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Drop D half step down tuning

#81
NKUSigEp said:
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?
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Yeah, I was never referring to playing it in BEADG. I don't even own a five string. I just was saying that, with some rare but notable exceptions, usually there's not much reason for the bassist to use a drop tuning instead of an open one. Maybe there's some clarification in terminology needed?

Drop Tuning: A tuning in which the lowest string is a perfect 5th down from the next lowest one instead of a perfect 4th. Examples: DADG, CGF, C#G#C#F#, BF#BE

Open Tuning: A tuning in which all strings are a perfect 4th apart. Examples: EADG, DGCF, C#F#BE, CFBbEb, BEAD
 
#83
TerrorRhythm said:
The bottom line is that if you absolutely refuse to play songs written with drop tunings, you probably don't even listen to songs written in drop tunings.

/thread
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It's generally considered bad form to "/thread" your own post.

And not at all. I don't generally play in drop tunings because I find them extremely limiting. However, I also listen to a lot of Tool, and other bands that use them.

In some cases, I've played songs that were originally written in a drop tuning in a downtuned open tuning, simply because for me it was more comfortable and there was no reason not to. Exceptions are Tool songs, where a drop tuning is actually necessary because of some of the strange and creative things they do with the tuning.
 
#87
BDL1991 said:
because it will make you behave differently in that situation to what you usually would you may say it "limits you" but it's just working in a slightly different way, or else dropped tunings wouldn't be popular
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They're popular because it makes heavy power chords really easy on the lowest strings of the guitar, at least that's so in my experience. Every once in a while a band does something more creative with them, but that seems to be the exception, not the rule.

I don't play power chords on the lowest bass strings. So... you probably get where I'm going here.

So I get basically no benefit, and the cost is the fingerings for all scales and arpeggios being completely different on the lowest two strings, with a minor arpeggio being much more difficult, and even shifting between 4ths more difficult.

Lot of loss for very little gain, as far as I can tell. So forgive me if I'm a bit skeptical...
 
#88
FunkMetalBass said:
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.
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Personally, I don't mind drop D tuning now that I've had bit of practice with it. However, I found it to be a huge pain on a fretless because it makes octave fingerings incredibly awkward, especially when it comes to the low Eb and the Eb on the first fret of the D string. I once toyed around with the idea of detuning my fretless for a song that required the low D and might have sounded nice with a fretless but ended up using my fretted five string instead because I was too afraid of playing the octaves on the D string out of tune. Man, I wish I could afford a fretless five string. :hmm:

By the way, I thought an "open tuning" was this.
 
#89
I'll give you the minor arpeggio, major arpeggio requires two fingers, shifting between 4ths isn't difficult, it's basically like playing a minor chord and it's easier to reach 5ths, to each his own, personally i find it easy to move between drop tunings and standard, more often than not when you drop tune your instrument you will be using triplet and galloping patterns with staccato notes played over the top of the patterns on seperate strings following on from that scale, it's very similar to how some slap bassists will use key signatures including the lowest notes possible so that they can go to those notes in their compositions
 
#90
phxlbrmpf said:
Personally, I don't mind drop D tuning now that I've had bit of practice with it. However, I found it to be a huge pain on a fretless because it makes octave fingerings incredibly awkward, especially when it comes to the low Eb and the Eb on the first fret of the D string. I once toyed around with the idea of detuning my fretless for a song that required the low D and might have sounded nice with a fretless but ended up using my fretted five string instead because I was too afraid of playing the octaves on the D string out of tune. Man, I wish I could afford a fretless five string. :hmm:
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i can see where your coming from, the octaves can be tedius around the lower frets never played Drop-D on a fretless though i would think it wouldn't be that difficult, i was playing a lined fretless without realising before, though as i can't speak from expeirience with a Dropped fretless.
 
#91
while i agree with most of what sartori says, i will ask him this:

you're playing a gig, with one bass, tuned standard. the next song is, mmmm i dunno heart shaped box by nirvana. the guitarist tunes his E to D taking all of a few seconds. what do you do? follow suit and be ready to play the song within seconds or stand by your convictions and tune all 4 strings down a whole step, making the crowd wait, so as you're not "limited"?


I know what I and many others would do.....
 
#92
Bassmingo said:
while i agree with most of what sartori says, i will ask him this:

you're playing a gig, with one bass, tuned standard. the next song is, mmmm i dunno heart shaped box by nirvana. the guitarist tunes his E to D taking all of a few seconds. what do you do? follow suit and be ready to play the song within seconds or stand by your convictions and tune all 4 strings down a whole step, making the crowd wait, so as you're not "limited"?


I know what I and many others would do.....
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Yeah, fire that guitar player! I can't have a guy trying to spring new songs on the band during a show.

Seriously though, what's the problem with changing tunings? Sometimes I'll do it but usually I'm too lazy. Or we'll just not play some songs if they're going to be a retuning pain since there are about a billion tunes to choose from. Why make it harder than it has to be?

Don't be a slave to a bunch of rules, tune it however you want, put on a smile and jam!
 
#93
73jbass said:
Some of the Dream Theater I used to play a while back was played on a 6 in standard tuning,while the guitar player played in Dropped D.No problems with symmetry at all. Whatever that means.
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I think he's talking about using the same fingering as the guitarist to play the line on his bass. Kind of a "hey look, we're playing the exact same thing at the exact same speed!" for the audience.
 
#95
Bassmingo said:
while i agree with most of what sartori says, i will ask him this:

you're playing a gig, with one bass, tuned standard. the next song is, mmmm i dunno heart shaped box by nirvana. the guitarist tunes his E to D taking all of a few seconds. what do you do? follow suit and be ready to play the song within seconds or stand by your convictions and tune all 4 strings down a whole step, making the crowd wait, so as you're not "limited"?


I know what I and many others would do.....
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If it's just going to drop D, then I flick the lever on my hipshot :)
 
#96
73jbass said:
There is no real "need" to play drop tuning if you have a 5 string bass. You can tune it to standard,BEADG,and I'll bet you bandmates won't know the difference.
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Try playing the riff from Slither by Velvet Revolver it uses the Low D a lot and unless you're amazingly skilled, it's a lot easier to tune the E string at Drop D, then use it to play that riff.

If you play Keep Away or Animals, you may get by with a 5er.

Songs in Drop D can be very particular.
 
#97
Sartori said:
So I get basically no benefit, and the cost is the fingerings for all scales and arpeggios being completely different on the lowest two strings, with a minor arpeggio being much more difficult, and even shifting between 4ths more difficult.
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I've just played through a few arpeggio's and their actually easier in dropped tuning.
Minor Arpeggio would be Index, Pinky, Index, Index
Major Arpeggo would be Pinky, Index, Pinky, Pinky
and other's i can't comment on but so far they seem easier, and you're not gonna just play a scale during a song, just a straight Minor pentatonic, so scales aren't a problem, so there is no logical reason to dislike a tuning.
 
#98
My stoner rock band tunes down to C Standard.

I play a 5 string bass tuned UP to CFA#D#G#.

I tried tuning the low B down to G, but it was WAY too floppy (even with 35" scale, proper strings, and setup), and to be honest, just never sounded that good. I actually prefer having the access to the upper frets anyway.

just tuned both of the lowest strings down to C, for unison chords. Interesting.
 

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