Why Do Metal Guitarists Tune Down?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 ก.ย. 2020
- Tune low, chug slow am I right? So why do we like to tune down so much anyway?
➤Get your discounted DistroKid membership here: distrokid.com/vip/petecottrell
➤Check out the strings if you dare: bit.ly/3cvjx6l
Massive thanks to The Andrew Baena for joining me:
/ androidkaita1
➤New 'Dawn Of The Shred' T Shirts: bit.ly/2PA1v9r
➤Patreon (Tabs & More!): goo.gl/kwMnD7
➤Beanies: petecottrell.bigcartel.com
My Music:
➤Spotify: goo.gl/jfX6TT
➤iTunes: goo.gl/xnfu8C
➤Bandcamp: goo.gl/4So6qP
Patreon Super-Supporters! (Thank you so much, you rock!)
➤This video was made possible with the support of: Jason Lowman, Mason V and more on Patreon!
Follow Me On:
➤Facebook: goo.gl/W2Vu65
➤Twitter: goo.gl/QFg9XH
➤Instagram: goo.gl/e8j9FN
Get The Gear:
➤Agile Intrepid 830
➤Ernie Ball Strings: bit.ly/2IitKWG
➤Kalium Strings: bit.ly/3cvjx6l
➤Peavey 6505MH: bit.ly/2D2y34O
➤Two Notes Audio Torpedo Live: bit.ly/2YX7mIr
➤Focusrite 2i4 (2nd Gen): bit.ly/2KjbxuK
➤Cubase: bit.ly/2IitCGG
➤Positive Grid Bias FX 2: bit.ly/2Zho5ca
➤Jim Dunlop Jazz III: bit.ly/2IitGWW
Business Contact:
➤All business inquiries: petelessons@hotmail.com
*All links are affiliate links
#9StringGuitar #LowTuning - เพลง
OH HI
BAENA!!! :)
Hello my son
O HAI!
So you have joined the chat 😂😂😂
Sup
If you're not sludging peoples faces off in drop Q with a guitar dragging across the ground are you even in a metal band anyway? :)
Did you even have bass on the track? Seems kinda pointless 😂😂😂
@David Nwokoye Yep there's bass on the track. It is in exactly the same tuning though, even in the same octave haha. Thanks for watching! :)
Lol
*Torche has left the chat
Mmmh interesting, i never actually down tuned my 6 strings and my 7 string guitars. Keeping the E standard tunes. I don't like down tuning my guitars because they sounds... awful? Or too deep.
"This is so stupid, for real, so stupid"
Kalium, djent kids,Doomers, sludgers and Andrew Baena: I kinda feel that's targeting me, a little bit
I see you left off sludge and doom bands there, sir.
@@DapperHesher mi bad gentleman
*doomslayer noises intensify*
Batushka too
@@TKDFORCEARTdjentleman *
I have to admit that I'm married with standard tuning, even if I love a lot of rock/metal bands that play in lower tunings, I just find a really cool challenge to make everything sound aggressive and cool in standard tuning
Hello Pete, my name is Joey and I watch your videos.
Thanks for watching my videos Joey! :)
Hello Joey, my name is Matt- and I read your message.
@@matt79hz Nice to meet you Matt, I shall reply to your message.
@@matt79hz work your way up from 22 up to 50 bmg?
*ANDREW BAENA HAS JOINED THE CHAT*
And the video
3:42 Djentica!
I think tuning low, especially into 8 or 9 stting territory, is pretty dependent on what you are playing, and I think tunings have a threshold. For example, I think Black Tongue, Humanity's Last Breath, and Meshuggah would sound pretty bad if they tuned up to anything higher than G or maybe A, whereas Anthrax and Metallica would sound bad if they were any lower than B, and you can see where this is going. Just how I see the downtuning thing. I write death metal mostly, and I play between B standard and A standard on my 7 string. I think any lower would muddy up the riffs I play, and any higher would make them have way less punch
I agree. It all depends on what you play.
