Anyone still play a standard tuned 6 string?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Donnie B.
  • Start date Start date
thegame said:
They do have a bass player.
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Well........... yeah...... :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:


Gotta agree totally if that updated djent tone is not your thing.
I can only take it in doses. I might listen to AaL for a few hours one day
and then not again for a month. Same with Scale the Summit, et. al.
 
Donnie B. said:
@VESmedic

?????
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Oh boy, this is a tough one. I’ve got guitars in all different tunings, mostly because I feel certain guitars sound better in certain tunings, I guess that’s not surprising. On a 7 string it’s almost always in standard for me, or a half step down: just sounds “ right” to me. For 6s my les paul almost always stays in standard, or drop D: again just feels right to me. My Jackson’s are almost all C sharp standard, and my ESP horizon feels straight up bonkers in C standard. When I set them up for whatever tuning I don’t ever change them, I leave them there generally. If I want a different tuning, I’ll buy a different guitar that fits that tuning haha.
 
VESmedic said:
For 6s my les paul almost always stays in standard, or drop D.
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So then Dropped D is the only alternate tuning you use other than standard with different roots?

This is cool to know. When I listen/watch someone like Rabea play it's obvious he's using some unique
alternate tunings. I was thinking that may be the case with your clips OR it was that I'm hearing normal
things but in such a lower register it's hitting my ear as sounding like it's alternate.

now get ready for the pesky "Hey, what was that chord? And that one? What about that other one?"

:ROFLMAO:
 
Donnie B. said:
So then Dropped D is the only alternate tuning you use other than standard with different roots?

This is cool to know. When I listen/watch someone like Rabea play it's obvious he's using some unique
alternate tunings. I was thinking that may be the case with your clips OR it was that I'm hearing normal
things but in such a lower register it's hitting my ear as sounding like it's alternate.

now get ready for the pesky "Hey, what was that chord? And that one? What about that other one?"

:ROFLMAO:
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i think what you might be hearing ( just a guess) is on the lower stuff, the difference between a 7 string in B standard or a 6 string in B or lower. A 7 just sounds so different to me, even with a comparable 6 string in the same tuning with a similar scale length. My Jackson custom 7 string sounds worlds different than any other 7 I own, and a big part of that is the scale length ( 27”). But sometimes a different scale just works better for the vibe and feel of the song etc. the guys I know spend an absolutely incredible Amount of time and attention to detail matching the right guitar with the right tuning of a song, the right scale Length etc. because it all effects tremendously how someone plays a specific part etc. that’s way above my pay grade, but there is a lot that goes into it just on that one small part of the process alone.
 
VESmedic said:
there is a lot that goes into it
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String gauges too.
The 7 I had was also fanned fret and it came with a standard 10-46 set with I think a 56? for the low B.

Never felt or sounded right. Finally tried a pack of Dunlop Heavy Core 10-60 and the difference was night and day.
Was like playing a completely different guitar!
 
Either standard tuning, or 1/2 step down...that's about it for me. It's been that way for life!
 
I started using drop D in 1976. I played in standard most of the time till about 1990. Since then I used drop D most of the time.

I messed around with the lower tunings on and off for years. Always end up returning to standard and drop D.

I also use open D, open G, double drop D and DADGAD fairly often.
 
80% of the time i'm in E, 18% in Eb and 2% in Drop D (tuned E standard) .. I just like the sound tuned normal (or I guess that is considered high now haha)

Only reason I Use Drop D is because one day I Picked up my guitar and started messing around and I made up a riff that sounded weird but very cool so I started to write a song around it but when I hit an E chord it sound way out of tune ... that is when I discovered my E string was down to around D ... so I tuned up to normal and the riff sounded shit so tuned to Drop D and the wrote 3 songs hahaha
 
I bounced around anywhere from standard to 2.5 steps down. I never really stuck with any of those tunings more than a few months except D standard. Something about it with 10-46 feels right to me. Anything higher feels like it is lacking range. Anything lower, the string gauges don't feel right. Right now I have a standard tuned guitar, several in D standard, and one in C standard (which I kind of want to raise to C# standard)

For seven strings, it is the same, A standard. Ironically, I usually never play the 7th string open, but the feel still is right. I even tried tuning a 7 string up to C or C#, but A standard is the winner.
 
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If you own a Floyd Rose guitar then E Standard is likely going to be what you do with it and it will stay that way. Which is why I had to chase up buying more guitars because there is no way I am going to spend an hour to get it into another tuning so I can play a different song.

