# My idea for tuning a bass to cope with a low F on a guitar



## Kronpox (Sep 17, 2008)

So my band is going to switch to 8 strings soon (whenever they arrive  ), and we've been pulling our hair out trying to figure out what to do with the bass. We'd tune to the same octave, but we're not going to be playing on the low strings all the time and playing on a higher Bb and Eb would probably sound wimpy. We don't want to tune an octave down because that's hard to handle with cheap bass rigs. So, my zany idea is to tune F Bb Eb Ab Db like we planned, but tune the F an octave up so it's like the 2nd fret on the Eb. So when we're gnarl-ing on the low Fs we're in unison, and when we go up to the higher strings we're an octave down like any normal metal band.

Basically I want other people's opinions on of this is a retarded idea or not. It's all hypothetical until we receive the 8s and try this out, but input would be appreciated


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## All_¥our_Bass (Sep 17, 2008)

I think that would be really cool.


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## TomAwesome (Sep 18, 2008)

Why do that instead of just playing the same notes on the Eb string?


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## Kronpox (Sep 18, 2008)

TomAwesome said:


> Why do that instead of just playing the same notes on the Eb string?



ease mainly, it would be a lot easier to play everything the way we're used to be playing it as opposed to trying to figure out how to pick something two frets and two strings higher than we're used to every time the guitars play something on the low F.


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## TomAwesome (Sep 18, 2008)

I guess. Well, if it works right for you, do it!


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## Variant (Sep 18, 2008)

Actually, that's not zany at all... that way you're using the same fingering going from one instrument to another. Another neat idea to reinforce the unison idea might be to try a double-course bass (eight string, maybe) with a F1/F1 - Bb0/Bb1 - Eb2/Eb3 - Ab3/Ab4 kinda setup, you know?


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## Crucified (Sep 18, 2008)

or get yourself a longer scale bass and and use a big thick assed string. the 175 on my warwick wasn't ideal but it didn't sound bad.


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## MerlinTKD (Sep 18, 2008)

I was going to say, why not tune Bb Eb F Ab Db, but I realized that would totally mess up any runs you did.

Besides, have the 'lowest' string be higher pitched than the rest is kind of banjo-like, and could make for some seriously cool runs right there!


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## Kronpox (Sep 18, 2008)

Banjo-like death metal in low F tuning 

We don't really have budget for a new bass (our band doesn't even really have a 'bassist', our old bassist left and lately the rhythm guitarist has been using my bass rig), so we're trying to get by with what we have. Which isn't bad, but definitely isn't specialized for low low tunings. We'll try an F an octave down, but I don't have high hopes, so I'm just hypothesizing. 

next up; bass mod picstory - replacement banjo body


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## B Lopez (Sep 18, 2008)

Thats what I'd do if my bass had enough strings


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## gaunten (Sep 18, 2008)

you know, that's basically what meshuggah do, but your way of doing it, tuning the lowest string up, makes it easier for the bassist to follow riffs on the Eb string.
my bassist friend will probably try tuning his 5 stringer drop A, and my guitar will be EADGCFAD, so on the low E riffs, he just plays from the fourth string up, and on the low A riffs, he plays his lowest string, but differently because of the drop tuning of course. since most our songs will be based around low E or A, it doesn't matter much with the D string.


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## MF_Kitten (Oct 1, 2008)

when you&#180;re doing the whole lowest-string-is-unison thing, i&#180;d reommend having a thick string for it, so it&#180;s pretty tight, while everything from the B and on should have thinner strings. that way, it&#180;ll sound more balanced, instead of the unison parts sounding whimp-assed


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## eleven59 (Oct 1, 2008)

I've been thinking about how to handle low-F# lately, since my guitarists want to get 8-strings, the issue is that I'll still want to be comfortable playing on the higher strings, and I don't want to do a strange tuning. 

So far I'm thinking:

-Custom long-scale 5-string tuned F#BEAD (Knuckle Quake Bass?)
-35"-scale 6-string tuned F#BEADG
-34"-scale 5-string tuned F#BEAD (unison with guitars)

I know I want at least a 5-string. I'll hopefully still be able to use my Jazz Bass for our B-tuned songs (as I'm assuming we will be doing some songs on the 7-strings and some on the 8-strings), as I really don't like the idea of playing the whole set on a 6-string bass with the low-F#, or trying to play some of our riffs on a longer-scale bass (I have a hard time with some of the stretches as it is).

Also, where on earth do you find heavy enough strings without spending $30-40+ for a single string?


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## thorninyorspine (Nov 12, 2008)

Get a 6 string bass , drop the high string off. Bump the other 5 down , and add a thick ass stif string "cable" above the b and tune to the same as the 8 string. Thats what im going to try.


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## TomAwesome (Nov 12, 2008)

Wow, that's a tiny-ass font.


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## Metal Ken (Nov 12, 2008)

Alternately: Tune up


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## thorninyorspine (Nov 12, 2008)

TomAwesome said:


> Wow, that's a tiny-ass font.


 
Yeah sorry bout that !


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## gaunten (Nov 12, 2008)

thorninyorspine said:


> Get a 6 string bass , drop the high string off. Bump the other 5 down , and add a thick ass stif string "cable" above the b and tune to the same as the 8 string. Thats what im going to try.


 


TomAwesome said:


> Wow, that's a tiny-ass font.


 


thorninyorspine said:


> Yeah sorry bout that !


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## MF_Kitten (Nov 15, 2008)

thorninyorspine said:


> Yeah sorry bout that !



get your nick from Korn - Lost, off the Life is Peachy album, did you?

or am i completely off here? 

also, for the OP, how´s the idea coming along?


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## Kronpox (Nov 18, 2008)

MF_Kitten said:


> also, for the OP, how&#180;s the idea coming along?



we ended up tuning the guitars down to Eb instead of F so we decided to not get complicated and just tune the bass down a half step so its 4th string is in unison with the low string on the guitars. We might tune it to drop Ab so when the guitars are on the higher strings the bass can drop down but right now it sounds pretty good as is 

edit; basically it's gaunten's idea a half-step down


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## Stephen (Nov 26, 2008)

i just use a capo me when i record if I'm doing 8 string based stuff, then when I'm not i take the capo off.

Just a quick fix really. Plus i'm not a bassist, i just play it on my own recordings/ideas


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## bulletbass man (Nov 26, 2008)

What you can do is upon arrival of your 8s tune two steps down. With a 6 string bass tune to drop A. On the fourth string you'll both be on e. And then he can also play lower notes as well as runing unison all the time gets very very boring.

Thats what I have my bassist do in my band. But he uses a 4 and I use a 7.


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## Kronpox (Nov 27, 2008)

bulletbass man said:


> runing unison all the time gets very very boring.



I never really understand this thinking. If a riff is boring then a riff is boring, and if a riff isn't boring then how does guitar and bass playing the same note make it any /more/ boring? I understand the philosophy, but I also understand that for a lot of music, especially metal, the role of the bass is to either provide or strongly reinforce the root note, and if the bass is going off and doing different things for the sake of doing different things, then it loses focus. 

I mean, I agree with you and am planning on implementing a tuning like that just so the bass can go lower when the guitars go higher, but I just never liked the thought of that you have to stray from root notes exactly so many times in an album before your bass work will be considered 'interesting'.

sorry rant.


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## TonalArchitect (Nov 27, 2008)

^ I agree. 

Also, I like the unison for really low, octave for everything else. 

Alternatively, maybe harmonize with fifth and fourth intervals, or use other intervals, have a 2nd inversion chord made by the bass (assuming that the guitars are playing fifths). 

So yeah, do something different. Don't be bound to tradition, especially the LOWER IZ HEVIEYER, OKTUV TEH BICH! thing.

I think it would be really interesting to move among the use of unison bass, doubling an octave lower, and harmonizing in non-perfect intervals.


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## knuckle_head (Dec 4, 2008)

Kronpox said:


> we ended up tuning the guitars down to Eb instead of F so we decided to not get complicated and just tune the bass down a half step so its 4th string is in unison with the low string on the guitars. We might tune it to drop Ab so when the guitars are on the higher strings the bass can drop down but right now it sounds pretty good as is
> 
> edit; basically it's gaunten's idea a half-step down



You could drop one more half step AND have the bass an octave down if you want to...

If you go to Conklin's site they sell a .195 that is suitable for octave E tuning on a 34" scale bass. There are better ways to do it, but this one is simplest.


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## StormEagle42 (Dec 4, 2008)

can someone please tell me how to start a new thread on here?


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## TomAwesome (Dec 4, 2008)

StormEagle42 said:


> can someone please tell me how to start a new thread on here?



Go to the forum you want to start a thread in, and click the "New Thread" button.


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## StormEagle42 (Dec 4, 2008)

Yay, thx dude, you're the only one that helped me with that. Do you know how to set your default pic? I uploaded a pic to my albums, but I guess it's not my default. Help plz


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## TomAwesome (Dec 4, 2008)

You mean your avatar..? It's in the user control panel.


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## StormEagle42 (Dec 4, 2008)

Lol thanks again mang.


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