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Drop D half step down tuning

#21
73jbass said:
I have yet to see a situation where Drop D is a necessity. Could you enlighten please on a situation where Drop D is the "only" option?
Click to expand...

Okay, maybe necessity was a poor choice in words, but some riffs require a lot of quick bouncing off of the open D. To fret the low D rather than detune for anything other than tonal reasons is completely asinine in my opinion. Why make it more difficult for your hand to play? It's ergonomically insensible otherwise.


----------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------5--3------0--
-----------------------8--7--0----------------------------
--0--7--8--0--8--7--0-----------5--3------0---------------


or


----------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------3---------------------5--3---------
--------------------------7----------------------------5--
-----5--6-----6--5-----------5--3-------------------------
--3--------3--------3--------------6------3---------------
 
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#24
I can see both sides of the Fence on this one. I would think that if you are playing a lot of songs in a set in an alternate tuning "say drop D" set the bass up for it and roll with it but, say you were using the drop D for just one or two songs with a five string I wouldn't worry about changing the tuning. For whole step down tuning, Set up an instrument for it. To me it is a whole lot easier to pick up the other bass that is tuned to where the guitar is. I guess I started as a guitard long ago and it would make more sense to me................ To each his own what works for me may not work for you
 
#25
FunkMetalBass said:
Okay, maybe necessity was a poor choice in words, but some riffs require a lot of quick bouncing off of the open D. To fret the low D rather than detune for anything other than tonal reasons is completely asinine in my opinion. Why make it more difficult for your hand to play? It's ergonomically insensible otherwise.


----------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------5--3------0--
-----------------------8--7--0----------------------------
--0--7--8--0--8--7--0-----------5--3------0---------------


or


----------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------3---------------------5--3---------
--------------------------7----------------------------5--
-----5--6-----6--5-----------5--3-------------------------
--3--------3--------3--------------6------3---------------
Click to expand...


+1 Great example. I never understood why people cant just tune down a whole step. It's nothing to cry over.
 
#26
Jazz Ad said:
What's the deal with bass players and snobbery against open tuning?
It is widely used on most instruments and all music styles.
Horns even go as far as having separate instruments and notations allowing open tunings, so to say.
I never saw a banjo or guitar player think twice about retuning or using capos to get a specific sound or feeling.
Some famous musicians such as Michael Manring or Adrian Belew built a lot of their tone around open tunings. They aren't exactly slouches.
Still every time somebody asks a question regarding open tuning they get bad looks and the old "you can play this in standard tuning" comment.
Click to expand...

I think it's two things.

First I think it's just plain musical snobbery because they think that riffs that low are too XYZ and should just be played in a standard tuning, despite the fact that hey probably rarely play riffs like the ones that those of us use dropped tunings play.

And two I think it's an extension of the gear snobbery that a lot of us see, because these players assume that you can play Helios on a squier VM if you're good enough, so you ought to be able to play every riff that comes from a drop tuning on a standardly tuned bass.

Personally I think it's silly. I tune my 6er A-D-A-D-G-C and my 5er (which is in a real drop tuning) G-B-F#-B-E. The rest of my basses are tuned usually in either Standard or drop D.
 
#30
73jbass said:
Why tune down when you could just fret the note?
Click to expand...

If you don't see why its practical sometimes, in spite of FunkMetal's post, then I think you have simply made up your mind and aren't really interested in hearing anything otherwise. It makes certain riffs easier to play and it sounds different than a fretted note. Not sure how else to explain it.
 
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#31
"However, sometimes you need the "drop" tuning in order to play the riffs correctly."

I'm just going by this quote. I guess I'm trying to say that you don't have to have a drop D to play a Low D correctly. It can be played either way. It can be played either open D or fretted in 3rd position and be correct. There is no "only" way to play it. You can play it however you want,no rules.
 
#32
i may be coming from a different direction here since I'm a proggy metal guy, but people seem to forget the "feeling" too. My guitarist plays in drop c, so I also play in drop c. Often riffs are written with the feeling of playing in mind. That open note is an important one and at least usually leave it for reserve. Many interesting rythm riffs use the open note in interesting and important ways.
 
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#34
wetzelman1 said:
i may be coming from a different direction here since I'm a proggy metal guy, but people seem to forget the "feeling" too. My guitarist plays in drop c, so I also play in drop c. Often riffs are written with the feeling of playing in mind. That open note is an important one and at least usually leave it for reserve. Many interesting rythm riffs use the open note in interesting and important ways.
Click to expand...

Why not play in open C?
 
#37
Sartori said:
Tool is the only band I've ever heard that uses Drop tunings well.

Most bands I've heard that use Drop D, use it to making power chords on the lowest two strings easier. Whether the bassist plays in Drop D or Open D, I'm not sure. I would play in Open D, in such a situation.
Click to expand...

You can add Down and Corrosion of Conformity to that list too.

A drop tuning lends a certain timbre to the note that cannot be gotten otherwise. There's a different feel to it and it has different sustain characteristics. And I think the main point here is that there are certain songs where the sequence of notes is so rapid that it is physically impossible to play it without a drop tuning. You'd have to have Kareem Abdul-Jabbar sized hands with Victor Wooten's speed and accuracy. You'd have to be the Michael Phelps of the bass world and that just doesn't exist (yet).
 
#38
NKUSigEp said:
You can add Down and Corrosion of Conformity to that list too.

A drop tuning lends a certain timbre to the note that cannot be gotten otherwise. There's a different feel to it and it has different sustain characteristics. And I think the main point here is that there are certain songs where the sequence of notes is so rapid that it is physically impossible to play it without a drop tuning. You'd have to have Kareem Abdul-Jabbar sized hands with Victor Wooten's speed and accuracy. You'd have to be the Michael Phelps of the bass world and that just doesn't exist (yet).
Click to expand...

I've heard nothing by either Down or Corrosion of Conformity that I could not play, and have an easier time doing so, in an open, rather than drop, tuning. Not to say I don't like those bands, I really do. Unless you're doing a lot of Tool like drone stuff using the 2nd string, and then shifting an octave down from there, I've just never seen the point of using it on bass. I can't think of a single thing that's easier for me to play in a drop tuning than an open one.

Also, why would a drop tuning have a different timbre from an open downtuning?
 
#39
If you play a 5 string tuned BEADG and your guitarist is tuned down to DADGBE and you are playing riffs in unison, the D on your b-string will not sound as powerful as an E string dropped to D and played open. You will also lose symmetry with the guitar player whenever hitting the D.

For any type of music where the guitar is dropped to D and you are playing parts in unison it IS necessary. The open string chugging is a big part of the metal sound.
 

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