Does Tuning Down Make It Heavier?

[sentinel72]

There is nothing wrong with downtuning. I don't think it needs to be called a gimmick or anything. It is just another of tons of musical elements that can be done tastefully or not.

I agree 100%

I wasn't implying that I think its a gimmick.

I do think that a lot of bands could take some lessons from some of the truly heavy hitters and note that its not just how low ya go.

 

[The Emptier]

It's all about gauge of string and what is being played, for instance, Opeth has some seriously heavy stuff and they are tuned to E

true, dave mustaine back in the day put huuuuge gauge strings on his bottom ones even though he was tuned to e. thats why his riffs are just fucking brutal.

yes but also some of opeth's heaviest songs are in drop d and open dm

 

[mutantllama]

I think it depends, like with Black Sabbath for example. When they released Master of Reality, it sounded a lot heavier, because of Iommi and Butler down tuning their instruments.


Then you have nu metal shit, which isn't heavy at all, and downtuned to hell.

 

[cannibal corpse]

Well, to be honest, you probably want to tune to at least D#/D or C if you're playing darker thrash metal/death metal, but it doesn't make it heavier, just sounds more natural to be playing that kind of music in that tuning. Proper amp setup and appropriate gear make the most difference I think.

 

[Harry Hughes]

There is nothing wrong with downtuning. I don't think it needs to be called a gimmick or anything. It is just another of tons of musical elements that can be done tastefully or not. It certainly adds to the "sludginess" of bands like Isis or Pelican or to the gutteral vox of say, Karl Sanders of Nile. Gets a little annoying when bands like Meshuggah need a damn 8th string just because um, they invented a bass guitar for that lol, but again that's just a bad application of a good technique.

A 30 inch scale guitar like what Meshuggah use sounds nothing like a bass guitar at exactly the same notes though, so hardly good reasoning. The overtones from the different scale lengths are very very different and the string gauge difference also contributes to a greatly different sound
Chances are the low frequencies are high passed at around 100 Hz in the mix on the guitar tracks anyway, so it's not like they are interfering with the bass guitar anyway.

 

[Episteme]

I think it's all about the progression of the song, the effect of the notes and the dynamics you use to write. My band tunes down to D standard, that's about as low as we'll go. Maybe Drop C, but we haven't really bothered to try writing in drop tunings. I think it's more than heavy enough.

I know alot of bands that tune down to B or lower, especially tech death bands. Most of the time it doesn't sound heavy, it just sounds annoying as shit. It really does lie in hands of the other musicians apart from the guitar e.g bassist, drummer and vocalist to help shape the 'heaviness' of the song.

 

[beyond dead]

what do you guys think of this guitar sound? its in drop a tuning
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/1719400/_new bd good.wav

 

[Metal Wolf Bill]

Opeth uses DADFAD for most of the Ghost Reveries songs. They use Drop D on Blackwater Park and Demon of the Fall. I can't remember what else they detune on, but why would a band with such diverse and masterful musicians tune the same way on every song?

I've tuned down for years, mainly because my favorite bands did, and I wanted to play along. At one time, I had 3 guitars with different tunings: E for Maiden, D for Bodom, and C for Inflames.

As I think people have already stated, something is not heavier just because it is tuned down, but I do think it adds a different level of feeling to the music.

Imagine this song in standard tuning:

If you listened to the first minute or so, and don't think it matters - i'd call you crazy - but skip to 3:50 and set up the change that happens at 4:12... I don't think that can be done any other way. I don't care if they're the 30,000,000th band to de-tune, that drop in that situation is fucking awesome.

I also think in this song, that low C# would just not be the same if it were an F - and this is by no means a "heavy song" but it wouldn't be the same in normal tuning.


I played with a rock band in college, and kept my guitar tuned to D for the extra range - nothing we played was considered heavy, but having those lower notes available and a whole separate set of open harmonics was great.

I think its kindof pointless to generalize about drop tuning, as there are many reasons to use it. It doesn't have to be a crutch - in fact you could look at it as an improvement on a classical instrument that has not changed in 100+ years. I think it is better to judge bands on a case by case basis, rather than trying to group them by how they tune.

 

[metallicdistort]

The first half of Napalm Death's Scum, which is considered one of the most extreme/heaviest/brutal albums of all time, is tuned to E standard.

