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Tune in 5ths?

Axtman

Axtman

Supporting Member
Mar 3, 2008
2,571
4,708
Seattle, WA
#1
I know a bass player (not me!) that tunes his bass guitar in 5ths instead of fourths. I would think it would make a bass harder to play because there would be a lot more shifting up and down the neck as opposed to playing across the neck.

Does anyone here tune their bass in 5ths?
 
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#2
I do, on double bass. Been at it for about six months. Takes a minute to get used to, for sure, and there are definitely pros and cons, especially depending on the style(s) you play.

For bass guitar, I could see where the extra shifting could be a pain. Conceptually, it would probably (generally) be okay, it’s more re-thinking your intervals in the scope of the line you’re playing (pivoting for the stretch instead of shifts, per se, so you can cover five frets without too much fuss to get a perfect 4th on one string).

The next month for me is dedicated to relearning a bunch of Steely Dan bass parts for a cover gig I’m doing - we’ll see how muscle memory plays into this one…
 
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#5
As a long running experiment,I have tuned my BTB676 in fifths.
AEBF#C#G#
IMG_2065.jpeg

There is a TB Club.
The Fifths Tuning Club
 
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#6
The bass player I am referring to also tunes his bass in cello tuning. (I also know another guy that plays upright in 5ths but bass guitar in 4ths. Now that would be a challenge!)

I am not casting aspersions on anyone. I just am curious as to advantages of tuning a bass this way.
 
#7
Axtman said:
The bass player I am referring to also tunes his bass in cello tuning. (I also know another guy that plays upright in 5ths but bass guitar in 4ths. Now that would be a challenge!)

I am not casting aspersions on anyone. I just am curious as to advantages of tuning a bass this way.
Click to expand...
It's all explained here.
The Fifths Tuning Club
 
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#11
Axtman said:
The bass player I am referring to also tunes his bass in cello tuning. (I also know another guy that plays upright in 5ths but bass guitar in 4ths. Now that would be a challenge!)
Click to expand...
Oscar Pettiford played upright tuned in 5ths, because someone gave him a cello to noodle on when he was ill ad bed-ridden, and it stuck. He did some very creative things with it.

I have a 10 string Chapman Stick (that I can't really play TBH), which conceptually is a Regular 5 string bass going in one direction and a left handed 5 string cello tuned in 5ths going in the opposite direction. It's a mind bender.
 
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#12
Axtman said:
The bass player I am referring to also tunes his bass in cello tuning. (I also know another guy that plays upright in 5ths but bass guitar in 4ths. Now that would be a challenge!)

I am not casting aspersions on anyone. I just am curious as to advantages of tuning a bass this way.
Click to expand...

Extended range in both lower and higher register without having to play a 5 string, that's why I've put that Wax'In video cos' it focuses on Philippe Bussonnet fretboard many times, the bass is mixed very upfront. You can clearly hear really low C to D notes, and also that "false 3rd interval" fingering when he plays an augmented 4th.

Tuning of regular EADG in Hz
E 41.2
A 55
D 73.42
G 98

J. Top and P. Bussonnet tuning cello type but an octave lower than cello:
C 32.7
G 49
D 73.42 , same as the regular EADG for instance, and that gives a feeling of having 2 distinct ranges in the same instrument as P. Bussonnet already mentioned in an interview, a really low one and a more "traditional bass" one, that's why he switches a lot.
A 110

Also, it helps for prog and avant garde music genres as the chords and the changes are really tricky sometimes, they are not "mainstream", they found out it was easier to use that kind of tuning with those kind of musics.

Now yes it requires to play like a double bass player, or a cellist for instance, you have to switch a lot when soloing (the KMX B12 solo video), so it can be challenging, but also rewarding cos' you have to work in positions for only 1 or 2 strings, believe me: you know way better your bass after that than playing pop in regular 4ths on the first 5 frets !
 
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#20
Watchootognbout said:
You have to choose lighter guage strings.
I use a seven string bass set for my sixer.
The high G#is a .018
Click to expand...
On a 4 strings it's quite different, but easy:
- low B for the open C,
- big big A string, .085 at least, even .090 if possible to get it lower to G
- regular D string at .060
- and indeed thinner G string to raise it to A, .035 or even 0.030 is nice from my experience.

When I've done my experimentations, I found that using a 6 strings set was ideal, this one in particular to use the .130 C, .085 A, .065 D, 0.032 A, really cheap so it helps https://www.thomannmusic.com/dr_strings_hi_beam_mr6_30_130.htm?reload=1
 
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