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Should I learn on an EADG bass before stringing BEAD?

#81
RemoteOutpost said:
My question to you guys is whether or not I should become really proficient with the bass in EADG before exploring alternate tunings or if I should just start off with what I want to do which is play a bass strung BEAD.
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I would say start with BEAD, if that is what you want and you're comfortable with it. I tend to agree with @jbhaugh, actually playing the thing is more important than the tuning. A major scale is still a major, regardless how you string your bass, BEAD or EADG. Sure, you might have to use a different position on the neck to get some of the higher notes, but if you learn your neck well, and location of every note, all that theory applies same as EADG. Again, just different positions on the neck, and it sounds like you might have a local teacher that wants to help you learn from a BEAD starting point. Excellent.

nickpc said:
No matter what turning you use I recommend staying in 4ths - the relationships between the notes (in other words, the patterns made by scales) is something you want to keep consistent. EADG, BEAD, EbAbDbGb, DGCF, GCFBb (yeah, really), once you find one note you know where they all are. Picking up a bass tuned DADG, or DAbDAb (yeah, really) can mess with your head.
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^^ That.
 
#83
IamGroot said:
Because playing blues, country, classic rock and a few other genres are basic skills most musicians will need to do, even if its not their thing..
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Not really. In the same way you don’t feel the need to have something tuned in Drop C or B to play an emo song, a lot of people have zero interest in playing blues, country, or classic rock in Standard E.
 
#84
QweziRider said:
Ahhhhhh, and that explains why I didn't see it as more than losing the top five on the G string. I've been avoiding open strings like the plague since '91 when I got my first fiver.
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Well in practice I almost never play open D or G strings either, but occasionally I come across riffs that use them. Moving fretted notes to thicker strings change the tone, too. Anyway, as I said before, nothing wrong with BEAD, these are just things to factor in. I mostly play a five-string myself, so best of both worlds...
 
#85
nickpc said:
No matter what turning you use I recommend staying in 4ths - the relationships between the notes (in other words, the patterns made by scales) is something you want to keep consistent. EADG, BEAD, EbAbDbGb, DGCF, GCFBb (yeah, really), once you find one note you know where they all are. Picking up a bass tuned DADG, or DAbDAb (yeah, really) can mess with your head.
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It all really depends. If you’re playing a lot of heavy 90s music, a drop D tuning can make the bass feel right. I can play Rage Against the Machine (who do play in standard half the time) in Standard D or 5-string instead of Drop D, but something about it just doesn’t groove right and makes it sound a bit off, probably because Drop D puts all the heavy sounding riffs they do in easy reach between the 3rd and 5th frets, whereas Standard D makes you shift a bit to reach the same notes.

I really think that you should learn to play well in standard at some point but that don’t think of dropped tunings as some sort of a compromise either. Don't think of dropped tunings as inferior or superior. They're just different and they enable different things to be easier. Likewise, they make certain things harder. As a result, often you'll find that once you drop tune, you might come up with something that you'd never have written in 4ths tuning. You can then learn to play it in standard tuning, but you wouldn't have thought to come up with it unless you were willing to experiment.
 
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#87
OP, I checked out your profile page, and I don't think you're interested in playing James Taylor anytime soon.
So I'd say go straight to BEAD, you will feel at home there, and that is what matters the most.
Or get a Fiver, if you feel like you're missing out on something. Most important is follow your heart.
And once you're ready with the BEAD, you're only about a quarter turn of a tuning key from the dreaded Drop A.
 
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#89
eddybuzzard said:
OP, I checked out your profile page, and I don't think you're interested in playing James Taylor anytime soon.
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LOL, maybe James Taylor was a bad example! So here is an example of how heavy metal guitar is typically notated. This sheet music is for a song by Five Finger Death Punch. Notice the scordatura notation in the top left that indicates how each string is tuned. The sheet music is notated as though the guitar is in Drop D tuning, but it actually ends up sounding in (concert pitch) Drop A due to the transposition. This style of notation for string instruments has been around since at least the 1600s. Virtuoso musicians of the past such as, say, Paganini would be able to sight-read this sheet music in the correct key, no problem. The notation hasn't changed much through the centuries. Kind of makes sense when you consider a lot of heavy music has a timeless "neo classical" quality.

MN0102614.gif


(Footnote that I think this particular sheet music would be pretty confusing for a vocalist to try and sight-read.)
 
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#90
Mushroo said:
LOL, maybe James Taylor was a bad example! So here is an example of how heavy metal guitar is typically notated. This sheet music is for a song by Five Finger Death Punch. Notice the scordatura notation in the top left that indicates how each string is tuned. Then the sheet music is notated as though the guitar is in Drop D tuning, but it actually ends up sounding in (concert pitch) Drop A due to the transposition. This style of notation for string instruments has been around since at least the 1600s. Virtuoso musicians of the past such as, say, Paganini would be able to sight-read this sheet music in the correct key, no problem. The notation hasn't changed much through the centuries. Makes sense when you consider there is a timeless "neo classical" quality to a lot of heavy music.

View attachment 3644276

(Footnote that I think this particular sheet music would be pretty confusing for a vocalist to try and sight-read.)
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This is horrible. I have absolute pitch and I can read a score and I honestly cannot read a single bar of this.
 
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#93
Wouldn't phase Arthur Fiedler one bit. He had lots of Bb and Eb transposing woodwinds and brass in the Pops. Musicians of his caliber can typically sit down at the piano and sight-read a full orchestral score, including all the various clefs and transposing instruments. I guarantee you Fiedler knew what a "scordatura" was, because it was used by composers like Mahler, Stravinsky, Bach, Strauss, etc.

So, yeah, @RemoteOutpost you have Arthur Fiedler's blessing to detune the strings of your bass. :)
 
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#94
crankypants said:
You need 2 basses.
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That may be the way to go.
Like the OP, I have found it strange to wrap my head (and hand) around a Fiver, so I have a EADG (occasionally drop D), and a BEAD (occasionally drop A).

Then again, I also have one at drop Db, one at drop Dbb, and one at drop Dbbb.
I have no idea of what I'm doing, LOL! But I am covered for ten different tunings.
(Yeah, I know, that's drop C and drop B, but "double flat" and "triple flat" sure does sound cooler.)
 
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#96
Mushroo said:
LOL, maybe James Taylor was a bad example! So here is an example of how heavy metal guitar is typically notated. This sheet music is for a song by Five Finger Death Punch. Notice the scordatura notation in the top left that indicates how each string is tuned. The sheet music is notated as though the guitar is in Drop D tuning, but it actually ends up sounding in (concert pitch) Drop A due to the transposition. This style of notation for string instruments has been around since at least the 1600s. Virtuoso musicians of the past such as, say, Paganini would be able to sight-read this sheet music in the correct key, no problem. The notation hasn't changed much through the centuries. Kind of makes sense when you consider a lot of heavy music has a timeless "neo classical" quality.

View attachment 3644276

(Footnote that I think this particular sheet music would be pretty confusing for a vocalist to try and sight-read.)
Click to expand...
Also, just to add, guitar is an octave lower than the indicated notes anyway.

And just a question, but couldn't the treble clef symbol be moved up on the staff so the G is around a G and not a D like it is currently written?
 

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