I mean, if you want to play Metallica riffs on an 8-string tuned one whole step lower to 8-string E Standard go on, everyone. No one should tell you what to do with your art and how to express yourselves.
While I think it sounds ridiculous in a fun(ny) way it isn't that usable. Just like a lot of Meshuggah stuff would sound off in 6-string E Standard (with exceptions of course).
I personally use my 8-string as my main guitar, tuned a whole step lower. I mainly use it as a 6-string tuned a whole step lower and occasionally go to string 7 and 8 to punch faces in. Added bonus: the 4 lowest strings are tuned like a bass in E Standard (E A D G), which is cool, as I now have 2 instruments with 2 different, commonly used tunings in one.
@@ThorsShadow Absolutely. And yes, it's very fun, as you said, to play riffs downtuned or uptuned, but the practicality is definitely not there. Also, whole step down would likely be the way I would tune an 8 string too, with the same intent as you, essentially cut it into 2 instruments. Also, EAEADGBE is a great tuning too, lots of octaves
Notes are notes. You can cover messugah on an e standard guitar you might not be able to maintain bottom end chugs/ rthym against the drum and bass but you can add to the song in other ways such as lead or chords etc
@@k-ondoomer Yes, that is true, but like... E standard doesn't djent 😆
You don't have to play the lowest couple of notes all the time, you know. When I was in a death metal band I had my 7-string in drop F# most of the time, but I busted out the low notes rather sparingly. That restraint might've been aided by the other guitarist playing a 6-string in C# though.
What opened my eyes to “heavy” was hearing some opeth riffs for the first time. Could t believe they made standard tuning sound so heavy. It was the I learned it’s more about what you play and how you play it. Going low only works for so long
I was really surprised to learn that most Opeth songs are in E standard. Something like Heir Apparent is heavy as fuck without needing to tune down (which, let's face it, can be really gimmicky in a lot of cases).
Right, but at the same time, imagine Opeth riffs a whole step or two lower? Shit’d be wild
I stand with the point that Mark Holcomb once said "changing tuning helps creativity"
He was referencing alternate tunings though... not necessarily standard down tuned. He made the point of it destroying your pre-learned boxes and shapes.
@@alexandrosvavatzanidis4850 This I can sort of relate to. I've used one stupid tuning every now and then (tuned lowest 3 strings to C-G-D). It really makes you think and play different.
Alexandros Vavatzanidis exactly!
Well actually.......Page and anyone else said this exact shit........
TheLemonKiller “um actually” *removes fedora and sunglasses*
Down tuning also makes riffs sound a shade darker. I had a song and I couldn’t decide between D standard or C# standard, but I chose C# because I liked how it sounded darker than D.
the cool tuning. C#.
for when you wanna see sharper edges on a table
C# standard is so underrated, love this tuning
That # tunings always sounds happier than the normal drop tunings :D
@@tobiasteichmann5882 i think it's quite the opposite it sounds more evil and sad. I mean it depends how you play, but behemoth, my dying bride and suffocation utilize this tuning lol
@@sinisavuco7931 I mean like c# sounds happier than drop c and a# sounds happier than drop A ^^
That song had my head bobbing and literally pulling the "fuck yeah, that's nasty and I love it" face...
You know the face I mean, the one that looks like you just ate something so sour that your mouth caved in on itself as well as being a little too spicy for you and now your angry about it.
Immediately followed by doing a stern face Judge Dredd impression.
If you don't know that face from how I described it. Then you've never loved a nasty riff first time hearing it.
Soooooooo much truth to that dude. It's that moment in time when the riff chugs just right... Mmmmnh~👌 Fucking raw and I love it.
Ah yes, the stank face.
@@andrerenault This guy gets it lol.
I call this the angry constipated samurai trying to take a poo face.
@@internetguy1260 That's the one.
