Alternate Tuning on a Fretless 6

[davio]

I kind of half-way have my eye on a fretless 6 to experiment with. I've been thinking about it for a while and I don't know when I'll go for it but I wanted to see what some of you think about it.

 

I've been wanting to try tuning a 6 EADGBE for some time now but now I've got the fretless bug and I won't be able to shake it 'til I score one.

 

I'm sure it's been done before but do you know anybody that tunes their bass like this? Any pros or cons that can be expected from this setup?

 

I've played guitar for several years and know my way around fairly well so I'm not too concerned about that aspect of it. Is there really no point in doing it this way because I'll be losing that extra whole step from the traditional 4ths tuning? I'm sure I could play it in such a way that would warrant the unorthodox tuning, but what are your thoughts?

[Gruuve]

Go for it, Davio. Especially if you originally played guitar, that tuning ought to be real easy for you to adapt to. I always have to stop and think about that Maj3rd interval between them two darn strings when I tinker on a guitar...you won't have that issue, so it ought to flow nicely. You might come up with some interesting basslines from it...

 

Dave

[Fred TBP]

It can be done, no cons that I can see. A local 6-stringer does BEADGB on his fretted bass and prefers that to BEADGC, which I use just out of habit as I switch basses and string combinations almost daily. And it doesn't require intonation work if you just want to drop that high string a half-step.

Go for it!

[jeremy c]

Fred is leading you in the right direction.

 

Having the bass tuned like a guitar makes a certain amount of sense if you know how to play guitar.

 

Try B E A D F# B and see what happens.

[LLroomtempJ]

All the cool kids are buying 7 string fretteds and tuning them beadgcf.

 

just putting it out there.

 

jason

[davio]

Alright, Jason...

 

Unlike some people who have racial myths on their side, I'm a lowley white boy and I have to quietly try and convince people that I'm hung like a horse. I can't just throw it out there and say "Yeah...look at that...7 strings...I'm a bright and shining star." In all seriousness, if I end up getting a 7 one day I'll probably end up tuning it BEADGBE if this experiment goes well.

 

Jeremy, while I was searching for stuff about alternate tunings I came across a thread where you said you used to tune your 6 like that (BEADF#B) but you switched back because you never grabbed guitar chords on the wide neck. Was that the only reason?

 

Fred, I've thought about stringing my Dingwall 5 EADGB but of late I've found more use in the low B. As much as I dislike the tought of it, I've had it strung BDADG for most of the time I've had it because it's quickly become my main bass in my rock band (where's it's much more practicle to play in drop-D). I've tried lowering the B to A but it gets entirely too floppy for me. It's just nice to have it tuned like this and use the low B for the occational C or B (it's usually just roots when I'm playing that low so I rarely find myself playing a C# down there).

 

Dave, I didn't start on guitar but I started playing it some time around 11th grade so I've been playing for a few years. It's definitely not my main instrument but I'm at least fairly comfortable finding my way around on it.

[jeremy c]

I switched back because I couldn't reach the guitar chord voicings on a bass neck and I actually know bass chord voicings better than I know guitar chord voicings.

[EddiePlaysBass]

Not wanting to hijack this thread, but recently I almost retuned my Ibanez to CEADG because the B-string (then C-string, of course) just sounded a LOT tighter. And it's just one note I'd loose.

 

But I'm too old-fashioned for that sort of stuff

 

It did made me wonder why the B string on my BTB sounds floppy, and the B string on my Palmer (which is cheaper, AND has a shorter neck) sounds incredibly tight ... High time for

 

a) new B-string

b) setup

c) new bass

d) all of the above

 

[alexclaber]

I don't really see the point of guitar tuning on a fretless. And on a fretted I find that basses tend to benefit from bass-centric chord voicings.

 

The main pro of alternate tunings IMO, whatever the reason they're used, is in coming up with music you wouldn't have otherwise played, by shaking up the fingerboard patterns.

 

Manthing has talked about the emotional power of varying your tunings and thus tension and thus note pitch throughout the envelope. I can see what he's getting at but you'll need to shift by more than a half-step to hear the change, again IMO.

 

Alex

[Gab]

Originally posted by davio:

Alright, Jason...

 

Unlike some people who have racial myths on their side, I'm a lowley white boy and I have to quietly try and convince people that I'm hung like a horse.

Quote from:

 

Triumph The Insult Comic Dog in Conan O'Brian:

 

'You guys like Conan? He's hung like a horse, you know. A horse named My Little Pony!'

[ATM]

Bored with the new gear already, Davio? That was a short honeymoon.

