Should bassist be E standard tuning?

[gln1955]

I have an audition next week.

They have specifically requested that I tune CGCF, which is like Drop D a whole step down.

I'm likely to ask 'em if they think it's the best tuning for metal ...

I would ask them why they care how you tune. The answer might tell you a lot about who you will be playing with.

 

[john_g]

yes

 

[Mechanical]

Also - how do you tune?

Normally. BEADG or EADG.

 

[Mushroo]

Guitars shouldn't dictate the tuning of the bass

I agree with this in many situations, but with two big exceptions:

1. The guitarist is the bandleader. Bandleader should always have the final say, how the musicians in the band tune.
2. The guitarist is the songwriter. If they've written an original song with a specific tuning in mind, I figure I owe it to the songwriter to at least try playing it in their preferred tuning.

 

[JTE]

Whatever works for your situation. I hate dropping the whole bass down, my action and truss rod are set for the strings I use tuned to standard at A=440Hz. Did a few gigs with a Stevie Ray Wannaabe who tuned down to Eb (even though he was playing 9's instead SRV's 13's, AND he changed keys anyway!). But some of the stuff required the low Eb. I used my Hipshots but it was awkward on some songs. Would have likely set up one of the basses for Eb if I had been interested in it as a steady gig but, not worth it for the three or four gigs I did with him.

Now that I'm comfortable with the 5-string there's not much reason for me to think about tuning flat. I don't care if the guitarists in the audience are confused because I'm at the 4th fret and the guitarist is at the 5th. They ain't working tonight and I am.

 

[Joe Nerve]

What do you do if the guitar plays in an open tuning?

I've never been in a situation where anyone has played everything in an open tuning, but I know whenever I covered The Stones or any other music tuned openly, I stayed in standard tuning.

But that's beside the point. Here's what the OP asked:

"If the guitar/s are tuned to E standard. Should bassist nowadays be tuned the same..."

Am I misunderstanding something about that? I'm truly not getting the varied response to this. Sure, they can tune however they want - but 99.9% of the players I've known throughout my life, tune as the guitars do. Only an octave lower.

 

[DirtDog]

I've never never been in a situation where anyone has played everything in an open tuning, but I know whenever I covered The Stones or any other music tuned openly, I stayed in standard tuning.

But that's beside the point. Here's what the OP asked:

"If the guitar/s are tuned to E standard. Should bassist nowadays be tuned the same..."

Am I misunderstanding something about that? I'm truly not getting the varied response to this. Sure, they can tune however they want - but 99.9% of the players I've known throughout my life, tune as the guitars do. Only an octave lower.

So, it’s not a hard and fast rule to have the same tuning as the guitar player.

A certain Mr James Page used a variety of tunings - Open G or D or E, DADGAD, DADF#AD for starters. I don’t think JPJ had a specially tuned bass for all of those variations.

Hell, I played a 10 string pedal steel for a few years - I never expected a bassist to tune to E9 tuning!

 

[Joe Nerve]

So, it’s not a hard and fast rule to have the same tuning as the guitar player.

Of course not, but that's not what was asked.

 

[DirtDog]

Of course not, but that's not what was asked.

Maybe I’ve misunderstood “should basses be tuned the same as the guitar” part of the question.

Anyways, all I wanted to point out is that there are many situations where the bass is not tuned the same as guitar and it works just fine.

 

[LBS-bass]

Of course not, but that's not what was asked.

What was asked was this:

Should bassist nowadays be tuned the same or should bassists be tuned lower to have access to lower notes?

I think the confusion is that some of us were attempting to address whether or not it is practical or desirable to tune down to get these lower notes, as opposed to whether guitars and basses should always be tuned the same.

I don't think there's ever a "should" here. That the OP asked it that way is kind of beside the point. What you should do in all cases is what works for your situation and the music you need to play.

 

[Joe Nerve]

I don't think there's ever a "should" here. That the OP asked it that way is kind of beside the point. What you should do in all cases is what works for your situation and the music you need to play.

I'm not looking to be confrontational, especially since for the most part I agree, BUT ...

I don't think an experienced bass player would ask that kind of question, and I think the responses here could easily confuse someone new.

Tuning as guitars do is tradionally the way to go, and there are lots of good reasons for that. Tuning differently CAN be done, but I don't see any real advantages to doing that - except in very specific situations, tuning BEAD, or drop D. IMO for a brand new bassist, if looking for lower notes (in a band using standard E tuning - as stated) they'd be MUCH better off with those last 2 options, or using a 5 string.

 

[ole Jason]

I agree with this in many situations, but with two big exceptions:

1. The guitarist is the bandleader. Bandleader should always have the final say, how the musicians in the band tune.
2. The guitarist is the songwriter. If they've written an original song with a specific tuning in mind, I figure I owe it to the songwriter to at least try playing it in their preferred tuning.

Even then, the bandleader has no business telling someone how to tune unless the alternate tuning is necessary to play the notes for a given part. As long as you can play the parts as written that's all that matters.

 

[Sid Fang]

...

1. The guitarist is the bandleader. Bandleader should always have the final say, how the musicians in the band tune.

...

That bandleader would have to be a pretty amazing artist to work with before I'd put up with that kind of thing.

 

[zontar]

I play mandolin on quite a few songs. Many times the GP uses a capo. Capo doesn’t work for me on a mandolin for a couple of reasons, so I just play the song in a key that works.

Mandolin is tuned GDAE so I’m already starting out playing upside down guitar chords.

Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't--like for a D chord or an E Chord.
At least that's my take.
The Key of G is the one I find the most mandolin friendly.