I tune down because there’s something about drop A chugging on my 7 string that makes people involuntarily move their heads in ways only known to the likes of crackheads and contortionists. There’s something beautiful about watching a seemingly unsuspecting metalhead release their inner groove-demon to the heretic-esq sound of pure dirt funneling from my fingers through the guitar, through my metal zone, through my amp, and right to their noise organs
This is a beautifully constructed comment
I use Drop A on my 6 string :)
When I hear a boss metal zone I start violently thrashing too. Not in a good way though
You sir are a poet.
E standard is too bright for me. D standard is perfect though.
@Louis Frost I think all strats sound so much better in Eb, Jimi Hendrix also did it.
@Louis Frost I agree, nothing wrong with E standard. When i play with my band we usually play in E standard, but when i am at home i sometimes tune down to Eb, and for some reason it just sounds so much better to me. It might just be because some of my biggest heroes did it, it sounds more.. "familiar" to me..
@@BRIDKIE to be honest, when i’m with my band, i’m 80% in e standard, and 20% d standard. when I’m alone, I usually stick to c or b standard, because i like lower tuned pieces. that being said, e and d standard are probably my favorite tunings if I’m being real.
C# for me. Really has the "sinister" vibe that Black Sabbath brought to light.
I like D-standard too, but then my favorite inverted power chords get more muddy.
----
----
----
4-5
2-3
2-3
Sounds better in E-standard than D-standard to me, especially if you want a bass to follow them.
I think the silliness of an 8 or 9 string is that people play on 2 or 3 strings.
I'd think there would be more demand for 30" scale 6 strings rather than 8 string guitars. It would be much more practical.
A 9 string is better than a 7 string because with a 9 string you get 6 pristine unplayed strings, whereas with a 7 string you only get 4 unplayed strings. 😆
Caution: Too much low chugging makes your palms hairy, and your guitar green.
DEP have to be one of the heaviest acts of all time and they played in E-standard throughout their whole catalogue 😍
The track One Of Us Is The Killer is in Drop D but yeah, they're the best.
Pardon the ignorance, who’s DEP?
@@fgcapps72 Dillinger Escape Plan: th-cam.com/video/UAT91u1pvNA/w-d-xo.html
Never went lower than D on my six strings, but then again: I''m an old school kinda guy.
Given the fact that everyone is tuning lower and lower, it's only a matter of time before we get Drop B pop songs. But why I tune low is because a lot of the songs I learned were in drop tunings and I enjoy the low sounds. To this day, Drop A# still holds a special place in my heart
"Maybe I could call my friend and do a collab video. Nah, he's probably busy."
That is such a mood.
You’re right. Tony Iommi tuned his guitar down after the accident and had fingertip prosthetics. The lower string tension was the ticket.
He probably only figured out it would be helpful after the first two
I first started down tuning to b standard in the early 90's because of Carcass and Type O Negative when I got a seven string around 2004 I still tuned to b standard, but with the low f#. I enjoy the way it sounds, other tunings can be heavy too and in some ways heavier or at least more aggressive. Though the just play bass argument holds no water, a low tuned guitar doesn't have the same timbre as a bass at all. Ok enough nonsense from me cheers all.
Was gonna say this. Type O Negative and Crowbar were the first ones I remember hearing.
Nailed it. The Guit and bass have a totally individual sound and purpose. Even 9 strings are primarily a midvoice instrument. As a lad I remember Rob Zombie and Cannibal Corpse really pushing it. I mean Superbeast is in B, or at least the main riff is. At first it was just awesome. BLS also played around with lower tuning (see Worship Me). It just sounds cool. Maybe I'm oldschool, but 9s are just pushing it into flubland. JMO.
Peace
@@DapperHesher Crowbar is another great example. The more I think about it the longer the list gets, Morbid Angel were tuning to Bb and I think Entombed were tuning to A on Left Hand Path. It seems like some folk thing tuning low is a modern thing but it's really not, just the number of strings has increased haha.
