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John Myung tuning/de-tuning???

DanoesqBass

DanoesqBass

Bass For Life
Nov 20, 2007
263
64
Omaha Nebraska, USA
#1
Hey TBers, I tried searching first in case this was already covered, got tangled in threads...

I'm trying to show a kid some DT stuff and as far as Myung's tuning I have seen so far he does tune the B sting up to C when he needs to hit the open C while doing other things...

But generally does DT and John play in standard tuning or tuned down a half step?

And don't get me started on folks who try to TAB their stuff, and the stange tunings etc.

Thanks in advance for any help!:D
 
#2
Generally Dream Theater does play in standard tuning. Even when they do play in drop tunings Myung pretty much stays in standard. There are some songs, such as A Rite of Passage and Endless Sacrifice, where he does tune his B string up to a D. There are other songs where Petrucci is in drop C or even lower, like a baritone guitar, and Myung will still be in standard. A song example of Petrucci in a drop tuning and Myung in staying standard tuning are A Nightmare To Remember (drop C), Home (drop D), Misunderstood (drop D) Wither (Petrucci has this in a baritone guitar tuning). Like you said there are some songs where he raises his B string up to a C, such as in As I Am, Honor Thy Father, In The Name of God. Also, when Petrucci drops just a 1/2 step, Myung will still be in standard, Stream of Consciousness is an example of this. There are some songs however, like Panic Attack and These Walls (both off of Octavarium) where Myung will drop all of his strings. Panic Attack I believe is 1 1/2 steps down, or just 1 whole step down (don't take my word for it), the reason I know is this is because I've seen Dream Theater 4 times in the past 2 years and my eyes are on Myung most of the time, and they've played Panic Attack 3 of the 4 times and he is "riding" the D or G string in the bass intro. These Walls is tuned a whole step down....I honestly think he just has it to get the low A, but you have to remember this is from Octavarium, which is a concept album, so I can understand it from that perspective. Hope this helps ya!!
 
#3
This all would explain my confusion between watching Petrucci and John on live clips, playing my bass to CDs, watching a lot of bass players on You Tube, and reading Bass Tabs all over the web...

Also, a lot of times Tabs and Vid covers on Youtube will show bass players playing in a position higher on the neck where John will play a whole progression lower using open notes etc . John's position seems to make some of those riffs easier to play for me using open strings in my opinion. (ie: TROAE)

I think your explanation will be a standard for others who question this on TB, Thanks! :p
 
#4
DanoesqBass said:
This all would explain my confusion between watching Petrucci and John on live clips, playing my bass to CDs, watching a lot of bass players on You Tube, and reading Bass Tabs all over the web...

Also, a lot of times Tabs and Vid covers on Youtube will show bass players playing in a position higher on the neck where John will play a whole progression lower using open notes etc . John's position seems to make some of those riffs easier to play for me using open strings in my opinion. (ie: TROAE)

I think your explanation will be a standard for others who question this on TB, Thanks! :p
Click to expand...

Glad I could help! If you've got anymore questions feel free to ask. Also, if you really want to there is this full score book for a select number of Dream Theater songs, it's got The Dance of Eternity, Home, Peruvian Skies, Erotomania, Pull Me Under, Just Let Me Breathe, Voices, and Under A Glass Moon in it. It's a full score so you can really see the whole music side of it. I'm not a big person with tabs, especially on the internet because they can be hideously bad. Here's the link to the book

http://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/book.asp?ppn=BKWB0583B
 
#5
Though I just about have root of all evil down now, which seems to be one where Petrucci plays tuned a half step down and John plays is A400, even if this is not so, too late, that is the way I am learning it... And ditto on the tabs issue.

Thanks again!
 
#8
DanoesqBass said:
Aw come on, don't tell me he taps under the keyboard thing before the lead?
Click to expand...

Sorry man, he does. If you listen very closely you can hear it under everything. There's also some live footage of him doing it too. Not at the Score dvd, sometimes I really think the people who put the stuff together for the dvds, Portnoy mainly edits it, really need to show some of the cool stuff myung does, besides the metropolis bass solo.
 
#10
+1

Amen to that, there's loads of stuff you never see Myung doing. (Also, Myung does tapping there too? I thought Petrucci was the only one tapping on that bit).

I have a couple of the official bootleg DVDs, and the first 20/30 minutes of both show quite a lot of Myung and not much Rudess, but after that, it seems to switch to mainly only having Myung if he's wandered up to Petrucci. Mind, those bits are really cool when he does that.

At least Chaos in Motion shows him doing the intros to Panic Attack and Scarred. They're all still cool, though.
 
#11
Sketchy said:
+1

Amen to that, there's loads of stuff you never see Myung doing. (Also, Myung does tapping there too? I thought Petrucci was the only one tapping on that bit).

I have a couple of the official bootleg DVDs, and the first 20/30 minutes of both show quite a lot of Myung and not much Rudess, but after that, it seems to switch to mainly only having Myung if he's wandered up to Petrucci. Mind, those bits are really cool when he does that.

At least Chaos in Motion shows him doing the intros to Panic Attack and Scarred. They're all still cool, though.
Click to expand...

I'm obviously biased, but Myung really should be shown more in the live footage....a big thing that really pissed me off was during his solo in Ytse Jam in the When Dream And Day Reunite DVD his solo wasn't even shown. It was on the big screen though....behind the band and it was very hard to see it. I sometimes really don't understand why every freakin' Portnoy fill has to be shown and there is really cool **** going on with Myung and it's never seen. Sometimes I think Jordan gets to be seen more than him. Either way all of these musicians are a god in with their instruments and even more, love this band.
 
#12
Would you say it is a fairly even level baseline tapping thing, or does he modulate all over with keyboard or guitar, and which does he do it under again, the guitar or keyboard or both ???

The more I understand, the more confused I get...

Thanks in advance to any reply!
 
#13
DanoesqBass said:
Would you say it is a fairly even level baseline tapping thing, or does he modulate all over with keyboard or guitar, and which does he do it under again, the guitar or keyboard or both ???

The more I understand, the more confused I get...

Thanks in advance to any reply!
Click to expand...

It sounds like the guitar, keys, and bass are playing the same thing. If there is a difference he's most likely going to copy the guitar.
 
#16
DanoesqBass said:
And Lefty, I am hearing it now, and yes he follows the lead around, almost hidden back there in the mix.
Click to expand...

Okay, thank you for finding that. While listening to it I assumed that he was following the lead, but I didn't want to give you false information. Good luck with it!! If you can post a video or at least an audio video on youtube...granted they don't take it down the second it finished uploading.
 
#17
Thanks Leftybass, you also helped me a lot, looks like you did your homework! LOL. I´m a big Myung´s fan, the only problem i think he has is that he always gets hidden on the mix, that really annoys me. A thing that i love on him is that he uses 6 string on a genre that isn´t common to find guys playing a 6, i just love it!
I bought Chaos in Motion DVD a couple days ago and i always thought he used standard tunings for every song but while looking to the DVD, on the last song called "Schmedley Wilcox" i saw he was using his silver H/S bongo for every part excepting on "In The Name Of God" and i thought "well, he maybe had a problem with the bass and he switched it" but at the end of in the name of god and moving to octavarium he used the first bongo again, so it leaved me like whaat?!?! haha
 

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