Why are TBers so against drop or detuning?

[JimmyM]

this thing is still going on? who cares? play what you want.

 

[Febs]

im not going to sit down and learn it, but if there are a lot of open strings involved, or it harps on a low Eb, then yes, id likely tune down.

I would encourage you to sit down and learn it at some point in time. It is one of the all-time classic bass lines and (again in my humble opinion) there are lessons that any bass player, regardless of the genre he usually plays, can take from the exercise of learning that line.

"would?" uses that open Eb in the intro. thats much less fun to do on all fretted notes. and being a guitarist, its a lot easier to pick out the notes by referring to what chord the guitar is on. if the guitar is tuned down, im not trying to transpose in my head the whole time im trying to learn a song.

We will have to agree to disagree. I personally would not find that line any more or less "fun" to play using open strings, and I don't hear anything about that song that would require me to rely on the guitar to "pick out the notes." If it works for you, great.

 

[ricca]

In my prog band Mangala Vallis I play with one step down tuning bass.
I use a Spector euro 5 xl, it has a 35 scale so strings have a good tension.
I love the sound of drop tuning in a band with 2 guitars and lots of keyboards, it's a darker tone but also with a good clank.
With all my other bands and in all my other basses I have standard tuning.

 

[dorknowitzki]

i still suck on a 4. ill worry about the 5s later.

 

[edpal]

this thing is still going on? who cares? play what you want.

+infinity!!

OP has apparently left the building.

 

[caeman]

Y'all are typical musicians, arguing over the tiniest of things incessantly. That ability is what makes musicians a musician, but it is a double-edged sword.

Argue on!

 

[chump stain]

I never have had a chart for any worship set, ever. I build my part from the ground up, regardless of what key the guitarists and singers decide is best for them. I was the bassist for a touring Alice Cooper tribute band in the 80s and had to play other people's lines note4note...guess that gave me an avertion to mirroring someone else's part. Unless it is really memorable and recognizable, like the one really good example that been given,"Bernadette" by the Four Tops. That part made the song.

I don't use charts or lead sheets often, but sometimes. And I like the bassline to be the bassline that was writen. Sometimes I'll enhance it, or make it my own. But if a song has a distintive bass line, I'll try to emulate it. Majesty by Delirous is a good example, I've never heard another worship bassist play it like the original, and the original grooves so much better then what people come up with instead.

 

[edpal]

And I like the bassline to be the bassline that was writen. Sometimes I'll enhance it, or make it my own. But if a song has a distintive bass line, I'll try to emulate it.

I agree if it is distinctive AND good. But there is a lot of CC(Christian Contemporary) music that has very simple basslines that can be improved upon. Especially if you are playing it with a slightly different grouping of instruments,tempo,etc. I've greatly improved HIllsong's "At the Cross", but that is an extreme example, since there is so little going on in the bass department in the original. Partly because our band is small compared to them(some days just a power trio . I use some haunting double stops which stretch across 5 strings of my 6 stringer for the verse, basically doing the job of their bass player and the violinist symultaneously. Works for us.

BTW: checked out your site...some nice stuff you got going on!

 

[ClydeMcAllister]

Do you de-tuners de-tune for sake of optimizing open strings like Banjo players do? Banjo tunings are all over the map, all in an effort to enhance the sound of a song through open string resonance.

Honestly, I just do it cause....that's what I do? lol
I don't get what all the fuss is about in this thread. Yeah, you can play songs in drop D or C on a five string. Some people do it that way, other people do it with a four. It's all coolzies bro.

There's plenty of reasons I don't play a five, and tuning is not one of them. I started playing in drop D cause that's what I wrote most of my songs with on guitar and I switch between drop D and C depending on the songs vocals.

 

[chump stain]

I agree if it is distinctive AND good. But there is a lot of CC(Christian Contemporary) music that has very simple basslines that can be improved upon. Especially if you are playing it with a slightly different grouping of instruments,tempo,etc. I've greatly improved HIllsong's "At the Cross", but that is an extreme example, since there is so little going on in the bass department in the original. Partly because our band is small compared to them(some days just a power trio . I use some haunting double stops which stretch across 5 strings of my 6 stringer for the verse, basically doing the job of their bass player and the violinist symultaneously. Works for us.

BTW: checked out your site...some nice stuff you got going on!