@@cmd_f5 Aye I agree entirely, regardless of someone liking the sound of a 9 string or not they don't sound remotely like a bass. I think going as low as a nine string occasionally for effect can be cool. But its way easier to do with a pitch-shifter than buying bridge cable strings haha.
Why not just get rid of the three treble strings? It is not like they get played at all
Because then, they'd have to admit that they're playing bass.
Hey, if you’re writing Djent or Deathcore, those strings are important for alien noises or dissonant notes!
@@ryanbollinger1759 that can still be achieved on a 6 string! (I think)
Rediscovered eb tuning after everything sounding too muddy, it's fun, thrashy and clear. Love the fact opeth and chaos ad era sepultura sound heavy af without downtuning.
Isn’t chaos AD in D standard?
If it sounds muddy, it's your intonation, not tuning
I was tuning down my E string that day to drop D to play some tool. Then I dont know why, I went down to C to play neon by John Mayer, i had no idea I even did it. Suddenly, I dont know what got over me, I couldn't stop. After a few minutes, I was playing Periphery songs.
5 minutes passed, I was way past the point of playing meshuggah and animals as leaders songs.
Just I was about to reach the doom eternal stage, my friend pulled me out of it. Any further and I would have almost bought a 20 string from stevie T or something.
Terrifying true story.
My guess would be that metal became more and more rythmitic over the years, and lower frequencies are more suited in that regards.
I've always assumed the appeal in downtuning has something to with the way that in nature, low frequencies are usually made by the largest version of things. For example a tiny yappy chihuahua vs the boom of a doberman. So the lower you tune the bigger the "creature" your lizard brain hears is. And the listeners experience probably varies but when you are playing a down tuned instrument you know that you are in control of that "creature" which is quite a powerful feeling.
Disclaimer though: This is based on 0 research and nothing other than gut feeling but either way is my two cents x
I like your reasoning though, it makes sense looking at it that way 👍🏻
That's exactly how it works, yeah.
i like the way you compared it really opens your thoughts on musical theory
It's probably also helped by the fact that the brain percieves rythm more clearly with lower frequencies, so down tuning often works for more rythmic stuff.
IMO, I'm a 49 years old guy who started at guitar at 15, do whatever inspired you to play and to write music. Personally, the downer I've ever tuned is a seven in Drop A. Six in Drop B, but I normally use sixes in Drop C. Now I'm trying to Uptune. I've tuned one of my sevens in Drop B with the first in F# instead of E. It will probably work for me. Playing a six in standard tuning from time to time it's also enrichment. Cheers from Spain.
Metal dudes have to tune lower and lower so they can reuse the same riffs over and over without ripping off other bands or even themselves.
It's about how the riff is played, is what makes it heavy. Not always the tuning.
Yeah Opeth played in standard for all their heavier albums and Vektor tune UP? (Edited)
Exactly.
@@axelovingguy death and gojira are not standart but 2 steps down. Vektor is a step up yeah. Snapped my high f the first time i tried to bend that fucker.
'Down tuning is dumb'
*uses an 8 string made by the same company that made Andrew's 10 string*
What's your point? Ibanez make 9-string guitars. Is everyone playing Ibanez 6-strings now not allowed to not see a use for 9-strings? Don't get me wrong, I personally play an Ibanez 8-string tuned a whole step lower. I just don't understand what your point is. What does a guitar manufacturer have to do with one's opinion on guitar tunings?
Ok, so Tony Iommi downtuned and used thinner strings to make it easier to play with leather bound thimbles.
Metallica now use drop D tuning live I believe, I may be wrong but that’s the feels I get.
And why do I downtime? Because I get real good vibes from playing in drop D and drop B (C# standard). E standard is kinda boring to me.
I know a few older bands now tune a half or a whole step down as their vocalist finds it easier.
@@setra23 Yeah, I think it's actually more of a rule rather than an exception for singers to want to switch to lower keys as their ranges drop with age.
