Tuning a fretless a whole step down. Am I weird?

[J.Wolf]

The answer is most definitely yes. BUT, I was doing some stuff on my fretless that was drop tuned to D (lady in red, yea baby) and curiously tuned the whole bass a whole step down, and MAN, the sound and feel is remarkably cool. Lots of growl and depth and the lower tension of being down a whole step really lends itself to fretless tone and feel. This is on a Roscoe fretless 4 with Fodera nickel light strings.

Anyone else tuning their fretless down a whole step for this reason?

 

[Mushroo]

Not weird at all. Lots of bands are down tuning these days. In my opinion it is pretty much a job requirement to be familiar with alternate tunings, if you want to be a versatile bassist in the year 2018. Good luck and enjoy!

 

[J.Wolf]

in the past its been a non issue as I play 5 and 6 85% of the time, and always when anything lower than E is needed. but my fretless is a 4.

I get guys doing it to get their 4 strings into low D territory, but I'm curious if people are doing it strictly for tone and feel preferences.

 

[TolerancEJ]

The band I played with for a long time was an E flat band (tuned down a half-step). If dropping to D makes sense for your band, go for it.

Another idea. Maybe add a D Tuner to your bass so you could switch back & forth between D and E.

 

[equill]

Never done it before, and my 35" model already has surprisingly light action, but I'll try it.

 

[J.Wolf]

its not the drop D that I'm after, its the tone and feel of all the strings down a whole step. I drop down to D in standard tuning pretty regularly when playing my 4

 

[J.Wolf]

im surprised the light gauge strings work well for this. Would have thought it would be too loose, but its really nice.

 

[Mushroo]

in the past its been a non issue as I play 5 and 6 85% of the time, and always when anything lower than E is needed. but my fretless is a 4.

I get guys doing it to get their 4 strings into low D territory, but I'm curious if people are doing it strictly for tone and feel preferences.

I think "tone" and "feel" are two of the top three reasons why musicians down tune these days. (The third reason being, singer's vocal range.)

 

[J.Wolf]

Its definitely working for me. I could see it all unraveling on a gig if its a tune I dont know and a bandleader is calling changes in real time, but until then...

 

[equill]

Question answered. I just test-drove a candidate new fretless, and my first impression was "wow, the strings feel really loose and buzzy. This ain't a good sign."
Checked the tuning: down by a semitone. So no, I won't be doing it on anything other than heavy-gauge strings anytime soon. But if it works for you, just watch out for them real-time changes.

 

[sharkbait130]

Both bands I'm in are tuning to D standard these days , mostly for the singers but that P bass through the SVT and the 8 10 sure sounds good. Hmmmmmm , think I'll hook up a second 8 10 and see if I can cause another earthquake.

 

[Member8675309]

I ran 1954s downtuned one step for a few years. Definitely not a weird thing to do.

 

[mellowinman]

You're weird.

Not for tuning your bass down, but you asked.

 

[J.Wolf]

crap. I knew it. Why has my mom been lying to me all these years?

 

[Cardiff Giant]

I have a four string fretless that I play in drop C. I use Ernie Ball Power Slinkys, so the string tension is fine and the tone is great.

 

[TrustRod]

I don't tune down but I use light strings 40-100 and even 35-95 with 112 & 115 B's.

I love the softer feel and beefier tone. Sometimes I like the bright and tight sounds of thicker higher tension strings but I never like the feel of those (contrary to most everyone else).

The point of all this being downtuning and lighter gauges are different ways to similar results and I like it too.

 

[bluesblaster]

This is nothing new, its been done for years and years. Maybe not always on a fretless so yeah maybe your a bit weird

 

[BassholeKI]

Not weird at all.

Don't own a fretless (yet), but when I get one I'll try this out.

I think "tone" and "feel" are two of the top three reasons why musicians down tune these days. (The third reason being, singer's vocal range.)

When I played in a working band (gigs every weekend for about 2-3 years) that's what we did. Saved on string life (or so we thought), was easier to play (again, so we thought) and since we were an early 90's hard rock outfit made those power chords seem angrier and more aggressive.

 

[Swamp_Ronin]

I was messing around with this on my stingray to get rid of a dead spot (it worked for that)

Mwah increased quite a bit and the tone and feel was a lot of fun also. I may have to raise the action a bit. I’m afraid I’d get in trouble if there were a bunch of people old changes, but it sounds cool as hell.

 

[Gunga Din]

I occasionally uses Drop D. However, I have one Jazz that stays permanently in DADA.