*In Jerry Seinfeld voice*

[johnzorn]

So what's up with the Swedish and the low tunings anyway? Is it because of the cold they have to tune low to make up for the neck warpage? *chuckle chuckle* :Smug:

But seriously, cold weather blows and my neck don't like it either(Ibanez RG 421). So ya know what, I tuned the bitch to A again (15-58). Yeah, ya may say intonation problems may be a slight problem, but I don't give a FUUUUUUCCCCKITY. Enough on that rant, I still gotta go those damn samples up. .......But tuning low does make your balls rumble.

 

[Ermz]

Got my Epiphone in C... it sounds weird. On the upper hand its letting me practice recording by covering Arch Enemy.

 

[Razorjack]

Got my Epiphone in C... it sounds weird. On the upper hand its letting me practice recording by covering Arch Enemy.

I've got a crappy Vantage Les Paul copy with '74 Gibson hardware in it thats in C and it sound so sweet its unbelievable!! It's really cool to cover 7-string songs in C 'cos it fucks with other guitarists heads when they take ages to realise you're a semi-tone up!!

 

[Hopkins-WitchfinderGeneral]

My fave low tunings = C# and C# dropped to B.

Get some bitching low end out of that.

 

[johnzorn]

Tuning low is pretty "fun" in general. Don't wanna sound like some high school kid who's just found out you can do Drop C *crickets* Also why I tend to go for the lower tuning is because I have so many single string packs layin' around I can put togehter a decent set for low tunings. Also my DiMarzio Steve's Special is pretty sweet on the tone too.

 

[Hopkins-WitchfinderGeneral]

Alternate tunings can be fun too, one time after I'd been playing a year or two... I kept trying out all these crazy tunings thru boredom. I also loved making reverb feedback noise back then...

 

[johnzorn]

Alternate tunings can be fun too, one time after I'd been playing a year or two... I kept trying out all these crazy tunings thru boredom. I also loved making reverb feedback noise back then...

Hehe, also in that same vein, I had an addictin to Don Ross and I was always like, "Maybe if I got good enough using my fingers/pick, I could apply all of those cool tunings to some heavier stuff." But then I thought, ehhh, he's solo acoustic, thats why he does all that cool shit to make up for the Rhythm section that isn't there. Plus using tunings such as CEbEbFCD, DBbDFBbF and various others isn't too easy. Plus I would need various guitars and a crapload of sets of strings. Anywho, oh how crazy we start to think when we get big ideas.

 

[Hopkins-WitchfinderGeneral]

One band: Sonic Youth

I liked that soundgarden tuning, everything set to E hahaha

 

[ThomasT]

BEAD(f#b) is our normal tuning.
Tuning deeper means you have more notes to play without loosing power.
That's why scandinavian death metal is so melodic and old scool thrash stays on E...
E tuning sucks for metal IMHO (except black metal).
On one song I tuned my bass to A. That was deep.

 

[johnzorn]

BEAD(f#b) is our normal tuning.
Tuning deeper...

Tuning deeper. *giggles* But yeah, I noticed that too, the melodic is more pronouced. Also I can still whip out some jazz chords and clean passages. As far as more "standard" tunings go, I can play in either, its just that tuning to A presents more of a challenge in the way of riffing some times.

 

[Ermz]

I find vibratos go insanely wide the lower you go. Back when I first started playing, I always wondered how Arch Enemy got those huge bends and wide vibratos... not quite so impressive now.

By the way, Opeth do some really nice metal riffing in E. It's not just about dropping till you're playing laundry ropes - dissonance and rhythm can make for some heavy shit too.

 

[Cooperman]

To my ears everything is relative. If a band is playing in dropped A all the time I don't hear it as being heavy just because it's detuned. For me it's only when a band plays say predominantly in standard E tuning and then throws the B tuning or something in that it becomes heavy simply through the detuning. John Petrucci is a good example of this.

I agree with the Opeth remark though... those riffs are all really heavy and are all in standard E.

 

[SickBoy]

E tuning sucks for metal IMHO (except black metal).

I think just the opposite, that almost everything under D sucks for metal...
Seriously, it's my feeling that lots of people who tune deep just want to get the heavy sound without actually working on it. Take for example Iced Earth's guitars. They're tuned to D# and they sound to me much heavier than most people into C# or lower tunings... They've got huge balls in their wall of sound, despite their D# tuning. It's not all in how deep you tune...

 

[Hopkins-WitchfinderGeneral]

It depends how good you are, a great player can make E tuning sound heavy as fuck.

However, I suck, so I tune low to make up for my lack of technique.

 

[ThomasT]

In my opinion you see downtuning as a way to play deep and heavier. It is so, but that is not the main reason to tune deeper. It is an expansion of the palette to the deeper side.
Without the need to play 7-strings or 5-strings. It's a 4-string bass without the high G-string, which nobody needs.

Players that normally tune to E or D# play the most riffs normally on the E-string. But when they tune deeper there is no need to play all the riffs now on the B-string!
The lower B-String is not a deeper E-string, but an _additional_ string.

Hope you understand what I wanted to say.

 

[Hopkins-WitchfinderGeneral]

Put another way: Ibanez invented the 7 string cuz Vai wanted more strings. Then Korn came along and criminally misused it.

 

[DracWell]

Swedish, who me?
7-stringe, who me?

 

[johnzorn]

Put another way: Ibanez invented the 7 string cuz Vai wanted more strings. Then Korn came along and criminally misused it.

So true. But then came the likes of "Nu-metal" and the 7 string got put on the back burner while Drop C and Drop B became the thing(because why get 7 string when your only gonna use three or four of them.)

 

[Ermz]

I'm still waiting for the 1-string... 3 octaves below bass... the paramount of all nu-metal.

 

[Hopkins-WitchfinderGeneral]

So true. But then came the likes of "Nu-metal" and the 7 string got put on the back burner while Drop C and Drop B became the thing(because why get 7 string when your only gonna use three or four of them.)

I absolutely detest baritone guitars, they sound like shit. I tried out 5 in the store one day. They had a similar tone to an elephant with unholy amounts of flatulence.