Josh O
Well-known member
Hopefully this doesn't throw me out of the JP owners club here but I'm going to ask anyways!!!
First off, I love both my JPs. I leave my JP6 tuned down a half step to cover my many 1/2 step down desires like VH, AIC, Hendrix, G 'n R, etc. My JP7 is my workhorse and the more I play it, the more I really appreciate a seven string's versatility.
Having said that, lately I've been in a heavy stoner/doom rock mood. Listening to alot of Fu Manchu, Queens of the Stone Age, Kyuss, a little Orange Goblin and of course my go to, Black Sabbath. Of course, these guys are all different steps of tuned down. QOTSA/Kyuss mostly tuned down two full steps, Fu Manchu mostly one full step (some I've seen one full step plus drop C), Sabbath mostly step and a half, etc. Instead of rearranging existing transcriptions to accomodate playing on the lower six in standard tuning (well, the G needs to be dropped to F#), I'm thinking why can't I use a capo and play it all as transcribed? QOTSA plays a full two steps down, slap a capo on the first fret. Fu plays a full step down, slap the capo on the third fret. So on and so on. It's not hard to shift the transcriptions for these different bands around to match a B-B tuning but what I am finding difficult is where in some songs, they are playing say an open C and quickly switching between it and say some chord up around the 10th fret. Easy to do when you are just wacking away at an open string and then fingering the chord, not so easy when you now have to play that C on the 1st fret and then have to quickly move up to that high chord, damn near impossible (at least more me) to alternate between the two of them quickly.
Am I out there on this one? Will it work? Will I have a problem with string bends, note going flat or sharp? What capo would work best? Never used one before so this would be new territory for me.
First off, I love both my JPs. I leave my JP6 tuned down a half step to cover my many 1/2 step down desires like VH, AIC, Hendrix, G 'n R, etc. My JP7 is my workhorse and the more I play it, the more I really appreciate a seven string's versatility.
Having said that, lately I've been in a heavy stoner/doom rock mood. Listening to alot of Fu Manchu, Queens of the Stone Age, Kyuss, a little Orange Goblin and of course my go to, Black Sabbath. Of course, these guys are all different steps of tuned down. QOTSA/Kyuss mostly tuned down two full steps, Fu Manchu mostly one full step (some I've seen one full step plus drop C), Sabbath mostly step and a half, etc. Instead of rearranging existing transcriptions to accomodate playing on the lower six in standard tuning (well, the G needs to be dropped to F#), I'm thinking why can't I use a capo and play it all as transcribed? QOTSA plays a full two steps down, slap a capo on the first fret. Fu plays a full step down, slap the capo on the third fret. So on and so on. It's not hard to shift the transcriptions for these different bands around to match a B-B tuning but what I am finding difficult is where in some songs, they are playing say an open C and quickly switching between it and say some chord up around the 10th fret. Easy to do when you are just wacking away at an open string and then fingering the chord, not so easy when you now have to play that C on the 1st fret and then have to quickly move up to that high chord, damn near impossible (at least more me) to alternate between the two of them quickly.
Am I out there on this one? Will it work? Will I have a problem with string bends, note going flat or sharp? What capo would work best? Never used one before so this would be new territory for me.