Tuning a 5 String bass G,D,G,C,F

[Bela]

Hey Guys/Gals.

I'm new here, just signed up and i have a question. I Have been searching around the internet for similar situations but havnt really found any clear answers. My Bass is a brand new Mayones Slogan 5 Gothic.

So i'm joining this new band, its progressive death metal and the notes they sent me to start learning are bass tabs tuned to G,D,G,C,F so im dropping my B string down two whole steps. Of course the first issue was rattling so i've gone from the "SIT Bass - NR45125 Nickel" strings to "Daddario EPS160" and this seemed to help a bit but i want to avoid raising my strings too much since i was really enjoying to the low attack on this new Bass. My Questions are: is raising my strings unavoidable in this situation ? is tuning a B string to G ridiculous ? i like a drop A but G ?! do i need a heavier guage still ? Do any of you have experience with this tuning and how did you make this work ?

thanks so much for any answers u might have !

 

[Will_White]

Hey Guys/Gals.

I'm new here, just signed up and i have a question. I Have been searching around the internet for similar situations but havnt really found any clear answers. My Bass is a brand new Mayones Slogan 5 Gothic.

So i'm joining this new band, its progressive death metal and the notes they sent me to start learning are bass tabs tuned to G,D,G,C,F so im dropping my B string down two whole steps. Of course the first issue was rattling so i've gone from the "SIT Bass - NR45125 Nickel" strings to "Daddario EPS160" and this seemed to help a bit but i want to avoid raising my strings too much since i was really enjoying to the low attack on this new Bass. My Questions are: is raising my strings unavoidable in this situation ? is tuning a B string to G ridiculous ? i like a drop A but G ?! do i need a heavier guage still ? Do any of you have experience with this tuning and how did you make this work ?

thanks so much for any answers u might have !

I'd bump the gauge up for Drop G, for reference I use a .125 for drop C. A .145 would probably work well for that tuning, typically B strings are already the lowest tension in the set and tuning down further increases the tension difference.

 

[T.Rex]

Tune up to it, if you look at some stuff meshuggah plays the bass player (dick lovgren) tunes up to the dropped 8 string guitars, and maybe this will help you because it did help me but try it because using the bass guitar for more mids really really makes the music come alive in my opinion, sometimes it sounds better not dropping the tuning on the bass in my experience

 

[ixlramp]

You need bigger strings, what gauge do you like for a standard E string or a D string?
For this music style i assume you want a fairly good tension to avoid flop and for a low action, bigger strings need more tension to keep all that mass under control so i recommend keeping the G as tight as your preferred D.
To equalise the tension of the low G to the D simply multiply the D gauge by 1.5, for example .105 with .160 or .110 with .165 or .115 with .170.
D'Addario sell .160 .170 .175 singles but only in nickelwound. There are several other alternatives, what country are you in and do you need steels?

 

[ixlramp]

Since you liked SIT 45125 in standard, with a .100 E, the equivalent D is .110, so i recommend a G of around .165.
Perhaps the best superlow strings are Kalium Strings (mail order only), they have 5 string drop tune sets gauged to keep all strings at equal tension in a drop tuning,
steel or nickel but here are the nickel sets Link Removed
The .166 set has a typo, it's missing the gauge of one of the strings but it's a .110.
Kalium .166 sets tuned to G sound like this

 

[Bela]

Awesome tips, thanks ! sorry for the late response :s
def gonna check out those kaliums

 

[LHB]

Additionally, this spreadsheet originally posted in the fifths tuning thread is useful for estimating the tensions needed for non-standard tunings. In your case, you would use the free tuning option, which for an equal tension set of roughly 40 lbs. suggests gauges of .179, .118, .087, .064 and .047.