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diffrent tuning

#8
If you frequently use open strings in your playing, alternate tunings help simplify the left hand fingering (for a right-handed bassist). I have found that I can do a lot more in standard tuning with a 5-string bass by using different positions. It also helps me with many key transpositions. There are some riffs and patterns that are just too hard or impossible to do in certain keys without a non-standard tuning. The opening bars of Stevie Ray Vaughn's "Sweet Little Thing" come to mind. In the recording, the key is E flat, with all of the strings dropped a half-step to E flat, A-flat, D-flat, G-flat you can do that descending walking pattern that alternates notes with the open E-flat string: E-flat (octave)/ E-flat, D-flat/E-flat, C/E-flat, B-flat/E-flat--repeat. Try it, even without changing your tuning. Even on a 5-string I have found no way to play that pattern using the fourth fret, B string as the equivalent of the open, de-tuned E string. Of course, you can transpose the key of the song to E and play the same patterns and not de-tune at all, but that goes back to the "make it easier for the singer" rationale for doing it in the first place.
 
#10
staggbassman said:
Forgive me for my stupidity but I have been playing bass for 6 years now and other than drop D on a 4 string why would you NEED to or WANT to change tuning?
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Here's an excerpt from post I made in a thread a while back on a similar topic. Some parts of it are in response to points that had been raised in that prior thread, but I think that some of it (the last couple of paragraphs in particular) addresses your question:

Febs said:
Altered tunings have certain advantages, but they also have certain disadvantages. For example, let's say I tune my guitar to Bruce Palmer modal tuning (EEEEBE) instead of EADGBE. Is there anything "wrong" with this tuning? No. It's a great tuning to use if I want to play "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" or a handful of other songs, because it allows me to play some very rich-sounding, resonant chords in open positions up and down the neck.

But, even though that tuning is fantastic for that particular song and a few other songs, it is not a particularly good tuning for the vast majority of songs throughout history that have ever been played on a guitar. In fact, the very things that make that altered tuning good for certain songs make it very, very bad for others. For example, in that particular tuning, the bottom 4 strings are tuned either in unison or in octaves. This is excellent for droning open chords, but absolutely horrible for playing single-note lines, because single-note lines need to be played up and down a single string rather than across multiple strings.

There are certain advantages to standard tuning. Chief among those advantages, in my view, is the fact that there is a consistent interval of a fourth from string to string. That means that from any one string to the next, the fingerings for any particular interval are going to be the same. Want to play a fifth? No matter what note you start on, anywhere on the neck, a major third will always be one string up and one fret down from your root note. Want to play a fifth? No matter where you start on the neck, it will always be one string up and two frets up from your root note. Another advantage is that the entire chromatic scale is available with position shifts of no more than one fret in either direction (if you play 1234) or two frets in any direction (if you play 124). A one-octave major scale can be played in a closed position with no shifts if you play 1234 and shifts of no more than one fret if you play 124.

Drop-tuning has certain disadvantages compared to standard tuning. The interval between strings is inconsistent, so you lose the symmetry that standard tuning offers. Additional shifts become necessary to play certain lines. Sight-reading and playing by ear can become substantially more difficult. And probably most relevant to this discussion, drop-tuning tends to limit the player to particular keys.

There are times, of course, when the advantages of drop-tuning outweigh these disadvantages. One obvious advantage is that it allows an extension of the range of the instrument. The advantages of drop-tuning are particularly evident when playing chords rather than single note lines, as they allow the player to use the open strings to create open chord voicings that may not be possible in standard tuning. That advantage, however, is much less significant on a bass playing single-note lines than it is on an instrument playing chords.

If it's not obvious by now, I have no issue whatsoever with altered tunings as a general matter, particularly when the player is making an informed choice as to the benefits of one tuning over another. I've played guitar in standard tuning, in drop-D, in DADGAD, in Bruce Palmer modal tuning. I have a Hipshot on one of my 4-string basses, which effectively puts that bass into drop-D tuning. I also have a 5-string, which I use when I need to extend the range below D or when the drop-D creates fingerings that are impractical compared to playing the same line on a 5-string tuned in fourths.

However, in many instances, people use drop-tuning for the wrong reasons, and in ways that limit their growth as a player. For example, how many times in these threads do we see people who think that they have to play in drop C simply because their guitarist plays in drop C, without ever stopping to consider that their guitar is playing chords (or at least fifths) while the bass is playing single lines that may not require or benefit from using a drop tuning rather than a standard tuning? How many times do we see people who confuse the tuning of their instrument with the key that they are playing?
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#12
lowfreq33 said:
Some bands will tune a 1/2 or whole step lower to make it easier on the singer. Metal bands do it because they think it sounds "heavier".
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Quite often a band will record in standard tuning in the studio, but then when playing live, transpose it down to a lower tuning. As stated, this is to make it easier for the singer. Live drop tuning is especially used with bands that have a vocalist who is also an instrumentalist. In the studio, parts are recorded separately, so extra intricacies can be added. But when playing live, that person has to focus on both things at once. Playing in a drop tuning takes a little stress off of the singing so focus can also be placed on playing the instrument.
 
#18
apkbass said:
Quite often a band will record in standard tuning in the studio, but then when playing live, transpose it down to a lower tuning. As stated, this is to make it easier for the singer. Live drop tuning is especially used with bands that have a vocalist who is also an instrumentalist. In the studio, parts are recorded separately, so extra intricacies can be added. But when playing live, that person has to focus on both things at once. Playing in a drop tuning takes a little stress off of the singing so focus can also be placed on playing the instrument.
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You don't need to tune down to accomodate a singer ... you only need to change the key, nothing else.
 

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