My band plays in D# Standard. It won’t take much effort. Just tune it, let the neck settle for a bit and make adjustments to the truss and intonation.
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Tuning up a semitone?
- Thread starter esoxhntr
- Start date
It’s almost hard to find a commercially successful band that never tuned down or up a small amount to accommodate vocal range. Live or in studio. Sometimes both. If you need to tinker with the truss rod it is not too hard.
It’s also an available excuse to buy another bass. Post post pics.
It’s also an available excuse to buy another bass. Post post pics.
Maybe I'm missing something, but...
The guitarist is tuning to Eb. So I'd just tune down to Eb and call it good.
The guitarist is tuning to Eb. So I'd just tune down to Eb and call it good.
Turnaround
Commercial User
It only becomes challenging when the guitarist insists on calling the chord E when it's actually F - he confuses the fingering shape with the chord. So you can go with him and tune up - then you too are a liar, or your can stay in standard tuning and play the real notes recognizing that the guitarist is wrong, or get the guitarist to stop calling an F an E. Good luck getting the guitarist to change.
Turnaround
Commercial User
We play literally anywhere. Bars. Critter lodges. Legions. Old age homes. Weddings. Funerals (usually one or two a year). Birthday parties. Private stuff. Corporate stuff. Street Festivals. Pretty much any genre you can think of. Country. Western. Country and Western. Blues. R&B. Classic rock. Disco. Funk. Jazz standards. Show tunes. Mambos. Sambas. At one point last night we played Boot Scootin Boogie, Suger Pie Honey Bunch, Quando Quando, and Dancing in the Dark back to back. 20 or 30 songs? Try 50 or 60. We don't even talk about a set list - the guitar player starts (or calls) a tune and we play. Little to no dead air, unless we've been playing 5 or 6 songs back to back and take 20 or 30 seconds to regroup. Tunes are called on the basis of what type of venue we are playing at, the nature of the event, a request list from the client (if that exists), but basically anything that keeps people engaged and/or dancing.
We are a three piece band. That helps keep everybody getting decent pay.
Does it matter that the guitar is tuned differently? The bass is a transposing instrument and all you’re groves should easily modulate a half step right?
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I'm going to request one more time, can we please keep the discussion to the actual mechanical details of tuning a bass up a semitone? While I respect the fact that everyone has their own opinions on the merits of different tuning formats and transposition, that is not really the information that I am looking for. In point of fact, our rep list contains songs in at least 15 or 16 different keys. I as a bass player and we as a band are quite capable of playing in any key we want. So one last time, let's leave the key signatures out of this m'kay?
Sorry, this was the first response and I totally missed it. Currently using Fender 7250 nickel plated strings, .045 - .125
1 semi-tone up is not that hard for the neck. Adjust the truss rod and redo the intonation and setup, then you're good to play.
If the strings feel too tight for you, then try installing lower tension strings. Even mix single strings from different packs together to get your preferred feel. Eg. keep your 4th string, but try others for the 1-3 strings. Or a 4th string from one kind and strings 1-3 from another kind.
Your 4th string is still tuning down from a regular set, while strings 1-3 are tuning up from a regular set. So splitting sets could be nice to get a more even feel and tension amongst 4 strings. You can buy single strings from many places.
Let's say you take a typical 4-string set of 45-65-85-105 rounds and up-tune it half a step. The overall tension is increased by roughly 12%. At that point, you would probably need to tighten the truss rod slightly.
Now, if you were to go down in gauges to 40-60-80-100 and tune them up to F-A#-D#-G#, the overall tension would be lower than the 45-105 in E-A-D-G by less than 5%, at which point the truss rod may not need to be tweaked.
Having said all that, if you're already on a 5-string tuned to the standard BEADG, you shouldn't feel obligated to change the setup on your bass for the sake of matching what the guitar players are doing. As far as I'm concerned, the guitar players can do whatever they want, but I wouldn't feel I need to do change what I do based on what they do.
1/2 step up from D (or, a 1/2 step down from E) is not a huge shift in tension, and depending on the bass, it could be flxbl enough to add some relief, or possibly take no notice of it at all. Your hands will tell you, and if you are trained to use the feeler gages and rules, you can see precisely if and how much it changed.
I'd be very surprised if you see any more than the slightest change if any, if it's any kind of solid neck.
I play fives (often the nickel Fender 7250's) and they should be fine, though I tend to the set with the bigger B as a personal preference. I prefer the lower expense of nickel wounds (those, D'Ad XL's, or several of the GHS nickels) as I can change them more often.
I bought a five to simply to transpose up or down frets as needed, I'd never have patience to retune, so you're way more patient than I.
I'd be very surprised if you see any more than the slightest change if any, if it's any kind of solid neck.
I play fives (often the nickel Fender 7250's) and they should be fine, though I tend to the set with the bigger B as a personal preference. I prefer the lower expense of nickel wounds (those, D'Ad XL's, or several of the GHS nickels) as I can change them more often.
I bought a five to simply to transpose up or down frets as needed, I'd never have patience to retune, so you're way more patient than I.
Jazzdogg
Less barking, more wagging!
I may have misunderstood the starter post...but I read it as the guitarist currently tunes down to D and wants to tune up (from that) to Eb.
For your situation, I would tune up the semitone. You’ll have to try it, to see if it requires truss rod/intonation adjustments, but it’s not a big change. You could also look at lighter strings.
Turnaround
Commercial User
The bassist is currently tuning BEADG. Tuning this up a semitone is not Eflat.
Communication is not an issue if you talk notes, not frets.
With any other instrument, keys, trumpets, sax... we talk keys, chords and notes. Not a problem. There's no reason you cannot do that between a guitar and a bass.
+1
I stopped worrying when I started playing 5 strings. "Oh, you want a whole tone down, Mr. Singer? Sure... go 1, 2, 3..." No more figuring out the easiest fingering having to play the higher octave or whatever.
