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R your Drop tuning guitards blowing speakers... yet?

Having been a Professional for decades I have found few that didn't match "guitard". Those that feel offended are the most guilty of the implication. Lighten up bro. :)

It's just unnecessarily adversarial. People make music TOGETHER right? Otherwise it would all be "one man bands" which would suck. For that matter, how many solo bass albums are out there? Even the SMV album with 3 of the greatest bassists out there needed other instruments to keep things interesting.

Anyway, there are a$$holes on all instruments, including bass. To single out one instrument with some kind of childish epithet certainly doesn't do anything positive for the music scene.

I'm not uptight and I understand as well as anyone that musicians can be extremely aggravating in a variety of ways. I just think this particular "term of endearment" is pretty stupid and pointless as well as misguided, especially when it seems to be used as a blanket term for anyone who plays guitar.

Oh, and for the record, while my own guitar playing is not amazing, I am pretty good with gear and often get compliments on my tone and sometimes even my playing. And my gear rarely if ever has problems because I know how to take care of it.
 
My band plays in drop B tuning. Low B is supposed get as low as 30hz. I'm using an old ampeg 8x10 which is only suppose to go to 40hz or 50hz I think. Regardless of this(possibly inaccurate calculation) it still sounds just fine to my ears.
 
jungleheat said:
It's just unnecessarily adversarial. People make music TOGETHER right? Otherwise it would all be "one man bands" which would suck. For that matter, how many solo bass albums are out there? Even the SMV album with 3 of the greatest bassists out there needed other instruments to keep things interesting.

Anyway, there are a$$holes on all instruments, including bass. To single out one instrument with some kind of childish epithet certainly doesn't do anything positive for the music scene.

I'm not uptight and I understand as well as anyone that musicians can be extremely aggravating in a variety of ways. I just think this particular "term of endearment" is pretty stupid and pointless as well as misguided, especially when it seems to be used as a blanket term for anyone who plays guitar.

Well said. It never ceases to amaze me that TB actually prohibits users from expressing a negative opinion on the appearance of a bass for fear that someone may be offended, yet allows the use of a word that essentially says, "all guitarists are retards."
 
Well said. It never ceases to amaze me that TB actually prohibits users from expressing a negative opinion on the appearance of a bass for fear that someone may be offended, yet allows the use of a word that essentially says, "all guitarists are retards."

It's amazing what people will be offended by these days. "YOU", I'll say it again "YOU" get to choose what offends you. What offends you is not my problem.

This forum is bass players talking to other bass players. We have all experienced an annoying guitar player (drunk, loud, won't learn his lines, tardy, ego, untrainable, it's my "tone man", lousy team mate, noodling noodling noodling. wears out his welcome on every solo etc etc etc). What I described above is not a guitarist.

I call em "guitards". If you have a better name for them, lets hear it.

I googled "guitard" for a definition and I found. "A guitar player that is not good at it". Now that fits everyone of us, at least on our first try.
 
OOZMAN said:
*Predicts thread derailment on fundamental frequencies*

You were way off - thread has been derailed on the political correctness of the term Guitard.....

Personally Ive never had a problem with tuning down or people using the word Guitard .....
 
James Judson said:
This forum is bass players talking to other bass players. We have all experienced an annoying guitar player (drunk, loud, won't learn his lines, tardy, ego, untrainable, it's my "tone man", lousy team mate, noodling noodling noodling. wears out his welcome on every solo etc etc etc). What I described above is not a guitarist.

Go back and read my comment in context of the post I was replying to, which talks about the word "guitard" as a blanket substitute for the word "guitarist." When you replace the word "guitarist" in your vocabulary with the word "guitard," it stops being funny or clever, and becomes more of a sad commentary on the type of musicians you associate with. People who have made the word a matter of routine use remind me of Beavis and Butthead: "Heh heh heh, he said 'guitard.' Heh heh." Beavis and Butthead are hilarious when you are laughing AT them, but you don't want to BE them.
 
