How many metal bass players use a 6 string or more?

[growler-br]

A sixer is a whole new beast but a lot of fun for melody and tapping. I had mine tuned to a C with the low string being tuned to an A....Little bit of set up but no biggie just heavy guage strings. I never owned a bass tuned to EADG...I prefer a fiver tuned to ACGCF. Perfect setup for metal and all the notes you will need to play like KSE.

 

[Hollywars]

lol metalcore. Anyways, I use a 6 string bass in my band. It's useful, because I can play lower notes than an E and also chord on the top. I can play songs in C, drop D, D, whatever. Some may be harder to play, but you can do it.

 

[dannybuoy]

Anyone ever tried a capo on the first fret rather than tuning a 5er up to C?

 

[madbassplaya]

Anyone ever tried a capo on the first fret rather than tuning a 5er up to C?

that's an interesting idea.

 

[flipper_gv]

Unexpect - bassist named Chaoth, 9 strings BEE bass. (avant garde metal band from Montreal)

 

[dannybuoy]

that's an interesting idea.

That's what I plan on doing, since I love playing riffs up around the 7th fret and above while banging away on the low pedal notes... If I want to venture away from the keys of E or B a capo seems the easiest way to do it. However I looked online yesterday and found at least 50 different capo designs, so need to find the smallest least intrusive one that works best on a bass guitar neck...

 

[Fetusyolk]

that would mean the bass would have to be completely set up for that low C tuning then? how much of a hassle is that?

people around here tend to be a bit nit-picky and paranoid about feel. tune your b string up to a C. everything should be fine. check you're intonation - but you should do that when drop tuning anyway. no big deal.

 

[chanson]

The current bassist for Borknagar has an 8 string fretless. I'd recommend checking him out, he has been in other bands too

 

[Munjibunga]

OK. Of the 4,215 true professional metal bass players in the world, only 37 of them play sixers.

Of all 57,277 metal bass players in the world, 291 play sixers.

 

[blendermassacre]

Get a fiver, but I don't understand why they would have to tune from C to B? You can play a C when you have a fiver, so I don't see why.

 

[Plantbrain]

I agree with tuning to suit. Go for the C in place of the B.

A 6 can get a lot of work load in a metal band, particularly if you like the classical scales, and riffs.

Have the guitarist give you some scales to work on.
These will help you feel comfy with the 6 string.

I'm a bit odd myself, I like 4s and 6's, but do not really care for the 5's. I try to work with plenty of genres and use the frets board all over. Having said that, you can still kick serious butt with 2 strings and a few simple notes that are well placed and dead on.

But, you should be able to do that just as well with a 6, and have plenty of options to toy around with. Metal is as good as you want it to be, likewise, you can infuse the metal also with jazz, extended ranges, funky stankiness etc.

Most metal bands are receptive to funkiness, well, except for Metallica, bunch of dumb $ grubbing fools, glad Les did not join them.

Better off musically (not $ wise).

Tom

 

[SMASH]

I've played metal in a band that tunes to C. I used my 5-string in standard tuning. Tuning up is ridiculous in my opinion.

If I had 6-strings at the time and I felt like using them, then that's what I'd have used. Some chording in the spacey parts would've been cool. If you have no use for the high-C then maybe just bring a 5'er, but there's no point in buying one for this.

Good luck with the new project.

 

[dannybuoy]

Tuning a 5 string up to C is useful if you're playing riffs that rely on playing a low open C or F while your hand is busy further up the neck. That's why I'm looking at a capo solution so I'm less restricted and can change the 'tuning' instantly if I need to.

 

[madbassplaya]

Tuning a 5 string up to C is useful if you're playing riffs that rely on playing a low open C or F while your hand is busy further up the neck. That's why I'm looking at a capo solution so I'm less restricted and can change the 'tuning' instantly if I need to.

I want to try this now.

Has anyone else? it seems like a good solution.

 

[I-play-bass]

I want to try this now.

Has anyone else? it seems like a good solution.

This is what I did when i still had my Spector NSCRFM 5, tuned to C standard (C, F, A#, D#)

All you need to do is increse tension on your truss rod a tad and you're safe to tune up a semi-tone.

The reaons WHY most people use C for tunign is that C is a darker SOUNDING note than a B is. Since C minor is one of the darkest sounding chords there is.

You have the perfect 6-string to use in a Metal band, a Corvette will be really mean sounding if you want it to be. Jeff Hughell (Ex-Braindrill) used a Corvette 6-string for a time until he got his 7-string Conklin.
The bassist for Ensiferum uses a 6-string Corvette as well.

 

[Official Ninja]

Sami Hinkka from Ensiferum uses 6 and 7 string basses. He is one of my favorite bassists to listen to.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sami_Hinkka
Invalid Link Removed

 

[SMASH]

Tuning a 5 string up to C is useful if you're playing riffs that rely on playing a low open C or F while your hand is busy further up the neck. That's why I'm looking at a capo solution so I'm less restricted and can change the 'tuning' instantly if I need to.

Huh. Well to each his own. As long as the reason isn't that the guitarists are complaining 'cause your hand isn't on the same part of the neck as theirs, which IMO is goofy. (this happened to me).

A capo works fine. And you can do it just for the song you need it on. Surely better than completely re-tuning and adjusting your truss rod.

TB'er :::BASSIST::: gigged using a capo for a couple of years. Ask him about it.

 

[Anthbass]

I use a 6 string fretless on occasion. No one in my band downtunes, so I use the B string to go an octave under in some cases. The high C is just for speedy showin' off (for me).

 

[MozzaRellum]

I use my Modulus Q6 TBX, Ibanez SR3006E in metal band.

 

[Ziltoid]

The bassist from unexpect (8), scale the summit, and some others I don't know.