Tuning Help D:

[Silver9692]

So I just got into a new band and they play there guitars in Open B tuning (B F# B E B D) I cant for the life of me figure this out, I put a B string from 5 string Set as my E (I play a 4 string) and tuned B F# B E, Now as you can Imagine the sound like the definition of MUD, way to loose even with the B string present, I even had my older friend who owns a shop set everything up, He suggested getting a 5 string bass and tuning B E A D G and just transcribing each note they play, now I this can be done, I just wanna know if anyone has any secrets or tips to get this tuning done, Thanks

 

[steelhead2]

maybe buy a squire 5 string J(they were selling for 199.00? 3 months ago),then keep your 4 stringer for normal? gigs,i mean;then you are screwed if you want to play with folks in standard or flat,,i jam with a buddy and his teens and they swear by flat(since Jimi and SRv did it that way)

i played with drop tunings,there's merit to it on orig new rock stuff but i'd have to have a 'normal' bass around~.~

 

[Silver9692]

Yeah thats the problem to, because I wanna still have a bass for standard or drop d tuning and i cant do that with a B as my E on the 4 stringer, now I have accepted getting a 5 string, but is there any way to achieve B F# B E B on a 5 stringer, or will I have to play in B E A D G and have to "learn" to play along with the band, man freakin guitarists and there crazy tunings : /

 

[steelhead2]

i bet the owner has prolly dealt with more odd bass tunings(string requests) than 99% of the bass population,i really can't help you technically

in fact,weird deal is i was bashed biffed and shined on because i embraced 'odd' tunings now the same guys who gave me crap are playing open d open g drop d etc.on their guitars..

anyway,good luck and uh? what jonre of music are you playing?been invited to join a 'metal band with old school background influences',youngest guy is 20's with two guys in their 40's,,,i'm 55 so what is 'old school'? to me that would be flat or a whole step down AKA Sabbath(if i'm correct?,,long a!! day for me so i'm prone to mistakes at my age here as i head for a showerblahblah)was going to ask them what tunings they were rolling with and if they played 7 strings(guitars),might not do it anyway/we'll see.

but i've talked to guys in new rock metal bands that did the BEAD or even deeper on their 4 stringers like you did;swapped 4 strings off a 5'r,they eventually bought 5'rs.

don't drive yourself nuts you'll end up like me!,,,keep us posted bro i'm out of here!(work=12 hour day @ 95F)

 

[Floyd Eye]

Tune BEAD. Open tunings do NOT work well on bass.

 

[grendle]

Tune BEAD. Open tunings do NOT work well on bass.

+10

 

[knuckle_head]

'kay . . .

Really, you can do this with strings on the bass you have. What gauge do you like for standard E?

I can make recommendations for drop B and standard B tunings if you'd like.

 

[Silver9692]

Well I just got back from guitar center and picked up a nice Squire 5 string Jazz bass for only $139,Im just gonna tune standard for 5 strings B E A D G, I know that Im not gonna be able to make it work in B F# B E haha, they play 6 strings, I think what im just gonna have to do is have them tell me or find the root note to there riffs, because I dont copy there riffs note for note I just like to hold down a good groove with the drummer, and yeah its a metal band.

 

[JackoBass]

'kay . . .

Really, you can do this with strings on the bass you have. What gauge do you like for standard E?

I can make recommendations for drop B and standard B tunings if you'd like.

I have the same string gauge question for open C on a 35" scale 5 string. I've heard of guys going GCGCG but I'm sure it requires a significantly custom string pairing and setup to get the action right and not kill your neck. I tried it with my 130-45 Dunlog steels and man all strings were flop-tastic. This is a spare bass used for playing against an open C 6 string guitar so I'm not worried about tuning up and down often.

 

[grendle]

Well I just got back from guitar center and picked up a nice Squire 5 string Jazz bass for only $139,Im just gonna tune standard for 5 strings B E A D G, I know that Im not gonna be able to make it work in B F# B E haha, they play 6 strings, I think what im just gonna have to do is have them tell me or find the root note to there riffs, because I dont copy there riffs note for note I just like to hold down a good groove with the drummer, and yeah its a metal band.

