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Drop D half step down tuning
- Thread starter DLI848
- Start date
Where can I upload guitar pro files at? I wanna give you all a crack at playing one of my bands songs correctly in un-dropped tuning.
Guys, there's a difference between "Downtuning" and "Drop tuning." Some of the replies on here have led me to believe that some people aren't aware of this difference.
Just did.
It's not hard in an open tuning. The verse riff is actually easier in an open tuning than a dropped one.
- Aug 5, 2005
- 7,243
- 92
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: J.C. Basses
That's a terrible excuse as it's only a two-fret shift on one string. It takes a bit of getting used to and training, but it's not too hard. Knowing a fifth tuning (rather than a fourth) is really something that every bassist should get used to, IMO. ESPECIALLY with the amount of drop tuning that happens in today's music. At the very least, it'll help you follow a guitarist who is playing in a drop tuning when you are not so that you can translate on the fly.
Db, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb. Was the most fun for me of alternate tunings I've messed with. Get the down tuning and the "drop D" tuning at the same time which was awesome going through a set of Alice In Chains. Not only made things easier for me, I also did a few things like letting the open Db ring while I did a slight bend on another note. Super easy and sounded positively evil.
The musical rules are there so you can learn from other people and see what has worked for them over the years. In the end it's up to you to connect your body to whatever hardware you want so other people can hear what's in your head. It's all fair game however you want to get there.
The musical rules are there so you can learn from other people and see what has worked for them over the years. In the end it's up to you to connect your body to whatever hardware you want so other people can hear what's in your head. It's all fair game however you want to get there.
Sorry but right off the bat there's a problem...where you have a slide down from the first fret on the E-string, it needs to slide down to a C#, not an E. In a live situation with a bunch of drunks it probably won't matter. But it makes a world of difference recorded in a studio. Move it over to the sixth fret on the B-string and it's way too much low-end coming off that slide and will overpower everything.
Sartori - as far as the open tunings, I don't have any experience with those (as elementary as it may be to some) so I can't comment on that, but the argument was in regards to just using a 5-string tuned BEADG. You'll have to enlighten me on what the open tuning is though, I'm definitely down for something easier!
- Aug 5, 2005
- 7,243
- 92
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: J.C. Basses
I didn't know that it was a slide down to the C# - your tab just shows a slide down.
Fixed, and it's still, for the most part, in one position. Not a hard stretch at all.
C |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
G |-------R------------R---------------------------------------------------------------------|
D |-------R------------R---------------------------------------------------------------------|
A |-------R-----2---2--R----------------------------------2---2------------------------------|
E |-------R--0h1-0h1---R-------------------------------0h1-0h1---------------------------0-1-|
B |-14\-2-R----------2-R-5-6\-2-2-3p2-22-26\-2-2-3p2-2----------2-2-3p2-22-26\-2-2-3p2-2-----|
EDIT: I just noticed that you said not to do the 6\2 slide, but then that completely destroys any ability to play in standard. None of the open C#'s are going to sound like the 2nd fret B-string...we've acknowledged this fact numerous times in this thread...so you really can't make that argument or prohibit the transcription from containing it. In any case, what if the low B-string was only a .110 or .115? I bet it would sound nearly identical to your C# string.
EDIT2: BEADG = open tuning
Well there ya go. Dropped tunings DO have a place!
Just because you have the right notes doesn't mean you're playing it right. Any idiot can play Mozart, but it takes a special idiot to play it like Mozart intended.
Hmmm, how does anyone know what Mozart intended?Well there ya go. Dropped tunings DO have a place!
Just because you have the right notes doesn't mean you're playing it right. Any idiot can play Mozart, but it takes a special idiot to play it like Mozart intended.
mozart intended for all music to eventually become neo-classical power metal with country basslines, reggae drums and everything tuned to the key of URRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHH *insert black metal claw here* no but seriously, his intensions now if he were alive would be completely to the one's he had
Have some of you people got something against playing notes on open strings, and you have to fret every single note, like it makes you a better player than others?
Jeez, why make life more difficult for yourselves? When you're playing a 3 hour set like I sometimes do, you want to make things as easy as you can so you can last the night. Whether that means fretting certain notes that could be played open, or open strings, they're all valid. Do it the way that's easier to play.
Jeez, why make life more difficult for yourselves? When you're playing a 3 hour set like I sometimes do, you want to make things as easy as you can so you can last the night. Whether that means fretting certain notes that could be played open, or open strings, they're all valid. Do it the way that's easier to play.
Well there ya go. Dropped tunings DO have a place!
Just because you have the right notes doesn't mean you're playing it right. Any idiot can play Mozart, but it takes a special idiot to play it like Mozart intended.
I played it tuned open C#F#BE, which is what I've been talking about the entire time. It's quite easy in that tuning. The verse riff is even easier than in drop C#.
