- Bass Tabs
- Forum
- Different Tunings
Different Tunings
but that's a hassle for one song.
Thats kinda the point. If you're in a band and playing covers, you have to tune in between song while the singer is yapping. I'm currently a basement jammer and just playing tunes I like. Seems trivial for one song. Lon had a good point in grouping them. I might try that.
Oh it's definitely a hassle. That's a lot of trying to get the tuning perfect at A standard. But it's always worth it. Most of the originals I've wrote are in D or E standard so it's right in the mix
You can try figuring out how to play it without tuning your bass. it's kind of a pain and you can't get the really low notes that tuning it differently offers, but it's a good thing to practice. there's always more than one way to play something. i like to play “Spiders” by System of a down like this:
Tabs:
G|----7-----7---------------------|----7-----7---------------------|
D|----------------10----10----10--|----------------10----10----10--|
A|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
E|8-------8-----8-----8-----8---8-|8-------8-----8-----8-----8---8-|
|1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a |1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a |
G|----8-----7-----10----8-----7h8-|----7-----7---------------------|
D|--------------------------------|----------------10----10----10--|
A|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
E|8-------8-----8-----8-----8-----|8-------8-----8-----8-----8---8-|
|1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a |1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a |
It's harder to play, but I don't have to tune my Bass and it's a good exercise for my hands.
I have three basses, but my next project, which is still on the drawing board! will have a Steinberger D/B bridge which has a lever so you can instantly dop to D or B, it's also a headless design using double ball end strings maintaining perfect tuning every time
Finally solved the problem. Traded my white 1987 Ibanez RD707 ROADBASS and a Boss DS-1 for a silver 2014 Jackson JS3V 5 string. NO MORE RETUNING !! Except now I have to learn how to play a five string :o
That was my solution as well. I'd suggest any bassist that is going to own more than one bass should have a five string rather than two four strings. Good luck, chuck! It is disorienting at first having that extra string, but pretty quickly your mind will make the adjustment and it will be no problem. cheers.
Reply to this thread