My band plays in drop B tuning. Low B is supposed get as low as 30hz. I'm using an old ampeg 8x10 which is only suppose to go to 40hz or 50hz I think. Regardless of this(possibly inaccurate calculation) it still sounds just fine to my ears.

Don't know how old the 810 is you use, but the original design started rolling off at 80 Hz.

I will have to second deshi00 in that "near max volume" would be the trigger for the drop tuning blowing speakers not designed for those frequencies.

No professional guitarist I have ever played with used such tricks to cover their lack of ability. They are called musicians. Just IMHO and IME. Pick an instrument and learn to play it well to become a musician, if you can't then you picked the wrong instrument? If your ego gets in the way of reality, find a new "sound" to cover up that fact? Just a personal opinion shared by musicians I have been associated with, so take it for what its worth......or not. :)
 
Pro tip: Saying "guitard" makes you sound like kind of an a$$hole.

See note below signature, my kids would agree. It should be noted, there are also 3 guitarists in the house, including myself....

I know a guitarist that fits the guitard stereotype, I hesitate using the epithet to describe him because I've got a cousin with Down's syndrome. However, I slip from time to time out of rage at said guitarist.

A good point, I was an insensitive a$$... my apologies.

My band have played as low as Drop C and never had any speaker problems, and i know people who have tuned down to F# and lower on 7 strings without any speaker problems. This included playing with totally clean signals, so a blown speaker would be evident.


Teenagers with 7 strings stock tuned at B0, looking at the new 8s, emulating via tuning and sometimes heavier gauges..

F#0 Is the bass guitar equivalent i.e. ~20hz, .200 gauge strings. F#1 is guitars.

I beg to differ. Bass E = E0 =41 Hz~. Standard Guitar low E = E1 = 82 Hz~ and the 7 string goes 5 steps lower, 8 string 10 steps (F# 0) adjusted by any tuning. The string thickness and scale length makes the tones and harmonics different to the ear.

This discussion made me search out some tunes by locals Deftones. Guitarist Stephen Carpenter uses an 8 string 27" ESP baritone. Pretty gritty. Not the same kind of tones the Beatles got from the 6 string short scale Fender Bass they sometimes traded around the room, likely 30-32" scale.
 
It's just unnecessarily adversarial. People make music TOGETHER right? Otherwise it would all be "one man bands" which would suck. For that matter, how many solo bass albums are out there? Even the SMV album with 3 of the greatest bassists out there needed other instruments to keep things interesting.

Anyway, there are a$$holes on all instruments, including bass. To single out one instrument with some kind of childish epithet certainly doesn't do anything positive for the music scene.

I'm not uptight and I understand as well as anyone that musicians can be extremely aggravating in a variety of ways. I just think this particular "term of endearment" is pretty stupid and pointless as well as misguided, especially when it seems to be used as a blanket term for anyone who plays guitar.

Oh, and for the record, while my own guitar playing is not amazing, I am pretty good with gear and often get compliments on my tone and sometimes even my playing. And my gear rarely if ever has problems because I know how to take care of it.

If this actually happens I am the happiest musician on the planet! The times it happens are so rare, but then I am in an area with few "pros" now :help:
"For the record", my guitar playing is just passable as I rarely pick one up. There always seems to be an ego-maniac who "thinks" he knows how to play to work around to try and make something that is listenable. When I have to teach them chords and how to strum? I guess I am just becoming old and bitter maybe?:bawl: Sorry for that.
If anyone has a notion that my posts are a slur on "special needs" people....I used to work a lot with them, I love the simple joy they get from the smallest things. Ego is not a part of their makeup. Those that have the ability to learn and improve at a normal or accelerated rate and choose not to due to ego or laziness are the only "tarded" (such a hate inspiring word?) people in my book. Social commentary has ended. Please forgive the rant? :ninja: