Accolade ii drop tuning? C# in verse 2

[Redrinkarnation]

Hi folks

This forum looks pretty much dead but I'll try anyways. I'm transcribing Accolade II at the moment and to my big surprise there is a low C# in the second verse.

"Returning to his land"

Romeo plays C#---D#-E---F#----

And then the verse goes back in to gallop rhythm.

I thought all Symphony X songs were standard D tuning but this one isn't. Unless he's doing some whammy bar trick, which I really doubt because that wouldn't go unnoticed in the guitar track.

 

[UnholyCrusada]

That is pretty interesting. Never thought about that before.

My guess is that the song was recorded primarily with a D Standard guitar, but that Romeo used a guitar tuned half-step down for that one portion. I've heard of bands doing stuff like that before, like using 7-strings for certain small segments of studio recordings, but playing those parts an octave higher on 6-strings live, or using a pedal to lower the pitch temporarily.

I also looked at the one live video from 2003 of them playing The Accolade parts 1 and 2 on YT for reference on how it's done live, and despite the quality of the camera and how far away it is from the stage, from what I can make out it looks like for that one part Romeo shifts his fingers up one string, from having his index on the first fret of the A (or in this case G) string to the first fret on the D (or in this case C) string, which would form a C# one octave higher than on the album. After that, it looks like he also plays the next three power chords an octave higher, sliding further up the neck with each one.

That's the only explanation that makes sense, as they transitioned directly from the first Accolade to the second without any pauses to switch instruments, and the former is definitely in D tuning.

 

[Redrinkarnation]

Thank you for taking the time figuring this out

Using a different tuning for that particular riff could be a plausible explanation. If you compare the tone and sound of the guitars in verse 1 and verse 2 they're pretty much identical so it's probably the same guitar, or at least two identical guitars. When did he get his white ESP m-2 with the Symphony X-logo? I guess he still had his purple/dark blue m-2 (it is a m-2 right?) that he used in his instructional video and at least up the V tour https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38J5Qg59nRY

 

[Redrinkarnation]

I totally forgot, he plays a low C#5 in the chorus:

"sword and shield amidst the..."

as well as prior to the guitar solo (which kicks ass btw).

This entire song was probably recorded with a standard C# tuned guitar.

 

[Detective Clarence Beauregard]

This is interesting, to say the least. I wasn't aware that the band ever used a tuning other than D standard. I think even MJR's solo album is in D standard.