problems with tunning bass to G

[HellHell]

guitarist in our band is kinda fucking lunatic and he wanna play death metal in low G tuning with 8string guitar
im bassist and have no fucking idea what i'm supposed to do
try .175 rotosound strings? or 36" measure custom shop basses? what kind of wood and pickups? fingers or plex?

 

[Suicide_As_Alibi]

That would be tuning to G0, which means the fundamental is 24.5Hz - which half the people on the planet can't hear, and no cab will put out anyway. Seriously, there is no point at all in tuning that low. Go the Meshuggah route, tune the bass up so you're playing the same octave as the guitar.

Steve

 

[John_C]

+1 to tuning up. G0 is insane

 

[plague_rider]

What cab are you using and is your bass a 5/6 string??

 

[Harry Hughes]

That would be tuning to G0, which means the fundamental is 24.5Hz - which half the people on the planet can't hear, and no cab will put out anyway. Seriously, there is no point at all in tuning that low. Go the Meshuggah route, tune the bass up so you're playing the same octave as the guitar.

Steve

Correct

 

[ze kink]

You can still hear the overtones though, and yes, the El Whappo Grande or whatever it's called will even play the fundamental.

I've heard basses tuned to F# and even lower, and they're fine. They've been fanned fret custom basses though, with a closer to .200 string and a really long scale for the lowest string.

 

[BLUElightCory]

Another vote for tuning higher, there's not a lot of point in trying to get amps/sound systems to reproduce that low G note. It can be done with the right setup, but it's such a low frequency that it's not going to really be contributing much of anything to the sound of the band. Anything below 40Hz generally stops shaking internal organs and just drops into nothingness on most speakers (try it with a signal generator!). Tuning the bass up would probably sound a lot cleaner would still fill out the sound of the band.

Not saying it's the only way to go, as I'm sure with the right setup you can make the low-G tuning sort of work for bass. But it's definitely not ideal.

 

[plague_rider]

I think if you use some nice drive on the bass, and as long as the bass isnt a 4 string, you should be able to get some nice tone from downtuning it to G

Obviously need some good tone on the drive

 

[crosstalk]

I think if you use some nice drive on the bass, and as long as the bass isnt a 4 string, you should be able to get some nice tone from downtuning it to G

Obviously need some good tone on the drive

+1

I'm not sure what the big deal is about dropping to G. My 7 string is in drop G and my 5 string bass is in drop G and I could pry go a bit lower with some heavier strings if I wanted to. The low G on the bass can be a little lost, but some drive makes a world of difference. There's no way I'd tune up to G. If the tuning was E down an octave, then I'd say it's a different story, but it's only G.

 

[xFkx]

Saw architects live last friday...

they have some songs in G# and the sounded awesome live, maybe the sound lost some definition, but gained a shitload of heavyness. The bass sounded monstrous too.. some high end fender.

 

[Force666]

People should focus on writing heavier riffs instead of lower tunings.



stirrin it up.

 

[plague_rider]

agreed... but i look at my bass in G alongside my guitar in C...

like when newstead had his bass in B alongside james's E standard

 

[Philchef]

my guitar is tuned to g c g c f a ais and the bassist of my band played a 5string Bass which extra thick strings and bla...
Some months ago i bought a bass for my solostuff and finally got the point:
even with brutal compression and distortion its crap to get an octave lower.

solution: playing same octave (or higher tuning )

 

[xFkx]

People should focus on writing heavier riffs instead of lower tunings.



stirrin it up.

That's a heavy riff

 

[Force666]

Oh. I thought we were talking about metal. :Smug:

 

[xFkx]

It is metal..

he is singing about dragons and wizards..

seriously

 

[Force666]

Dude, that shit is Platapus Core.

 

[darthjujuu]

wow, is it that easy to make a music video these days?? i'm in the wrong business

 

[-Noodles-]

+1 on tuning up.

And any band who tour with hair straighteners aren't tr00 metal. this is fact.

 

[plague_rider]

i agree bands should concentrate on playing heavy rather than tuning low... if you're song calls for a lower tuning then yeah... but have a listen to Sylosis... E-Standard fuckers!! so many bands can right some heavy as fuck shit in normal tunings...