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Wanna play in Drop A, but the singer can't handle it...

T

Thomas Kievit

Guest
May 19, 2012
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1,906
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#1
Hello everybody!

I have a small problem when it comes to our singer : Me and the leadguitarist (a rythm guitarist will join soon) like to play in Drop A tuning. We tried full step down a while, but it turned out it was a little bit too much. However, both me and the guitar player like the Low A a lot so we wanna keep that.

Now comes our problem : Our singer has a lot of problems to keep up with this tunings. He's voice isn't always strong and stuff like grinding is impossible for him.. Do we have to get another singer or should we go back to standard tuning?
 
#2
If he's a good/great singer in your regular tunings, I'd say accommodate his voice, because a great sounding band with a weak singer will kill you.

People always notice and remember the singer, whereas, they may not even know that you're in the band once you come off the stage. Whether you like it or not, he's the focal point and (literally) voice of the band.
 
#3
Yango said:
If he's a good/great singer in your regular tunings, I'd say accommodate his voice, because a great sounding band with a weak singer will kill you.

People always notice and remember the singer, whereas, they may not even know that you're in the band once you come off the stage. Whether you like it or not, he's the focal point and (literally) voice of the band.
Click to expand...

You are right there. Thing is that he likes our idea a lot and wanna keep this tuning for a while.. Our main goal is to become a little bit like Adagio.. Now his voice is as high and squeeky as James Labrie from Dream Theater..
 
#4
If you want a vocalist to properly sit in that kind of range he will need to have an insanely deep voice. As Yango said, the band makes concessions to the singer, I and many others here have had to do it before. Unless you don't like the singer, that toss him and hunt for a new one, but you probably won't find anybody comfortable in that range. Can he sing in standard ranges decently?

Personally I'd tune up, but that is because those deep tunings tend to get muddy and poor sounding and make for a poor live mix, but that is just me. I like my guitar in the guitar range.
 
#5
DiabolusInMusic said:
If you want a vocalist to properly sit in that kind of range he will need to have an insanely deep voice. As Yango said, the band makes concessions to the singer, I and many others here have had to do it before. Unless you don't like the singer, that toss him and hunt for a new one, but you probably won't find anybody comfortable in that range. Can he sing in standard ranges decently?

Personally I'd tune up, but that is because those deep tunings tend to get muddy and poor sounding and make for a poor live mix, but that is just me. I like my guitar in the guitar range.
Click to expand...

Going in standard isn't a real problem for him.. Although I must say he ''overshoots'' somewhat on the higher notes now and then...
 
#6
Well if you region is like most, I would raise those guitars and keep a solid singer... good singers are hard to come by, and most can be worked into a great singer if you push them the right way. Great singers are damn near impossible to find and usually come with attitude in my experience.
 
#13
Mr_Music90 said:
Hello everybody!

I have a small problem when it comes to our singer : Me and the leadguitarist (a rythm guitarist will join soon) like to play in Drop A tuning. We tried full step down a while, but it turned out it was a little bit too much. However, both me and the guitar player like the Low A a lot so we wanna keep that.

Now comes our problem : Our singer has a lot of problems to keep up with this tunings. He's voice isn't always strong and stuff like grinding is impossible for him.. Do we have to get another singer or should we go back to standard tuning?
Click to expand...

This isn't a tuning issue. It sounds like a failing on the part of you and the guitar player. I can tune in whatever key and play in whatever key, I don't really care and it doesn't matter. The problem is you want to tune down and use the same finger patterns/tab to play the song you were using before. Learn to play in the key the singer can sing it in.

If YOU like this sound, YOU need to do the work to make it sound good with the singer. Don't be putting this on the singer!!:bawl: If you want to tune down do the work to make it fit, don't expect others to pick up the slack of you not knowing your $#!T.
 
#17
Like everyone has said, tune down if you like, but play the songs in keys (transpose them) that your singer can sing in. Unfortunately, that means you have to learn the songs in different positions and patterns on the fretboard.

I don't care how good a band is, if the singer sucks, the band sucks.

Or do the instrumental thing, but be prepared for a tough time getting gigs, or playing out at all really.

People LOVE singers.
 
#18
Winfred said:
Like everyone has said, tune down if you like, but play the songs in keys (transpose them) that your singer can sing in. Unfortunately, that means you have to learn the songs in different positions and patterns on the fretboard.

I don't care how good a band is, if the singer sucks, the band sucks.

Or do the instrumental thing, but be prepared for a tough time getting gigs, or playing out at all really.

People LOVE singers.
Click to expand...

Yep, that's what I said earlier : Maybe we should do some instrumental things with this tuning :) It's not that we wanna ''re-make'' a excisting song and transpose it to Drop A, but just wanna make some new songs in this tuning.. But again, doing something instrumental can be very fun to do as well! Thanks everybody for the comments so far!! Talkbass rules!
 
#19
If you're tuning down to be heavy, you're doing it wrong. Your ear will acclimate and it will not sound heavier than Standard. Look at some Opeth songs.

My guitarist tunes down to Drop B when in drop tunings for his voice. I like the low notes and even his "power chord" style riffs use almost the full range of the guitar. Sometimes I feel I have to play up an octave where usually I would use the B string on my five string
 
#20
Just my opinion- but the drop A is the only thing worse than the low B used too much. Usually has no definition at all, ALA every KORN song. The guy basically just slaps the that Low A and occasionally throws in the flat 5th tritone.
I can understand why some folks play a 5-string bass to be able to economize hand motion and have the flat-e and Drop D available, but seriously, much below low B is beyond most mortals ability to even hear. It is just a game of "Whoah!! we are so heavy everything is a full-octave below standard LOW E!!"
 

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