It sounds to me like certain people here are getting a tad defensive about the fact that sometimes a detuned/drop tuned 4 string can be better than a 5 string.
i've always followed the ethos that a riff written on a altered tuned 4 string sounds best when played on an altered tuned 4 string
case in point: years ago i watched a cover band play killing in the name by ratm. the bassist played a 6 string.
were the notes right? yes.
did it sound right? not really.
being an avid tool fan, i spent a lot of time over on the tooltabs forum. it got to the point when we were tabbing songs that arguments arose over positioning, and the fact that justin chancellor for example would go to the d note on the 12th fret on the detuned 4th string rather than 5th fret on the 3rd...thats how anal it got, but it had a point
my opinion is that the right notes are not enough. if you want to play a song accurately, you also have to have the right positions.
now are you wrong if you dont use the right position? thats not for me to say, but when i learn a song i'll try and figure out the same positions, but if its simply physically impossible for me, i'll adapt.
now, cover bands cant have instruments in every tuning for every song, so they adapt. nothing wrong with that. but you'd never see a guy in a tool tribute band using a 6 string....it simply would not work. sure all the notes are there....but they wont sound right.
i hope i made some sense.
i've always followed the ethos that a riff written on a altered tuned 4 string sounds best when played on an altered tuned 4 string
case in point: years ago i watched a cover band play killing in the name by ratm. the bassist played a 6 string.
were the notes right? yes.
did it sound right? not really.
being an avid tool fan, i spent a lot of time over on the tooltabs forum. it got to the point when we were tabbing songs that arguments arose over positioning, and the fact that justin chancellor for example would go to the d note on the 12th fret on the detuned 4th string rather than 5th fret on the 3rd...thats how anal it got, but it had a point
my opinion is that the right notes are not enough. if you want to play a song accurately, you also have to have the right positions.
now are you wrong if you dont use the right position? thats not for me to say, but when i learn a song i'll try and figure out the same positions, but if its simply physically impossible for me, i'll adapt.
now, cover bands cant have instruments in every tuning for every song, so they adapt. nothing wrong with that. but you'd never see a guy in a tool tribute band using a 6 string....it simply would not work. sure all the notes are there....but they wont sound right.
i hope i made some sense.
I'm not. I don't own a five string, I use a BEAD tuned 4banger instead. I've nothing against downtuning, until it gets to ridiculous levels, and even then, if it can sound good, it's fine.
However, most of the time I see little point to using a drop tuning (tuning the bottom string a 5th below instead of a 4th below the next lowest string), unless one is going to do something really unique and inventive with it as Tool does. Most of the time, however, it seems like the bassist just drop tunes because the guitars do, and the point of drop tuning on guitar is to make certain chords easier on the lowest strings most of the time, and so in my view, there's no reason really for the bass to be in a dropped instead of open tuning.
Case in point: When I played with a band where the guitarists were in Drop C, I tuned a 4 string to open C (C F Bb Eb). I had no need for a drop tuning, as I wasn't playing chords, and find open tunings, no matter how low they are, much less limiting than dropped ones.
Maybe that makes me a jerk, I don't know.
- Aug 5, 2005
- 7,243
- 92
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: J.C. Basses
Well there ya go. Dropped tunings DO have a place!
Just because you have the right notes doesn't mean you're playing it right. Any idiot can play Mozart, but it takes a special idiot to play it like Mozart intended.
First you say that you'd like to see somebody attempt your song in an open tuning so that this could be lain to rest, then you quickly dismiss it as impossible when I post tabs of it in an open tuning. Please, make up your mind.
If you guys can honestly not see why being able to play in a drop tuning is advantageous in some situations, then literally no amount of explanation is likely going to change your minds. Its something you try and if you get it, you get it, if not, then by all means, climb up onto your 200 foot tall soapbox and continue singing disdain against all of the poor fools who continue to use drop tunings.
Were I you, I'd be less concerned about playing drop tuned songs with my low B five string than falling off my soapbox midset...
Were I you, I'd be less concerned about playing drop tuned songs with my low B five string than falling off my soapbox midset...
Who's talking about using a standard tuned five string to play in low C# or D? I certainly am not. I've been talking about using open downtuned 4-strings this whole time.
No, the argument was playing it in standard BEADG and not an open tuning since that would defeat the purpose of NOT changing tunings. If you guys were arguing about something else the whole time then I must have missed it. I know Sartori brought up the issue with the different open tunings which I'll have to look into further...maybe I'll have to change some things myself?
I think I've been pretty open to say that different people do different things and that's totally cool. But when someone puts a lot of thought and time and effort into creating something so that it has a specific feel and sound...you know what, since you guys are being punks about it, I'm done. You've officially ruffled my feathers over something so stupid and trivial it's ridiculous. I try to stay away from stupid debates like this but I'm no match for ignorance. You should start your own Anti-Drop Tunings club.
