Drop D... the point?

[Jake of Bass]

Listen to tool.

here endeth the lesson.

Beat me to it.

After listening, learn some. Songs like Schism use all 4 strings simultaneously (in the bridge/interlude), hence the low D being vital. You can't play it on a 5 (I've tried).

 

[Diogenes]

First off I'm a traditional 4-string guy... haven't mastered it yet and it hasn't limited my creativity so why add another string? Secondly, I rarely play anything below standard tuning... however I do have to drop to D for one of our songs but it only takes a few seconds to change.

 

[BarkerBass]

I play 4, 5 and 6 strings, usually i play standard.... about 95% of my playing i'd guestimate. My 5 string is always sandard, even when my old band played things like slither by VR i challenged myself to learn the riff in standard fretting all the low D's and jumping strings across the neck instead of freting up it, man that was a hand work out and a half but a massive sense of accomplishment after puling it off at a gig or 2. on my 4 string jazz bass i play drop D for that HUGE boomy growly jazz tone, especially on songs like wake up by rage is rocks the house! on my 6 i sometimes tune the B up to a C for certain songs my dream theater and origonals but most of the time my guitard plays in C# standard so i have learnt to ret everything instead of detuning my whole bass down that far plus if i play the C# up on the A string it really punched through the mix in fills/riffs

i've considered getting a drop D tuner on my jazz but since i barely use drop D live it doesn't seem like a good use of my money to me. jm2c

 

[p4toda]

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

P.S. What tuning(s) do you use?

to my experience songs are tuned in drop D to cater to the pitch of the vocalists' range. Lower notes are easier to achieve in rock, this is important in doing cover songs, do not use drop D tuning if your vocalist is not comfortable with the extra low range or vice versa with a song that uses standard tuning. I hope my answer helped.

I use 5 string bass and i do not need to drop the tuning. peace!

 

[ihateusernames]

We tune 1/2 step down and have 5 or so songs a night requiring open D string. Also have a couple of tunes in rotation that I need the low Bflat but transpose it up an octave. Yuck - stringing one of my basses to BEAD (flat) this week to see how much use the B string gets - then adding a Hipshot to one of the basses. Probably the Sterling, I dunno yet. The guys insist on spreading the open D songs throughout the night instead of in a block so leaving one tuned to drop D leaves me switching back and forth if I leave one tuned to it and it's a hassel when you forget to switch!

 

[Jake of Bass]

If you're going to string a bass with that tuning, you want to check the tension on your neck and the channels in the nut for each string...

 

[Jeff Martinez]

Open strings can play a critical role in music. My 4-string fretless is tuned DADA, because I like to use a lot of 10th chords. One of my 5-ers is tuned ADADA, again because of the chords it opens up. On my main 5-string I equally use EADGC, DADGC, and DGDGD. Each of these tunings opens up different possibilities.

On my MySpace page you can hear a few of these tunings:
"Lou" is played on my old 4-string Squire, tuned DADA
"Sunrise On The Other Side" is tune DADGC
Tonight I'll post another song from my new CD that is in DGDGD.

 

[Oric]

I've found that slapping disco octaves is a whole lot easier in drop D. Assuming you're using that string, of course.

 

[Metal Matt]

I used to play dropped G on my five string in my old band. a .145 gauge!

I actually have a 5 string strung up with a .145. I use it for drop G#-drop F#... although it's just a bit too loose at F#. I'm thinking about stringing it up .165, .135, .105, .85, .65 and putting it permanently in the F#0-E0 range.

 

[atheos]

Usually drop D is for playing riffs and/or melodies that would be either impossible, extremely difficult or at least much more difficult to play in standard tuning, DGCF or 5-string bass.

For guitarists it's also extremely convenient since one can play power chords with only one left hand finger

 

[Guest043]

BEADGC

represent.

 

[Ric5]

With a 5 string drop D is unnecessary correct?

Ya for the most part ... Although some 5 string players will tune a 5 string ADGCF or F#BEAD.

I used to have a 4 string Ric tuned EADG, and a 4 string p-bass tuned E flat and a 4 string jazz tuned DGCF ... Then I needed a low D flat so I switched to the 5 string bass tuned BEADG ... that will do 99% of any music I need to play.

 

[Zappstorius]

I play in drop d occasionally with a 5 string bass, it makes it easier to play some songs. With a tuner on my board, it takes about 5 seconds to do it, no one in the audience can hear a thing...

 

[(b)Assman]

The most obvious answer would be lower range, 2 notes exactly. Deeper sound.

Other answers would be more growly due to lower tension, and because the guitars do it.

 

[EggnogJunkie]

Well, in my experience, playing in a jazz band and the key is sometimes Eb or D... You could tune down a touch if you're only familiar with 1st position...

you can just move.... up that neck, but it isn't quite as deep...

Anyhow, as far as rock goes, guitarists do it to make power chords easier... Tuning down gives depth to the notes, too, so dropping it to D opens up a lot of low-end options...

That's about all I got on that one.

 

[rarbass]

Now what I've found is that usually with a 5-string you don't have to tune down to use the low D. However, if you use the 5 string, you require one of your fingers to reach that low D, and if you're doing fast passages, alternating between that D and higher notes, it becomes difficult. When in Drop D, you don't need to use one of your fingers to hit the low D, so it becomes a lot more convenient to have it in Drop D for certain songs. It certainly is redundant, but you could compare it to guitar players doing strange tunings to have a chord when strumming all 6 open strings. Strange tunings are not always ONLY for hitting extra notes, they can also be for convenient. So while I see the redundance in tuning down the E string while you have a 5 string (though making note of the fact that I don't play any songs where I might need that low D to be an extreme convenience) I can see why it would also be useful.

So, having a 5-string elimintes the NEED for detuning, but for convenience purposes you might still want to do it, depending on the song.

Sorry for the bit of a rant here, might be a bit wordy, but it got me thinking so I had to post.

 

[NoFrets4Me]

Always standard tuning. One of the many things that I love about my 5-string.