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Why have a low c# string?
- Thread starter Dragzole
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JAUQO III-X
Inactive
For those who don't know me, I am a very nice and down to earth person but it get's a little tiresome when kat's with no hands on experience always trying to knock you down.
Instead of making a fuss about nothing it would be kool if they just took a chill pill becasue they get no points from me, I'm going to continue to forge ahead and do what I'm in this life time here to do.
Instead of making a fuss about nothing it would be kool if they just took a chill pill becasue they get no points from me, I'm going to continue to forge ahead and do what I'm in this life time here to do.
Now, an acoustic super low C# on a gong or something like that, I'd find interesting. An actual acoustic instrument vibrating as a whole. I think amplifying that low of a tone on an electric instrument could have a negative effect on a persons physiology. I know that most subwoofer systems make me ill, since once you go that low, any distortion of the partials is usually amplified more than the tonic by inadequate equipment, and often at very high volume level.. It's the polar opposite of nails on the chalkboard.
People use it because it gives them a extended range. Some people don't have enough with the ''standard'' B E A D G C stings 
I play a standard tuned four string short scale fretted bass. I have no need for an extended range bass. If I wanted a bass that plays a C# that's two octaves below what my bass plays, I'd find a way to get one. Wanting one and being able to afford it are all the reason one needs to have a bass with a C# string. Get one that plays lower, if you want. You owe no explanation for it
Furthermore, I am convinced that, assuming that everything on that bass is as close to equal with my current bass, I could hear a difference between those two basses.
Furthermore, I am convinced that, assuming that everything on that bass is as close to equal with my current bass, I could hear a difference between those two basses.
Come on, I think you made your point. There is no need to continuing the personal attacks.
I think anything along the lines of 'I think I can hear it ergo I can' is specious reasoning and to me smacks a little of The Emperor's New Clothes, but that this thread seems needlessly aggressive. I have a hard time believing that a low C# would sound *exactly* the same as the C# an octave above it, which to me is essentially what is being claimed by those saying it's pointless.
Chillax, people.
Chillax, people.
JAUQO III-X
Inactive
But I can back it up.
Have you ever even actually played or recorded or spent any kind of time at all with a bass with a low C# string on it?
Instead of trying to be a tough guy hiding behind a screen name, you should shut up, maybe you'll learn something.
This is one of the funnier arguments I have read lately. If the equipment and human ear can't actually reproduce/hear the root note then that particular root note is creating a unique set of overtones that musicians find pleasing to the ear. A low c# produces a sound, there are just parts of it that cannot be heard and it's overtones are unique.
People use that note because they like the sound it produces. It does not, however, register through amplification or our ears the same way as higher pitches.
Now can we all get along?
People use that note because they like the sound it produces. It does not, however, register through amplification or our ears the same way as higher pitches.
Now can we all get along?
JAUQO III-X
Inactive
Your bass is the only one I've heard where the low C# string has any tonality to it.
On some basses tuned that low all I hear is the clack of a string against a fretboard, no tonality.
I wouldn't want to tune that low personally because getting the right equipment to faithfully reproduce such low end is difficult. In fact the lowest I like to go is the C# one octave up from that.
Some people think this is the only reason, but I'd like to clarify that some people have a low C# so that they can play a low D on the first fret.
This is good. A lot of people don't understand that when you play any note, that it's not the only note you hear. I remember reading something about Mozart (I think it was him), that when they analyzed the frequencies of the chords and notes he was using there were really interesting patterns going on in the overtones (like alternate chords being made, etc.).
Fat Steve
The poodle bites, the poodle chews it.
Doesn't really matter. You can't hear 16Hz, directly or through it's overtones, unless your bass is generating 16Hz. The artist and his fans like what they hear however they are hearing it. That's all that matters.
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