My ESP LTD Les Paul is where I go for tunings lower than Eb Standard or my Epiphone. Fender Stratocaster never does lower than Eb Standard tuning and that's pretty much for Hendrix only. My Gretsch is pretty much in E Standard because any songs I use that to chase tone with are usually never in any other tuning. So what tunings you use are very dependent on the guitar, IMO but only once you get a collection going. Five guitars is what I have and nothing more.
 
For my 6 string fiddles: standard E tuning on 3 guitars, Eb on 3 guitars, dropD to taste
For my 7 string fiddles: standard B to highE tuning on one, dropA standard on the other
 
6 - E, drop D, D, drop C
7 - B, drop A, drop F#
8 - F#, drop E

Scale lengths from 24.75 - 29.4.

I don't suggest this shit to anyone. I used to be a decent 6 string player, now I'm a mediocre everything player.

...but it's really fun.
 
thegame said:
Old man rant: Bb is the lowest anyone should ever tune. Yes I know music, especially metal is about breaking the rules but humour me.... I'm picking that note because it is exactly 6 semitones down from standard and 6 semitones up from a full octave below standard E. In other words, halfway between a standard tuned guitar and a standard tuned bass. Anything lower starts yielding extremely diminishing returns IMO. To that end, 7 string guitars are cool but not my thing. Clean or semi clean baritones are equally valid but 8 and 9 string guitars sound fucking stupid with high gain, again IMO.

Personally I prefer E and Eb. Can't stand drop D or drop anything else (one finger power chord) tuning. I do like colorful open tunings ala Jimmy Page though.
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Can't stand lower tunings for playing or listening to? Or is it more of a personal bias? Based on the one finger power chord comment, I'd say it is more of a personal bias? I have 1 guitar in E and one guitar in drop C. As I've gotten older I've migrated more to the drop C guitar. Try playing some van halen in drop C. There is a lot of classic and country stuff in C too. With my amps and my ears and what I like to noodle on (on all strings) drop C is the most fun. Tonally.

DR tite wound .11 strings
 
311splawndude said:
Can't stand lower tunings for playing or listening to? Or is it more of a personal bias? Based on the one finger power chord comment, I'd say it is more of a personal bias? I have 1 guitar in E and one guitar in drop C. As I've gotten older I've migrated more to the drop C guitar. Try playing some van halen in drop C. There is a lot of classic and country stuff in C too. With my amps and my ears and what I like to noodle on (on all strings) drop C is the most fun. Tonally.

DR tite wound .11 strings
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What is Drop C?
Tune just the low E down to C?????
 
311splawndude said:
Can't stand lower tunings for playing or listening to? Or is it more of a personal bias? Based on the one finger power chord comment, I'd say it is more of a personal bias? I have 1 guitar in E and one guitar in drop C. As I've gotten older I've migrated more to the drop C guitar. Try playing some van halen in drop C. There is a lot of classic and country stuff in C too. With my amps and my ears and what I like to noodle on (on all strings) drop C is the most fun. Tonally.

DR tite wound .11 strings
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Just for playing stuff myself. I listen to lots of stuff that is drop tuned or simply tuned down across the board.
 
All I have are 6 string guitar and they're all currently in E standard or D standard. When I first started playing, I tuned to E. I then tuned to D standard while in my high school band because it was what Death tuned to haha. I ended up writing a song in drop C and then that was all I used for years in the next two bands I was in. I like the tonality of that tuning, but I had to break up the monotony since I'd used it exclusively for so long. Right now everything is in E standard or D standard and has been that way for a few years now.

Most of my playing & writing is done on my D standard guitars, but I have been spending a bit more time on my E standard guitar lately. There is something about the response and immediacy of that tuning that I really enjoy.
 
I've got 8 guitars right now , all but my Les Paul have floyds on them so really not much "tuning on the fly" I do have Drop D-tuners on 2 of them so I can do that but 1/2 are in standard and half are 1/2 step down for my cover band (for the singer)
I do have a 7 string and that is also 1/2 step down. but we do some open tunings for slide etc and I do those on my les Paul
no Drop B Slipknot type of tunings here though, although I'd be game if required :)
 
I have one 59 spec Les Paul in Eb, the thinner 60s spec Les pauls are in standard.

I use 10-54 for E standard, will be going 10-56 for Eb. I mainly love to play old ozzy and Randy stuff, the majority is in E or Eb.

I own 4 LP’s and one late 80’s MIJ lipstick logo charvel that’s loaded with 10-46.
 
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