 

ATM

[davio]

Nononooooooo ATM. Not at all. I'm livin' it up and lovin' every minute of it. I think I've found my thing with the Dingwall. I'm just looking for something to experiment with to branch out more.

 

With all the Tex-Mex retaurants in central Florida, it's hard to avoid perpetual GAS.

 

Gab, a quote from a random email full of Chuck Norris jokes that's going around:

 

"Chuck Norris isn't hung like a horse...horses are hung like Chuck Norris."

[Tom Capasso]

Originally posted by davio:

Fred, I've thought about stringing my Dingwall 5 EADGB but of late I've found more use in the low B....

While a Dingwall offers many fine features, it would seem like altered tuning is going against the fundamental principle of the instrument. I'm sure it works and plays fine, but the individual string lengths were designed for a specific tuning!

 

Best of luck with your experimentation.

 

Tom

[Fred TBP]

Wait, I'm missing something here. I never suggested tuning a 6-string bass like a guitar. (unless you're thinking 7-string)

 

You could accomplish the same thing playing a guitar through an octave generator, or through something like the Roland V-Bass (which makes a Jazz Bass sound like a pumped-up Strat if you want to go there). That would be simpler to do just to see if you would really enjoy playing bass like a 6-string. And transposing chords isn't really rocket science, anyone with basic math skills could do that.

 

Going through the hassle of restringing and setting up a bass (remember the truss rod and intonation work) just to play guitar cords seems rather counterproductive IMO. What do you really want to do?

[EddiePlaysBass]

I'm gonna go with Fred. If you wanna play guitar, buy a Strat I mean, the whole fun in playing extended range is having more than the "conventional" number of strings and yet be in a different tuning than the guitarist. And see them grab a G chord when you ride a low D on the B-string

[davio]

Tom, I see your point. I was considering trying something with the Dingwall but I decided against it some time ago. Your logic makes very good sense and I'd have to look further into it before trying something like that.

 

Fred, I was just saying that I had been considering tuning my 5 EADGB rather than EADGC kind of like your friend on his 6...minus the low B. I just don't have the heart to change things up like that on my Dingwall now that I've found something that's working well.

 

Originally posted by Fred the bass player:

You could accomplish the same thing playing a guitar through an octave generator, or through something like the Roland V-Bass (which makes a Jazz Bass sound like a pumped-up Strat if you want to go there). That would be simpler to do just to see if you would really enjoy playing bass like a 6-string.

If that were true, there would be no place for a bass player in the world. Just guitarists with a good octave pedal. Playing a 6-string bass and a guitar have totally different aesthetics. I play basslines differently goofing around on a guitar than I do if I pick up a 6-string bass at a music store.

 

Originally posted by Fred the bass player:

And transposing chords isn't really rocket science, anyone with basic math skills could do that.

I know that and that's not the problem or the point. I have no problem playing guitar chords in the upper register on a bass and I've even done it on cello before (tuned in 5ths rather than 4ths). What I'm trying to accomplish is to do something different that will open myslef up to new possibilities while being able to incorporate some skills I already have. Like fusing rap and rock to get Limp Bizkit...ok, really bad example.

 

Originally posted by Fred the bass player:

Going through the hassle of restringing and setting up a bass (remember the truss rod and intonation work) just to play guitar cords seems rather counterproductive IMO. What do you really want to do?

Restringing is no problem since we all do that fairly frequently. Setting up the bass is no problem for me because I enjoy doing that. The truss rod would probably not need to be moved since IIRC the overall tension on the neck wouldn't change too drastically (the reason for differently guaged strings). But all of that doesn't make much differnece because if I got a 6-string to do this with I'd have to go through the entire setup anyway. Nothing is counterproductive except a machine that does nothing but change its own batteries.

 

Eddie, I already play guitar. The reasons for ERBs are many and not so narrowly focused. I think it's safe to say that if you want to try and put all of the reasons under one big umbrella, you'd do so by saying that the purpose of ERBs is to give bass players something different to work with to play things they wouldn't otherwise.(where'd greenboy go?) I don't even think most people would consider a 6-string an ERB. Even so, what I'm trying to talk about is alternate tunings. I've got a bass with a low B if I need it. What I don't have is a bass that goes up nearly an octave higher, is fretless and is just different enough in tuning to inspire me to play in a different way.

[tinymay]

davio, how does the dingwall sound? i almost bought one becuase people said that the b is like the voice of god. can you tell me pls.

[davio]

Think of all the nice things you can imagine about the voice of God and then think a little bit better.

 

Seriously, the tone and feel of the bass are simply amazing...and mine is the "entry level" model. I can't wait until I can afford a Z or Prima one day. Or maybe I'll pay for my kid's/kids' college one day.