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My guitard has a new 7-string axe

P

p4toda

Aug 10, 2008
64
0
At the middle
#1
I am in a band where the leader/guitarist is a close friend and a childhood friend. We were in a band in high school and the early years of college. I stopped playing in a band after college, After a few years we got together and started a new band. We play originals and our genre is into heavy metal. We were a 5 piece band until recently our lead guitarist has to move to another place, and the band decided not to replace him. And we stuck on as a 4-piece.

Recently we are getting regular gigs and so we are pushed to write new materials, the thing is the band leader decided to get a 7-string guitar, i have no problem with that as i play a 5-string bass. The problem starts when he want to detune 1 whole step. This is where we started to have a discussion, i told him that we might sound too muddy and we will start to become a big wall of noise loosing note distinction blah blah blah. the worst part is when he gave 'KORN' as a tuning example. frustrating as it is we never agreed on anything. we will just see on our next rehearsal and decide. His bass hero is fieldy...oh my.

rant over.
 
#5
I hate tuning down to be honest. One guitarist I played with every year for my HS`s BotB`s always asked me to tune down a whole step literally right before we went on stage(idiot) so he could sing in an easier range. My bass and his guitars would go way out of tune mid song, and the wall of noise we made was a muddy mess.

If he wants to try it then okay, but be prepared to work on finding a new tone that`ll work.
 
#7
Wow. I saw at least three major red flags in the OP. The 7-string guitar, the loss of the lead guitiarist, and the love for Fieldy. Unless you are really tight with this guitar player personally, it might be time for you to look for another band.
 
#8
Don't really understand all the hostility towards 7 strings, and drop tunings. :rollno:

Don't assume that it's going to become muddy until you give it a chance. Anyways, Drop A isn't THAT low. Start getting into the low G-F range, then you have to start making some major changes to tone controls and stuff to keep everything tight sounding. For A, you might have to fiddle with settings a little bit, but it shouldn't be anything drastic. And, I just don't really see what the big deal is of tuning down a whole step... It's only one string and it won't affect tension that much.

Give it a shot at least.
 
#10
stflbn said:
Just because he tunes down doesn't mean you have to.
Click to expand...

In my mind, bass is one octave lower than guitar, no matter what the tuning. And that's not to say that the bass has to double everything the guitar is playing either, but I just couldn't imagine not having the same notes as the guitar player and not having the option of matching them an octave lower on those two lower notes. I just see it as limiting to yourself, and the band.

Obviously everyone in the band needs to be in agreement about ANY tunings in the first place. I still say to OP, give it a chance, at least.
 
#11
there is some metallica stuff with a low A on bass (no leaf clover for example)

nikki sixx in sixx am and brides of destruction uses a low A

also, korn wasnt always horribad.. keep that in mind..

alot of other nu metal bands that are pretty good have used a low A.. i dont feel like looking it up tho.. ur on ur own..

taproot
 
#14
Jimbob Jones said:
+1

A lot of strings don't sound good when you drop to A. The bottom string on my 5er is a .145 and that doesn't really like A.

Also, in a gig situation, you need some serious ampage to recrate that A as strongly as the rest of your range.
Click to expand...


I use a .145 for low G#- low F#. I couldn't imagine tuning it up to A, let alone B. :eek:

And if OP does decide to do drop A, I would recommend getting a slightly larger string. It will provide more fundamental, and will sound even with the rest of the strings.
 
#15
Metal Matt said:
In my mind, bass is one octave lower than guitar, no matter what the tuning. And that's not to say that the bass has to double everything the guitar is playing either, but I just couldn't imagine not having the same notes as the guitar player and not having the option of matching them an octave lower on those two lower notes. I just see it as limiting to yourself, and the band.

Obviously everyone in the band needs to be in agreement about ANY tunings in the first place. I still say to OP, give it a chance, at least.
Click to expand...

it seems to me, in my mind, that this school of thought would be far more limiting to creativity then allowing a little wiggle room in the tuning department...

im not saying have the guitars in drop a, and a piccolo bass or anything like that, and in my current band we are generally tuned the same, but i think constraining yourself to exactly one octave below the guitars would more of a creative limit imho, ymmv, etc
 
#16
Thingus995 said:
it seems to me, in my mind, that this school of thought would be far more limiting to creativity then allowing a little wiggle room in the tuning department...

im not saying have the guitars in drop a, and a piccolo bass or anything like that, and in my current band we are generally tuned the same, but i think constraining yourself to exactly one octave below the guitars would more of a creative limit imho, ymmv, etc
Click to expand...

I understand what you're saying. The way I see it though, if OP is tuned to drop A with the guitar, he can choose to ignore those two lower notes, and play the same way he would in standard, AND also have the option of using those lower notes when he wants.
 
#18
Metal Matt said:
In my mind, bass is one octave lower than guitar, no matter what the tuning. And that's not to say that the bass has to double everything the guitar is playing either, but I just couldn't imagine not having the same notes as the guitar player and not having the option of matching them an octave lower on those two lower notes. I just see it as limiting to yourself, and the band.
Click to expand...

It's not bad, I played in a band that the guitars were tuned down a half step all the time and I always played in standard tuning. Would have been tough without a 5 string, but wasn't a huge deal.
 
#20
OK.... Here come the opinions. I'm a sound guy as well as a bass player. I don't run sound at huge venues, but I hold my own in clubs and local outdoor shows. If you guys are big enough in your market that you have a sound guy (or play in places that have a house sound guy) and he is any good at what he does, stop sweating it. Your guitard is going to set up for "his tone". Then the sound guy is going to make it sound as "right" as possible out front. He'll do the same with your tone as well. You can't polish a turd, but you can do a lot with EQ's out front. If you guys play smaller venues, if your stage volume effects the room, if your sound guy sucks, then you're screwed. I have never met a 7 stringer who just played 7 strings and tried to sound like a guitar. Every one of them, when they get that extra low string, add a lot of bass (mud) to their tone (because it feels POWERFUL). Then frequecies will begin to overlap, and the whole band sounds like ........more mud. If you have two or more instruments fighting over the same frequencies, it's mud EVERY time. My $.02

P.S. If your guitar player is different, then you have the only 7 string guitarist in the whole world who can resist adding a bunch of bass to his tone once he feels the power of being low. Freeze him and take him to the Smithsonian right away. He will be on display for eons.
 

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