Better yet leave your nut as it is and get a 5 string, learn to play it, and leave the drop-tuning to the guitarists who NEED to do it.
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Drop-tuning problem - string is too loose...
- Thread starter Gunstringer
- Start date
Better yet leave your nut as it is and get a 5 string, learn to play it, and leave the drop-tuning to the guitarists who NEED to do it.
+1
Or just get heavier strings & get your bass setup for that tuning and you'll be fine. No tricks, no secrets. It's a pretty simple 'problem' to 'fix' - either manage w/ a 5 string or just grab some thicker strings to increase your string tension.
herp derp derp. I suppose then that you should just tell all those guitarists to buy a 7 string too right? And I guess michael manring should just by a 5 string too then right?
Drop Tuning has it's merits, stop being closed minded.
Not this argument again. PM me your email address, I will send you one of our songs in a guitarpro file and you can post a video of you playing it on a standard strung 5 string. Deal?
just for the sake of fueling the fire - you do know that GP5 can transpose a song into a different tuning properly right? as in, it can transpose your drop d/c/b/whatever songs into a standard BEADG positioning.
just for the sake of fueling the fire - you do know that GP5 can transpose a song into a different tuning properly right? as in, it can transpose your drop d/c/b/whatever songs into a standard BEADG positioning.
Yup I know that. What I'm saying is that some songs, including some my band plays, cannot be played on a 5 string in standard tuning because of the pattern of the notes. I am not trying to be arrogant but I encounter alot of closed-mindedness when discussing this subject.
If anyone is up for the challenge, let me know and I will send you some of our songs in guitarpro.
I restrung my bass with BEAD strings but in my band I tune B-F#-B-E so I tune up the bottom three strings. I strung my bass with a normal B string and somewhat lighter gauge strings on the bottom for less string tension when I tune up. The bass is dedicated just for that tuning. I had to file the nut for the new strings and had to re-set up my bass. So far it has worked great!
I'm just playing devil's advocate. I dropped my B string on my 5 & switched it for a high C, so I could properly detune to drop C & have all the range I wanted.
I support drop tuning.
I've never thought of doing that to a 5er, that would be sick!
i tuned my 5er C-G-C-F-A# i believe it is and personally i couldn't play the bands songs as well as i could on my 4 string just because of the string spacing, though it is quite viable, but alot easier to get someone else to it rather than yourself, i went through 4 65 gauge strings on one bass, luckily i had some lying around
and to the OP if you're using this bass for D# and Drop C# then i suggest what many here have suggested, taking the low B off of a 5 set, i suggest 120, and take the normal set, 80-65-45, or whatever your preference is, i have a bass that is permenantly set up for full step down and Drop-C, i filed the nut on it myself, the Bridge may be a little less lenient, and you could have problems getting the low B in and out depending on the bridge you have, but that's my "2 cents" as it were
and to the OP if you're using this bass for D# and Drop C# then i suggest what many here have suggested, taking the low B off of a 5 set, i suggest 120, and take the normal set, 80-65-45, or whatever your preference is, i have a bass that is permenantly set up for full step down and Drop-C, i filed the nut on it myself, the Bridge may be a little less lenient, and you could have problems getting the low B in and out depending on the bridge you have, but that's my "2 cents" as it were
this is by far the best tip in the whole thread.
you will never get the perfect action if you use diferent tunings on the same bass.
My band uses drop C tuning as well and I tune my five string to CEADG tuning for the songs that make my hand hurt without an open C. Do you feel your band's songs would work in that tuning?
Re: impossible to play songs: another thing to take into consideration is that some of the open string riffs guitarists like to come up with may very well be playable in standard tuning but may be extremely hard on your fretting hand. I too used to be all snobbish about not needing the open strings but when I discovered that my fretting hand hurt like hell after some songs (even though I have decent left hand technique), I decided I'd rather change my tuning instead of killing my hands.
rockstarbassist
Inactive
I have .110-.50 on my bass I keep in C tuning (CGCF) and the tension is great, although they are DR Lo-Riders, and I had that bass set up specifically for that tuning. There's usually some adjustments that need to be made in order for it to sound good that low, although on my main NS2 I go all the way from standard E/drop D to Eb/C# and have no issues with my .105-.45 DR Hi Beams. But anything lower you'll get issues. I could use 3 basses (C, standard E/drop D, Eb/C#) but my NS2 handles the latter 2 like a champ which is good, b/c it sounds the best!
I've never had to use a BEAD set although I'd like to try if my low tuning bass ever gets out of hand, but it hasn't yet.
Also some of you chowderheads who can't play in anything but standard BEADG need a life... zomg. Alternate tunings exist for a reason and there are reasons so many people use them. There's plenty of songs out there esp in heavy rock that would sound like absolute butt if you tried to play it "transposed"... you'd be like the average bar band who transposes every song to E and plays it in the same tempo as the 40 others and they're indistinguishable from the next and last and don't even sound like the original... talk about half @ssin'!
I've never had to use a BEAD set although I'd like to try if my low tuning bass ever gets out of hand, but it hasn't yet.
Also some of you chowderheads who can't play in anything but standard BEADG need a life... zomg. Alternate tunings exist for a reason and there are reasons so many people use them. There's plenty of songs out there esp in heavy rock that would sound like absolute butt if you tried to play it "transposed"... you'd be like the average bar band who transposes every song to E and plays it in the same tempo as the 40 others and they're indistinguishable from the next and last and don't even sound like the original... talk about half @ssin'!
- Apr 20, 2009
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