bb tuned 5 or Bb Eb Ab Db four. I had thought about tuning the 5 to Db Eb Ab Db Gb but didn't actually try it until today. Stuck a GHS .115" E string in place of the .125" Hi-beam and we're in business. In fact it sounds more even this way that it does with the normal set. It sounds GREAT!

Running through the songs in my current set, I was surprised at how well this tuning works and I ended up using both the Db AND Eb stings on most of the drop tuned songs. I think I'm gonna get a lot of mileage out of this tuning. :D
 

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