Double Bass Tuning DGCF

[odin70]

Does anyone here tune their bass two steps down? Pros and cons? I did it yesterday and my bass really loved it. Better tone, way better sustain, heavenly mvvaaa, a dream to play, low Eb and D. I really consider to keep it like this.

 

[Thumpie]

Does anyone here tune their bass two steps down? Pros and cons? I did it yesterday and my bass really loved it. Better tone, way better sustain, heavenly mvvaaa, a dream to play, low Eb and D. I really consider to keep it like this.

That's one step. Two semi-tones.

The con is you are probably losing some volume and projection. hitting those lower open strings might make you think differently, but I bet this is the case.

But hey, if you like it, and are willing to transpose everything you know, go for it.

 

[odin70]

That's one step. Two semi-tones.

My bad

I know it will make life harder But i think i will go for it and see. I wonder.. will lighter strings give the same effect or can it be that tuning down just works better with my bass?

 

[chump stain]

That's the way I've been tuning my four strings for years. I use Custom GHS strings .110 - .07, and it helps with the tension.

I really like this tuning, it's like gaining two extra frets.

 

[DoubleMIDI]

@chump stain: This is the double bass section.

DGCEAD is standard viola da gamba tuning and a popular one for violone.
So you are not far from this, but gain a bit more if you use at least a five string bass.

You might drop a heavy string set. (If you also want the high D, you better get a complete violone set.)

I play EADGC which is another popular violone tuning, but also have a very small violone in DGCEAD. (I used to play a little bit of viola da gamba during my school days, so this is not unusual for me.)

Others only drop the E to D and play a fifth in the lower range. (Probably only using the low D string for anything below the low A and nothing else.) But this way you get lost of the (major) tenth double stops, I'm afraid.

 

[gerry grable]

Does anyone here tune their bass two steps down? Pros and cons? I did it yesterday and my bass really loved it. Better tone, way better sustain, heavenly mvvaaa, a dream to play, low Eb and D. I really consider to keep it like this.

Curiously, I don't find it strange at all. I recall that years ago, I ran into a couple of piano players that only played in Gb/F#. They were strictly self-taught ear players. The only logical reason that I ever got from them that explained their choosing Gb/F# over C was that "the black keys stick up" and are easier to find
Anyway, a "trick" they used for their bass players was to have them tune a half tone down, often without their knowledge(!), and they often got away with it in those gut string days. In most cases, playing in G did make it easier on the bass players hands and the piano players's ears

 

[chump stain]

@chump stain: This is the double bass section.

Sorry, I read this thread from the home page.

 

[Thumpie]

My bad

I know it will make life harder But i think i will go for it and see. I wonder.. will lighter strings give the same effect or can it be that tuning down just works better with my bass?

Lighter strings might give a similar effect. I'm using Spiro Weichen right now, and they are really dark. Almost too dark for my bass.

 

[robobass]

If you like that tuning and choose appropriate strings, then why not? I have a fretless P-Bass on which I added a fifth string and tune D-G-C-F-Bb. I find it really great for standards, being able to play low Ebs and having lots more natural harmonics for soloing in the keys of the tunes than I do with standard tuning. If you're playing jazz standards, consider that the keys of the tunes are more often chosen by horn players than bassists, and E-A-D-G was after all created in a different time and a different place, and for a completely different kind of music.

 

[Eric Hochberg]

E-A-D-G was after all created in a different time and a different place, and for a completely different kind of music.

Rock and Roll, baby!