Thanks! Not much 5 string work on those songs, just my dropped tuned 4 strings mainly.

 

[edpal]

Thanks! Not much 5 string work on those songs, just my dropped tuned 4 strings mainly.

Just to clarify(since I got so mouthy on this thread) - I don't care what people play or how they tune....OP felt that 5 string players had some kind of attitude and it went out of control. I personally started on string bass and then played 4 stringers for all my semi-professional(working musician) years. Now I have a mix of basses(11 total) and if I felt a particular song would be best served on my sole remaing 4, drop tuned, I'd pick it up in a heartbeat. But for most of my current playing, the 5 and the six are much handier. For me.

I do think there are some situations where detuning and returning are awkward from a performance standpoint...like during a church service worship set. But if the whole band is tuned up/down and staying there, then the note names and frequencies are all arbitrary anyway.

Peace sister!

 

[chump stain]

Exactly.

I have 4 basses, each serves a purpose. I don't like playing my fretless in situations where I may be reading off of a sheet. If I'm playing for a church service, 5 or 6 string all the way. Hard Rock Metal band, Detuned 4 sting Jazz all the way. But that's just me.

 

[edpal]

Exactly.

I have 4 basses, each serves a purpose. I don't like playing my fretless in situations where I may be reading off of a sheet. If I'm playing for a church service, 5 or 6 string all the way. Hard Rock Metal band, Detuned 4 sting Jazz all the way. But that's just me.

Smart lady!

 

[Morgueasmic]

Currently using drop-tuned 4 with everything downtuned 1 1/2steps:

C#-F#-B-E

This tuning works well with my current band because the guitarists are 1/2 step down with a dropped 6th string --> C#/Db...

I find that notes played on an open C# sound better to my ear than the same note fretted on a 5-banger.

For my side project, I use my Stingray 5, so I see both sides of the coin here...

 

[tycobb73]

I play in a cover band. I want no breaks in between some songs. I am not going to waste the time changing basses and boring the crowd with small talk. Keep em going.

 

[groooooove]

i've only ones gone out of BEADGC tuning, and that was on upright for a recital, because the accompaniment was written in A and my part was written in G, so i went up a step (F# B E A)

rare circumstance though.. i never bother changing tuning.. with 6 string basses i have no need to.

 

[SwitchGear]

I have gotten used to and have been playing drop D on my P, and love it. It works very well for me, mostly in church.

 

[chump stain]

Currently using drop-tuned 4 with everything downtuned 1 1/2steps:

C#-F#-B-E

This tuning works well with my current band because the guitarists are 1/2 step down with a dropped 6th string --> C#/Db...

I find that notes played on an open C# sound better to my ear than the same note fretted on a 5-banger.

For my side project, I use my Stingray 5, so I see both sides of the coin here...

I use this tuning in 2 bands, and it allows me to play just about everything. I have another bass set up Eb Ab Db Gb as well. These tunings are great for rock.

 

[sonic assassin]

I would encourage you to sit down and learn it at some point in time. It is one of the all-time classic bass lines and (again in my humble opinion) there are lessons that any bass player, regardless of the genre he usually plays, can take from the exercise of learning that line.

We will have to agree to disagree. I personally would not find that line any more or less "fun" to play using open strings, and I don't hear anything about that song that would require me to rely on the guitar to "pick out the notes." If it works for you, great.

it sounds like fun to learn, but its a genre that is so far out of my interest i cant even fathom when id find the time. but i guess it goes in the rainy day bass lesson folder.

regarding guitar, thats just for me. im a guitar player first, so if i know the song there (as i do with all of the AiC material i know on bass), its easier for me to say Em, G, D, C when playing "nutshell". not dance around the fretboard playing them all in flats and transposing it on the spot.

look up "whale and wasp". that one would be a real bitch in standard because of all the open flat notes.

for the record, im a 5 stringer and i always have been. 4 string doesnt work for me. i cant even wrap my head around the idea of playing that thing. but when the song calls for Eb, ill tune down. when it calls for a drop, ill drop. but if i can get away with it.. playing any sort of modern rock or top 40 with an "oh it'll do" bass line, then i dont bother.

im not trying to play wilhelm scream tracks in standard tuning. ive tried. more trouble than its worth. just drop tune the damn thing

 

[Brad Johnson]

this thing is still going on? who cares? play what you want.

Bored but still clicking, eh?