How do you tune?

[Surly]

I normally tune E-A-D-G on my 'Ray however I sometimes drop the E to a D and it sounds awesome even with the stock guage. I know there are a lot of combos of instruments, strings, etc. but I was wondering what you guys have and how you tune? I'd like to hear a 5 string in Drop A

 

[AnthonyD]

Anything but E-A-D-G is beyond me...

 

[KennethB]

Standard EADG with a hipshot on for drop-D tuning. Once for a gig I had my poor 4-string in ADGC-tuning, a fifth below standard. The string gauges were .070, .090, .110 and .145. Sounded great!

 

[adouglas]

I tune by plugging into a tuner, plucking each string in turn and rotating the tuning key....

You can get away with drop-D using standard gauge strings, but IMHO drop-A on a 5 string would result in a pretty darned floppy string unless it were super-heavy.

BEADG, though I'm going to try stringing my fretless EADGC just for grins.

 

[MingusBASS]

Beadg

 

[adouglas]

Beadg

Andrew;

How do you manage to get lower-case tuning on those four upper strings? I've been trying to figure that one out for years. Must be some sort of advanced theory thing I can't quite comprehend.....

 

[MingusBASS]

Funny thing... I typed BEADG and it gave me Beadg when I pressed return.


worked that time...ha

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

If your response is typed in all caps, there is a filter on here that switches it to lower case TO AVOID HAVING TO READ PARAGRAPHS AND POSTS WITH ALL CAPITALS BECAUSE THAT IS JUST IRRIRATING AND MOST PEOPLE DON'T LIKE TO READ REPLIES LIKE THIS

Thad being said, if you use one lowercase character, it skips the filter

I tune EADGBE

 

[MingusBASS]

Very Nice!

 

[1Echo]

I tune by plugging into a tuner, plucking each string in turn and rotating the tuning key....

Wow, me too! Sometimes I even do that cool harmonic thingy.

 

[Kristopher]

Drop D, sounds nice and thick

 

[TSanders]

I tune to drop Z suicide flat.

 

[n!k]

I am excited to get the Bongo because the 5th string is easy to get to and will open up so many more tunings for me. With my 4 string bass, I have tuned to DADG, DADA, all strings down a whole step and a half step besides standard. The acme flatwounds I use have a higher tension than most strings and handle the detuning well.

 

[1Echo]

I am excited to get the Bongo because the 5th string is easy to get to and will open up so many more tunings for me. With my 4 string bass, I have tuned to DADG, DADA, all strings down a whole step and a half step besides standard. The acme flatwounds I use have a higher tension than most strings and handle the detuning well.

Got another Bongo on the way??? Your sig only mentions the 4-string variety.

 

[n!k]

In the process of saving up I realized I gotta have the 5 string. I extensively played the two of them (the 4 and the 5) and it's just too easy to get to that 5 string and too easy to not play it when you don't want to. My first bass was a 5 string and I always thought it was clumsy and awkward. Of course I still have time to change my mind

 

[Bill]

E-A-D-G

and

B-E-A-D-G

 

[GreyDad]

Took the notes right out of my hand

Boring old EADG and, well, BEADG. I really should try something different but at my age it's hard enough figuring out what's going on with standard tuning, let alone anything really clever.

How does that nice Mr Manring do it??

 

[n!k]

You don't have to be Michael Manring to experiment! One of my favorite tunings I used was DADA. I was playing for a blues / rock player at the time in a trio and he wrote this line for a particular song he wanted me to play exactly. No room for improvising. And as a good bass player I immediately thought of how I could play something different and still play it. The song was only on the D and A strings so I tuned down the E and G strings and played on two strings at a time the whole song. In effect it was kind of like the sound of an 8 string bass with an octave pair. It also didn't sound so thin, as simple bass lines tend to in a trio (especially during a solo). Everyone was happy and it sounded great.

 

[phatduckk]

drop Q

 

[Bass Control]

drop Q

I hear it's a bitch to play scales like that. How do you do it?