Have you ever tuned AEADG?

[Greenman72]

Has anybody ever done this? What was the result?

Long story short - I'm still a rookie, but a saw a tab video where somebody played a Type O Negative song using a lot of chords, but they were basically all "octave" chords, where you play the root note and the octave above it (presumably by muting the string between the two. (I'm a huge TON fan.)

But if you dropped to A, you cold play the 1-5-Octave chord much easier, right? Seems like this would work pretty well for that situation, no?

 

[RSBBass]

As I responded, I haven't tried it. My concern would be that the low B is already pushing it for the ability of most rigs to reproduce cleanly. Dropping to A would make it worse. Doing so in a chord would pushing it even further. But hey, try it and see how it goes.

 

[AHaze]

Never done it myself but it's the 5 string equivalent of drop D so it's not a particularly outside the box idea.
The gotchas I see are that the bass you're doing this with better have a spectacular B-string to start with and (as mentioned above) A-0 is 27.5 Hz which is well into the roll off of most bass cabs.

 

[ZachM]

I haven't owned a five string bass for nearly seven years now, but I've been tuning my basses in DGCF exclusively since 2008. When I did play five strings, I also tuned them this way, ADGCF.

My experience is that it's totally viable, provided you have an instrument that has decent clarity to begin with. Personally I don't really love drop tuning - I'd rather keep the same interval spacing across the strings, and I actually find the octave more difficult to play in drop tuning, not less. Mainly because I find that muting the unwanted strings is actually a bit harder with the hand positioned like that.

Regarding cab performance, some things will obviously be better than others, but I gigged for years with an Ampeg 810 (not a cab that is renowned for its low end extension) and was just fine regarding the reproduction of those low notes.

While it's true that the falloff of that cab (and almost all commercial bass cabs) is well above the fundamental frequency of a low A, remember that a lot of what you're perceiving in a bass sound isn't actually the fundamental, but the first and second harmonic. Those are well above the falloff point of almost all bass cabs. Your brain will actually fill in the missing information on the fundamental by perceiving those harmonics, which is pretty neat.

 

[Watchootognbout]

No.
But I do have a six string bass tuned AEBF#C#G#

 

[Geri O]

I didn’t vote because I use a Hipshot Xtender when I need a low A. Which isn’t often, but glad it’s there.

 

[Killing Floor]

No. But it’s a good idea because some of my older basses don’t have an A.

 

[FunkHead]

I only ever did as needed for the song ie;”polyamorous”then right back to BEADG.
Not really a match in your poll.

 

[Marc A Valero]

I had a Hipshot extender on my Stingray 5 back in the 1990s but only used it on a couple of songs, so put the original tuner back in. Don't think chords or unison octaves with B or low A string will sound good.

 

[5StringBlues]

Not on purpose

 

[Aidenn7]

Drop A Standard.. so that is 432 tuning on the regular strings.. that A would be 55hz cabs reproduce to 40hz.. you'd be using a 35" Active pickups.. highpass the cab at 35 hz.. let the subs to the rest of the.. unless you going direct.. if I was using this tuning.. I'd use 160 string.. with a brass nut.. with reinforcement rods in the neck.. then a hair band mute near the headstock.. so basically a higher end Ibanez bass.. unless you want to go to some obvious trouble prolly not worth it..

 

[2112]

Yup, but just when I need it.

 

[bassrique]

I did this years ago because I didn't like the keys going a full step lower than me.

 

[evanrunyon]

Yup, I have played a lot in drop A. I wouldn’t say that the open string responds super quickly or is super clear…but that’s not necessarily what we’re always going for. And that low A on even a nice big grand piano is kind of a pile of mud, anyway.

 

[Jeff Scott]

Have you ever tuned AEADG?

 

[Heiwa]

Yes, but I had to stop because the police were chasing me.

 

[Dillion Hanahan]

Love all the info guys, I have an Ibanez SR406 with a 34” neck. Currently tuned to BEADGB. I would like to drop it an octave or so for a “dirty pop” vibe. The low B I have doesn’t get me where I want right now tho I imagine if it was lowing it could ring for longer and deeper so I was really considering drop tuning. What would yall recommend as a starting point (that my bass can handle) can I do Drop D/C/B or would I have to take it to the music shop to alter it? . Just using regular distortion right now through the amp. Should I add a compressor or a fancy dark glass pedal to get where I want? Not worried about loosing the high end as it’s a six string and I can play around with the active pickups to get it where I want for that. More focused on chasing the low end.

 

[Bill Murray]

Drop A is my favorite metal tuning. I always have one bass dedicated to it. You might need to adjust the action a bit depending on your technique/tone goals but it is a popular tuning.

 

[Element Zero]

I did it A LOT back in the day with a prog band. Installed a D-Tuner on the B string of my Fodera too that I’ve had for a few years. Nice to hit those low Bb’s and low A notes for extreme dramatic effect. Someday I’d really like a 6 string tuned low F#-G.

 

[Nightsprinter]

I definitely have. Most of the time I just stay in A standard though. Thank you Andrew Gouche