Most godawful tuning you've been asked to play in

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1335471869' post='1631870']
I just don't entertain the idea.
[/quote]
Ditto.

[Mr. Foxen]

Oh yeah, probably should mention doing some stuff in the Octobass range. Unplugged.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FP1QqtGe8ts

[Evil Undead]

I'll play in any tuning as long as it doesn't have "drop" in front of it. I don't like farking with the intervals between my strings.

But mainly either E standard or B standard is my preferred.

[thumbo]

The lowest I've tuned a bass and still liked the tone of it was CGCF, although this took some perseverance to find a gauge of strings that I liked for it. I usually use 40-100's in standard tuning and I settled with Rotosound 45-65-85-115 in the end. The 115 had pretty similar tension to the other strings.

[Silvia Bluejay]

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1328642456' post='1530607']
I only ever use standard tuning for two reasons:

1) I've played that way for 30+ years and know where the notes are without having to guess or relearn from scratch.
2) Once you go below a low B then all you're really doing is attracting earthworms.
[/quote]

I sooo agree! (Even if I've only played for a few years.)

[icastle]

[quote name='bluejay' timestamp='1335475265' post='1631996']
I sooo agree! (Even if I've only played for a few years.)
[/quote]

Crikey!
You must have got that post from Time Team...

[Fat Rich]

My tired old brain can't cope with anything but standard tuning at all, I get totally confused and mess everything up.

But my five stringers have always covered anything I need to play.

[gub]

[quote name='charic' timestamp='1328617703' post='1529984']
A band we support occasionally use drop G (on a 4 string). I've never once been able to hear the bass live
[/quote]
i have just tried this for the first time ever and its crazy!

[bobbass4k]

Don't you find only playing in one tuning limits they keys you play in? Standard doesn't really lend itself to every key, something like F# negates all the open strings in standard. I also find my fretting hand is drawn to the same places, dropping tunings can help capture a completely different mood. Maybe it's a style thing, I just don't use standard anymore, D standard, Drop C and Drop B for me.

[quote name='gub' timestamp='1335475828' post='1632012']
i have just tried this for the first time ever and its crazy!
[/quote]

I must admit I'm not a fan of Drop G, it renders the low string unusable, there's no cab that can reproduce it. You can just use D standard and have all the same notes availble just in different octaves, which helps cut through.

Edited April 26, 2012 by bobbass4k

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='bobbass4k' timestamp='1335476215' post='1632026']
Don't you find only playing in one tuning limits they keys you play in? Standard doesn't really lend itself to every key, something like F# negates all the open strings in standard. I also find my fretting hand is drawn to the same places, dropping tunings can help capture a completely different mood. Maybe it's a style thing, I just don't use standard anymore, D standard, Drop C and Drop B for me.
[/quote]
Standard tuning works for any key, I'd say, including F#.

[Mr. Foxen]

[quote name='bobbass4k' timestamp='1335476215' post='1632026']
I must admit I'm not a fan of Drop G, it renders the low string unusable, there's no cab that can reproduce it. You can just use D standard and have all the same notes availble just in different octaves, which helps cut through.
[/quote]

If a sealed 8x10 can do standard, then a decent cab can do G.

[heminder]

[quote name='Evil Undead' timestamp='1335474720' post='1631974']
I'll play in any tuning as long as it doesn't have "drop" in front of it. I don't like farking with the intervals between my strings.

But mainly either E standard or B standard is my preferred.
[/quote]

aye, same here.

[icastle]

[quote name='bobbass4k' timestamp='1335476215' post='1632026']
Don't you find only playing in one tuning limits they keys you play in? [/quote]

Nope.

I'm in my 32nd year as a bass player now and I've never got into a situation where I need to detune to play in a particular key.
I've got all the notes - if it's a problem getting to/from them then I just have to work a little harder.

[bobbass4k]

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1335477271' post='1632071']
Nope.

I'm in my 32nd year as a bass player now and I've never got into a situation where I need to detune to play in a particular key.
I've got all the notes - if it's a problem getting to/from them then I just have to work a little harder.
[/quote]

Maybe I just have lazy technique but I hate not been able to use open strings, if you can't use open strings you're physically limited I find. Take the F# example, just half a step down and all the open strings are available to you.

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='bobbass4k' timestamp='1335477841' post='1632086']
Maybe I just have lazy technique but I hate not been able to use open strings, if you can't use open strings you're physically limited I find. Take the F# example, just half a step down and all the open strings are available to you.
[/quote]
I'm all for using open strings if only as passing notes and anyway F# blues scale uses two open strings.

[MoonBassAlpha]

[quote name='bobbass4k' timestamp='1335477841' post='1632086']
Maybe I just have lazy technique but I hate not been able to use open strings, if you can't use open strings you're physically limited I find. Take the F# example, just half a step down and all the open strings are available to you.
[/quote]
S'funny, I don't really like playing open strings. It makes muting a special case, slightly different to how you do it on non-open strings.

[icastle]

[quote name='bobbass4k' timestamp='1335477841' post='1632086']
Maybe I just have lazy technique but I hate not been able to use open strings, if you can't use open strings you're physically limited I find. Take the F# example, just half a step down and all the open strings are available to you.
[/quote]

Sometimes open strings 'work' and at other times they sound truly piggin' awful, as do fretted notes on occasion.
I guess I've not worried about it for so long now that I just don't think about it any more and automatically choose whichever is the most appropriate under the circumstances.

[Kiwi]

Without question - Jewish wedding songs. Just mind numbingly monotonous to play on bass. I ended up on auto pilot.

[Kiwi]

Oh...tunING! I should read the titles more clearly...

[Graham]

Drop C would be:

C
G
C
F

every string down 1 tone and then the bottom string down a further tone

[risingson]

I used to play in drop C with a post-rock band, and I've used Eb Ab Db Gb for one song on our first album which leant itself to some open string playing.

I don't like altered tunings much though, and to be honest I've never found myself limited by a 4 string as I've got an octave pedal. I've worked on knowing the notes on my fretboard and once you get it properly drilled then there's always more than one way to play anything, open string and positions alike. I'd like a 5 string soon so I can extend my playing out a bit, that will set me learning again.

[BigRedX]

I haven't ever used anything other than standard BEADG tuning on the bass and TBH with the low B I can't really see the point.

I've dabbled with alternative tunings on the guitar mainly drop D and open E because they allow some interesting chord voicings, but when on the bass I'm playing only single notes and 2 note chords there doesn't seem to be much advantage to messing with the tuning.

As for making different keys easier, for me the whole point of writing in different keys is the fact that it opens you up to chord and note intervals you wouldn't necessarily have thought of and allows different combinations of open string patterns than if you stick in E and A or their detuned equivalents.

When writing I've always been into "orchestration" and doubling IMO is used sparingly as an effect. If the guitarist has written an ascending riff my first thought will be for the bass line the descend against it. The fact that I might be in a completely different tuning to the guitar opens up more possibilities for getting an interesting and effective bass line that simply doesn't ape the guitar part.

[thepurpleblob]

Metal is second only to Jazz as a genre I will never understand

[merlin]

ref the c tuning going to stay eadg but use a five or six to cover the low end,and use that dormant muscle between my ears,,,thanks.

[bartelby]

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1335472511' post='1631901']
Oh yeah, probably should mention doing some stuff in the Octobass range. Unplugged.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FP1QqtGe8ts[/media]
[/quote]

WANT ONE!