 

[Lateralus14]

Opeth uses DADFAD for most of the Ghost Reveries songs. They use Drop D on Blackwater Park and Demon of the Fall. I can't remember what else they detune on, but why would a band with such diverse and masterful musicians tune the same way on every song?

Opeth is DADFA*E* on Ghost of Perdition, Baying of the Hounds, Harlequin Forest, The Grand Conjuration, and Isolation Years, Drop D on Blackwater Park, Demon of the Fall, and Porcelain Heart, and E standard for literally every other song btw. This is a fact.

And they tune the same way on nearly every song because they're not solo acoustic artists lol.

 

[Satanstoenail]

Then you have nu metal shit, which isn't heavy at all, and downtuned to hell.

The first couple of Korn albums are heavy as fuck. That's what attracted me to them at the time.

 

[Tonka Time]

IMO tuning doesn't have much to do with whether or not a song is heavy.
Sorta comes back to the whole "what defines heavy" thing.

 

[sheaaa]

I don't think, for the most part, that alot of bands downtune to make it sound so heavy. They do it for a certain sound..

For instance. I can't make a drop D tuned guitar sound like Acacia Strain or Whitechapel.

And I can't make a drop A or G# guitar play pop punk (New Found Glory, Fall Out Boy..

It's about the sound that you want. Black Dhalia Murder wouldn't sound so mellow and moody if they were in E standard instead of B standard.

(not trying to be biased these are just bands that came to mind)

 

[waif]

Heavy is a vague word. However, if you listen to a lot of death metal riffing, which I think qualifies as pretty heavy, it's done in C or lower and involves a lot of palm-muting on the lower frets. If you played those same riffs in E it would sound completely different and nowhere near as heavy. That said, heaviness comes from the band as a whole. If two bands are playing palm-muted triplets while the drummer plays a slow beat and one band is playing in C and one is in E the band playing in C will sound heavier. But then say the drummer in the band in E tuning starts matching those triplets on the kick drums while adding in some crash cymbals; suddenly there's a new winner.

 

[XxSNAPxX]

It's important to know the difference between HEAVY and EVIL.

 

[Bryant]

Nice reply and you can go back to some "oldschool" bands like Slayer etc. that were pretty "heavy" before there was anything much lower than "d" tuning due to string gauges designed for "standard" tuning were the only ones available.
"Heavy" is also a matter of taste. I tune in Eb, always have and still only own six strings. I get a "heavy" sound with the use of picking technique. I use a technique similar to making a pinch harmonic and use lower power and open chords and the extra harmonics that the technique makes gives a huge sound. Obviously the position where it is picked is extremely important, or you actually get the opposite effect.

The truth is..... I am rambling needlessly. Down tuning makes one's pitch lower. It does little else. It makes absolute sense to downtune with the lower key extreme vocals because heavy metal music has always had vocals soaring over chunky guitars. It is tough to get death vocals to soar over anything, so down tuning will allow that.


Bryant

The down tuning part is exclusive to guitars and bass.

"Heavy" refers to the entire thing.

And yeah, itsd all subjective. Just looking for others opinions.

To me, downtuning is very overused and sucks a lot of definition out of music. Not always, but frequently.

Do I dislike all downtuned music? No, not at all.

I find it interesting that bands like Dimmu Borgir and Opeth primarily stick with standard tuning yet there are droves of bands tuning down to get their heaviness.

It seems like its being used as a crutch. Instead of writing dynamically heavy music.

Again, just my opinion.

 

[apeofgod666]

i think it all depends on the effects pedals

 

[Disillusion]

I dont think tuning down makes the music heavier, it's just another way to convey a certain mood or atmosphere that is present in the music. Proper EQing makes the heaviness.

 

[fps]

my band is half a step down, then drop to C# bottom string, mostly. I have a 7 string and the low B is used for an extra tonal option, essentially. Actually we do it cos these are good keys for our harmonies that we're working on, and for our singer's sake. It doesn't sound like heavy brutal music, cos it isn't!! Our heaviest song is called Foresee The Fall and it's in Eb. Plenty enough. I think soon death metal bands will stand out by staying nearer standard in their tuning.

 

[Navez]

distortion = heaviness

for me anyways...