Silly bass tuning question

[Pushead]

I'm not a bassist (I'm barely a guitarist), but I was talking with a friend about dropped D tunings. I realized that I wouldn't know how to tune a 5 string bass for Dropped D. Do you drop the E and low B strings? How does that work?

[zandro]

Umm, why would you bother? I mean, the low B will give you all the notes that drop D will, what's the point of downtuning?

[Pushead]

Good question. I dunno. I suppose for open string riffs (at least that's why I'd do it with a 7 string guitar, but I don't have one or really want one)

But I was watching the DVD for St. Anger (the DVD at least makes the album worth having, though I like a few songs). The guitars are tuned Dropped D (down a step, and even more on two songs) and the basist Robert Trujillo is playing the open string riffs on the E (sounding C).

I just wondered what the low B string would be tuned to.

[feylya]

I (hopefully) be getting a seven string in the not too distant future and I was thinking about tunings. To play St Anger stuff, I'd probably tune to C C G C F A D to play Some Kind Of Monster (watch the DVD, Hetfield uses a 7 string F series) or else E C G C F A D (I think. That would result in the B and E strings being in dropped D compared to each other, E and A likewise and all the others down a full step).

[Pushead]

Yeah, I never understood why the 7 string on Monster...

I just realized that since basists rarely (dont flame me on this, I'm talking about normally) play anything other than single notes, I'd probably just downtune the entire bass.

duh...

[feylya]

Or just keep the B string a fifth below the D (once you've dropped it)

[DividedByJames]

In my band we drop-d tune and my bassist either is tuned BDADG where the 4th string is a whole step down (and he just doesn't use the B string) and ADADG where he drops both. If we ain't ridin the D he's tuned normally and hitting the d on the 3rd fret of the 5th string. He usualy tunes down to what he needs, not necessarily to match the guitar tuning.

In my band before that we used 7 strings and dropped-A tuned them (AEADGBE).

But here's a brain tickler... if on the bass the 1st string is the G, 2nd = D, 3rd = A, 4th = E, 5th= B, then what is the high C on a six string? Do they reorganize and reshift everything so that the B becomes the 6th and the C the 1st? or is it the 0th string, eh?

...uh...ok...nevermind...I'm just wasting time at work...

[lovekraft]

I play a 6-string (bass) almost exclusively, and I've never felt the need to detune - it makes the strings loose and flappy, and sounds very much bad unless you use heavier gauge strings, not to mention playing hell with the setup. Ferinstance, on War (The Process) ( The Cult - "Beyond Good And Evil"), I play the low D on the B string without any problem, and I like the control of the fretted string, especially in the lower register. Like Zandro sez, why bother? Besides, my cab (and our PA for that matter) is only good down to about 35 HZ, so those notes are mostly second overtone anyway - if I tune my E down to C, my B string is tuned to the G below the low A on the piano. You could do it, but that B string would would have to be about the size of aircraft cable to get any definition, and the extra tension wouldn't be good for neck or fingers.

[DividedByJames]

yeah...for simple movements, you don't need to tune down a five/six string bass. But if you do stuff like my band where the riff has pull-offs high up on the fretboard (10-12th fret) onto the open d string, then you have to have it tuned to the appropriate string. If you don't tune down and play the actual notes elsewhere on the neck, then you lose the finesse of the riff.

[john]

i hate drop tuning my bass, for the reason that it muddys up the low notes.

basses arent neccesarily meant to be played low low all the time.... why do most of em have 24 frets.. they are melodic instuments not backlines.

also when i drop-d on mine, i seem to loose most of my harmonics(5th ,7th,12th) which is odd

[DividedByJames]

The best thing I can thing of to "correct" hat is to get a longer scale bass. Not the cheapest alternative, but they make longer scale basses--I know Carvin has a 35.25" scale. It's similar to how Les Paul scales 24.75" sounds muddier than the Strat scale 25.5". But I have an alder Jazz bass with maple neck/fingerboard and EMG pickups and when I drop D it doesn't sound muddy. Do you guys use passive electronics in your basses? I recall basses with passive pickups (except the Musicman) sound really muddy tuned down.

But back to drop D...I guess it's up to the player. Not everyone needs to drop. I prefer to have bass players match tuning for learning/teaching/writing purposes, but that's just me.

But I don't know why you can't hit harmonics as well...thats weird. But have you heard Victor Wooten before? Listen to the "what did he say" album and most definately you will say it's not a backline instrument.