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Drop g tuning

M

MelodicExp

Aug 17, 2011
57
0
#1
I play in a hardcore band and the guitar player plays in drop g. For some reason his tone sounds really muddy to me. I'm gonna list some reasons why I think this is happening in hopes you can tell me how to fix it.
1. Bad eq setting on his part
2. His strings are to floppy (I think he needs some baritone strings)
3. His technique is lacking( I don't really
think this is it
4. Terrible distortion pedal
 
#5
the e would tune to g...would be my guess...but then my thought is the fact that because its sooo low that it would be muddying the sound, because also just thinking about it the other strings would also have to be stepped down to not seem sooo drastic...tell him to play in drop C and that would sound much better and way darker sounding whilst still maintaing clarity of sound...dropped G would just sound a mud pile IMO
 
#7
Heavy gauge stainless strings would provide a little more clarity thru the high gain, but his EQ would need some adjusting.

See if he'd give these a whirl. But bear in mind, the nut would need to be slotted for the heavier gauge string, any guitar shop can do that.

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#8
Nasty Nate said:
5 steps is not that crazy, meshuggah has been tuned down a whole octave since the 80s, granted, their playing 7 and 8 string guitars.
Click to expand...

There's quite a difference between downtuning an octave and dropping just one string 5 steps.

I have a few thoughts (aside from wondering why a guitar player would want over an octave difference between his lowest string and the next (A) string).

String guage: Just guessing, but I think the G string would need to be twice as thick as a standard A string, so we're in the range of .070 or larger.

Speakers: The dropped G string would be the same pitch as the 3rd fret G on a bass guitar. Not many guitar speakers can handle frequencies that low.
 
#9
My old band did this. Solution?
It's definitely the strings. They used a .082 drop tuned set from Circle K Strings and the sound was so much better after that!

I'm not so sure about how it sounds for hardcore though. We were pretty heavy deathcore and the guitarists were running through sonic maximizers and decimators, but through standard amplification it should still sound good. Point is if your string is floppy you dont have a very strong fundamental. Up the gauge, up the tension, and you get an amazing sound!

wcriley said:
There's quite a difference between downtuning an octave and dropping just one string 5 steps.

Speakers: The dropped G string would be the same pitch as the 3rd fret G on a bass guitar. Not many guitar speakers can handle frequencies that low.
Click to expand...

Drop G is like this: G0-D1-G1-C2-F2-Ab2, or at least it was for me on my bass. The guitars were an octave higher, and had that M3 interval thrown in there somewhere. It's exactly like downtuning an octave, just two steps less!

As per speakers...No...any amp will handle that fine. I played in Drop A through a Vox ac15 for years, and nobody died.
 
#10
wcriley said:
There's quite a difference between downtuning an octave and dropping just one string 5 steps.

I have a few thoughts (aside from wondering why a guitar player would want over an octave difference between his lowest string and the next (A) string).
Click to expand...

But it's not just 1 string dropped & there wouldn't be an octave between them, Drop G is G-D-G-C-E-A.
 
#11
Ah! Different terminology than I'm accustomed to.
To me, "dropped tuning" means dropping just one string. What you're describing is what I'd call a combination of "down tuning" and "drop tuning".

My comment about the speakers' ability to handle the pitches still stands, though.
 
#12
Big_Daws said:
the e would tune to g...would be my guess...but then my thought is the fact that because its sooo low that it would be muddying the sound, because also just thinking about it the other strings would also have to be stepped down to not seem sooo drastic...tell him to play in drop C and that would sound much better and way darker sounding whilst still maintaing clarity of sound...dropped G would just sound a mud pile IMO
Click to expand...

As floppy as a fish on land, I guess :p With a 8 string guitar that has a F# string, it would be tuning up, right?
 

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