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Drop D... the point?

Tuning

  • Standard always

    Votes: 45 33.3%

  • Drop D always

    Votes: 2 1.5%

  • Standard/Drop D

    Votes: 74 54.8%

  • other tuning I'm not familiar with (sometimes or always)

    Votes: 14 10.4%
  • Total voters
    135
B

bassanddrums

Nov 28, 2008
160
1
#1
If you only play one not at a time what is the point of changing the tuning from E to D? I understand if you're not why do a large amount of rock tabs show drop D tuning?

15 and naive any answer would lessen my confusion.

Thankyou:bassist:

P.S. What tuning(s) do you use?
 
#8
I chose both, via a Hipshot Xtender Key. I prefer standard tuning, but having the low D for a note that just drops through the floor is very handy to have around on certain songs. Plus with the key, it's nice to flip it down - sometimes just for a note or two - and then pull it back up.

Now, if you just have no NEED for notes lower than the open E string, that is also totally cool and just fine. Play the instrument and the tuning that allows you to play what you're hearing, that's what *I* say.
 
#14
Some songs make more sense to have a bass in drop D especially if you use the lower string often.

My current band plays in drop D so my jazz bass is in drop D.
Sometimes it just makes more sense than to have it in standard tuning.

My other bass is drop B but that is just for metal and what not, keeps the right and left hands goin' fast.
 
#16
well bassists probably wouldnt have came to it except for the fact it allows you to do different chords with a guitar...and if your hanging on to that root note and the guitarist come to the low d then odds are your going to have to haha. i know my band uses it about half the time so a hipshot tuner is about to come into the mix i believe. but really like said earlier, its however you play, if you dont like the nice deepness that the d gives you and heart stopping power..well..your loss :) lol...as for a 5 string. no you dont need to drop it down, but i honestly found it way to easy to just drop it and play so needless to say i dont think im going to be playing a 5 string in my mix for quite a while, i just have no use for the low b but i have thought about just getting a different nut and going with the high c instead
 
#17
I played a 5 for a few years and went back to 4 mostly because I just missed playing a good old P-Bass. Drop D works for the occasional song where you need the low D, Eb notes or certain cool riffs that it facilitates. I put a Hipshot on my basses so I wouldn't have to keep tuning between songs, makes it quick and easy. It's also cool to flip it in the middle of a song sometimes for that low D when you feel the need.
 
#18
VinylRepairKit said:
There are some songs where you kind of need to play the low D on an open string in order to reach the rest of the notes. It's been a long time since I played it, but I seem to remember 'By the Way' by the chili peppers being like this.
Click to expand...

Yep.

Rage - Any song in drop D
Filter - Hey Man Nice Shot
VR - Slither
A7X - Everything
Zep - Moby Dick
STP - Sour Girl, Dead & Bloated, Down, etc.


The list is pretty long, these are just ones I play on a regular basis.
 
#19
I tend to keep a lot of my 4 string basses in dropped D. Most have a Hipshot tuner and can flick back to E without much problem. I settled on a .110 on my 35" scale Peavey Cirrus and Millennium basses because it had enough tension in D that it still sounded firm, but a .115 seemed to stiff in E.

I found that having a fifth between the first two strings had some benefits from a fingering perspective and opened the bass up for some various chording patterns, especially when using harmonics.
 

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