You can double riffs just fine, you just wont be playing them in the same position.

 

[walterw]

i see no reason a B string of the same size wouldn't work equally well on a 4 or a 5.

(sorry, but i have no idea why you would have bought a super-cheap 5-string instead of just putting the right strings on the bass you have).

a regular B, then an extra-light E, A and D (so you can tune them up a step without too much tension compared to the B) and you would have been fine.

 

[darkstorm]

'kay . . .

Really, you can do this with strings on the bass you have. What gauge do you like for standard E?

I can make recommendations for drop B and standard B tunings if you'd like.

Yes he can, and real good ones to. Anyway my first thought was useing the high B string from sixer that trad has peeps tuning it high C. For the 2nd B string for ballpark gauge. But I'm sure knuckle will give better choices.

 

[Silver9692]

I'm down to my last straw with this band i'm in, Great music, great guys, but they play in Drop B tuning B-F♯-B-E-G♯-C♯ and As you can see its a B#$ch to get that tuning on my 5 string, Ive tried playing my 5er in standard B E A D G, but its so dam hard because every note they play is 2 frets higher on every string except the low B, it sounds like a simple thing to do but it gets very old very fast when there playing technical riffs 1000000 miles an hour and We don't have time to dumb down everything so I can try and play it on different frets, Ive even tried tuning up to those notes and the tension was way to tight, PLEASE someone help me with this.

 

[chokeslam512]

Allow me to be the first to say: contact Circle K strings. He'll set you up right.

 

[markkoelsch]

I would have a particular bass setup for this tuning, and leave my others a lone. Or have two setup this way so you have a spare in case of problems on stage.

This tuning is not so bad to deal with, but like anything else will take practice to get really used to. If they insist on staying with this tuning, you need to change the setup of your bass. I would go to a light gauge 4 string set, and buy a seperate, normal gauge b string. This will mean having to restring, reseting the neck relief/truss rod, and most likely adjusting the intonation. None of these things are that tough though, and are certainly not irreversible.

 

[Silver9692]

Wow, JLS someones in a bad mood, I just came on here to ask a simple question, This thread is different than my other one because The other was on a (4) string and this one is on a (5!) string. And its hard to "spend time practiCing
' when you pay $60 dollars a month on rehearsal space rent and you only have a couple hours a week to learn and you don't wanna waste valuable practice time having to cope with the guitars odd tuning.

 

[HeavyDuty]

Wow, JLS someones in a bad mood, I just came on here to ask a simple question, This thread is different than my other one because The other was on a (4) string and this one is on a (5!) string. And its hard to "spend time practiCing
' when you pay $60 dollars a month on rehearsal space rent and you only have a couple hours a week to learn and you don't wanna waste valuable practice time having to cope with the guitars odd tuning.

You'll notice the threads have been merged - we don't want crossposting here. You would have done better to continue on in the original post.

A question for you, though - in your first post you say you play a four, and here you play both. Which is it?

 

[Journey55]

Just tune it to B-F♯-B-E-G♯. That's what I have on mine....you get used to the extra tension

 

[rockstarbassist]

Drop B is really pretty basic/easy. If you don't have an E string that you can tune down that low then use the BADG strings of the 5 string set...

B = B string std
F# = A 1.5 steps down
B = D 1.5 steps down
E = G 1.5 steps down

Technically on that 5 string for drop B tuning you should be tuning:
F#BF#BE but that's a whole different enchilada

No need to overcomplicate it or listen to folks clearly and wildly uneducated in the matter

edit: also this is taking into consideration you don't have a set of Circle K's readily available, which i recommend rectifying immediately.

 

[Silver9692]

Sorry i'm new to this site. I have a 4 string but between the posts I got my hands on a 5 string. So I have both

And Is tuning up to that on my 5 string bad for the neck?