How do you tune your bass? Do you also tune to drop C or do you play a 5 string and leave it in BEADG?
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
? For those who play with guitarists in drop C
- Thread starter Ryno1330
- Start date
I've recently recorded a couple bass tracks for a guitarist/singer at my studio. The guy tunes to drop C. I found rhe easiest way was to tune a 5er up a half step (CFA#D#G#). Worked great, easier riffing overall, and didn't even have to adjust my carbon reinforced Schecter CV-5 (tuned it standard as soon as I finished). I have some more tracks left to lay down, will definitely repeat the procedure. You'd just need to adjust truss rod/intonation if you're leaving a bass tuned like that for more than a couple hours. Also don't hesitate trying a lighter string gauge if such tuning was to be permanent in a bass.
I'm a little confused. It looks like you tuned the top 2 strings up a whole step, then the bottom 3 up a half step. I'm guessing it's just the way you wrote out the notes though?
I generally prefer to be in the same tuning as the guitars. Particularly if there's a lot of pedalling off the open strings.
Imagine a capo on the first fret of a 5 string. That's what he's describing.Not quite drop C, but a fast way to get C for your open low string chugging.
I think drop C sounds best with a slack tuned E string, preferably around .110. The B tuned up has a bit of extra overtones and doesn't sound as beefy to me.
Personally I would tune my 5 GCGCF. It doesn't add much musically but having 2 sets of open octaves can be pretty fun and you can use the extreme lows as sort of an effect.
I once played in a metal band with a dropped C guitarist. I kept my 5 string in standard. The chugging of Eb to C on the low B string of a 35" scale 5er got old in a hurry. If I had to do it over today, I'd use my dropped D bass and something electronic to detune it further.
I guess it would depend on what kind of vibe you're trying to achieve and what you're more comfortable playing with. If you just want to hit the notes and you have no problem playing with the 5 in standard do that, but if you want it to sound heavy drop tune the 4 stringer and play that C on an open string. It's a matter of what flavor you prefer. I play in a band where we're all tuned to C standard and I wouldn't consider playing my 5 string because we ride the open C far too often for me to want it to sound fretted. I'd rather slam that open string and also not have to worry about tripping myself up with the B string because I'm a mediocre bass player most days lol.
If D-A-D-G is called Drop D, what is the correct word for moving the bottom string in the opposite direction to something like C-E-A-D-G – Lift C?
And has CEADG been any good to anyone?
And has CEADG been any good to anyone?
Will you be playing much open stringed riffage (i.e. metalcore/hardcore)? If yes, tune your bass to standard C or dropped C.
If the music is more chord based (perfectly fine on a guitar tuned to drop C, there are fun chords to be had), staying in B standard is fine.
It is an option for 5-string double bass: see for example this article by the chief engineer at Thomastik-Infeld (point 2).
TBer @iiipopes tunes his electric fiver that way.
Brazilian 7-string guitar traditionally has the 7th string tuned to C, although some songs call for it being a B or an A (drop A being instead the choice of American 7-string jazz guitarists).
I have a bass tuned in Drop C to match. Makes unison runs & pedal riffs so much easier.
About half of the songs we play are in drop C (and we play modern country/southern rock). I used to just use a 5 string and have a Mooer pitch shift pedal that would go up a 1/2 step when I needed drop C, but I don't like the slight latency and chorus effect I get from it so I switched to bringing 2 4 strings one tuned E standard one in D standard and both have hip shot detuners so I can go from standard to drop C.
This, and:
This.
I tend to play a lot of open string pedal tones, so tuning lower makes it easier. There's also that a fretted note on a BEADG -tuned 5-string does not sound the same than a drop tuned 4-string, especially with D, C# etc. if you're not changing the 4-string set radically thicker. Loose and flabby strings have their own nice nastiness that serves some music genres well. Especially with Fuzz.
On the rare occasion that I've played with a band or in a session in drop C, my first instinct was to grab a 4 tuned CGCF. What I found I preferred, however, was a 5 string in drop A (AEADG) because it moves the C from the first fret to the third, and also gives you a chunky low Bb.
JeezyMcNuggles
Inactive
- Feb 23, 2018
- 14,723
- 20,970
- Disclosures
- I suck, but nobody really notices
I quietly saw through his brake lines on his car.