Metallica uses Eb on most songs live actually, they only use D for sad but true and the god that failed
Rock God I had a feeling I was full of shit, but you can only learn from your mistakes, right? Good looking out though.
Rock God The God That Failed is in Eb tuning. It was their first studio release to be tuned in Eb.
Metal has always been about being extreme, but has now reached a point were the extremes have been fully explored. And that endless downtuning, combined with the hyper excessive aggression and the speed of light tempoes kinda show that in my opinion. The most brutal stuff has been done, the fastest thing has been done, the slowest thing has been done et cetera and so forth. Time to get some fresh air into that scene.
There’s no fresh air to add in to the scene.
IT’S been done. Whatever it is... some form of it has been done before.
Metal guitarists just need to tune to what they want and play what they want at this point, instead of continuing to try to push the limits.
Just go out there and bring teh metalz! 🤘🏻
Agreed. We need real creative original ideas. Listen, no matter what people will always hate and always go towards trendy things 🤷♂️ we have to challenge the status quo.
Part of it is just because a lot of my favorite guitarists downtune. I was first introduced to the concept with drop-D riffs from Led Zeppelin, Muse, and especially TOOL. Then I got into more progressive metal like Dream Theater and Ayreon who both regularly use 7-string guitars. The other reason is because I'm also a vocalist and I can sing much more comfortably in B or C than I can in E (though it does depend on what I'm singing in a specific key). Usually I don't go lower than drop-A on my 7-string.
It's like the first time I hear something tuned so low sound so clean and not all sluggish
I just like how it sounds in drop F/E but drop A just hits harder somehow
I've had this half-baked idea for a little while now that downtuning is common in part because of the popularity of groove and riff-oriented subgenres, which in its turn mirrors hiphop's dominance over pop music. We're in an era where music heavily focuses on rhythm.
Down tuning used to be a thing to make stuff sound more powerful, usually associated with ambient chugging type stuff for spacy metal/djent, or just to be heavy as fuck. Now I feel like it's just a trend but if you listen to earlier bands who down tuned, they actually used it in a way that makes sense instead of just because.
Its good to see kids of today doing what they were taught in school... get down low and go go go 🔥🔥🔥
Almost all the music I got into in my early years as a guitarist was down tuned so it was only natural. My new favorite tuning to mess around on my 7 string is DDGCFAD where the low D is a full octave down. You can get some nasty octave riffs and the classic octave power chord which sounds soooo good that low.
Speaking of Kalium strings... They make a 0.266 gauge. And it’s $37.50 FOR ONE STRING! 😑
I have them on my basses. 😁 imgur.com/dRp5mfH
My opinion: tuning down makes sense to match lower-pitched singing/vocals. Other than for this purpose bass is usually better.
You know that it isn't true. Linkin Park was C or C sharp but Chester had higher voice. Ie he sang just a half of octave above the normal guitar tuning.
Mnemic, Sybreed etc. - they fry around A/B but again, higher than the normal vocal (think James Hetfield or whatever).
And Rammstein. They are mostly in the normal tuning, or D, but his vocals are just octave lower than poor 80's metal bands
angryktulhu I’d say it’s partially true. But you’re right. It’s more about what suits a vocalist. Some are way more talented than others and can sing over or under anything regardless of note and pitch. But it makes sense to hone your bands sound around what your vocalist’s sweet spot is. I don’t think it’s for singers to sing lower over it. In fact it’s more effective in the opposite direction. It allows a lower note to sound higher over the music. Also a reason why a lot of bands gradually tuned down, even if only a half step and for an album or 7, over the years. Good points all around.
@@ronsin9490 yeah makes sense. I think lower tunings are sometimes chosen to match the lower vocals. But just wanted to add one thing to what I've already said, at some points low tunings just turn into the standard E key, but octave lower (think djent, 8 strings guitars etc). So thousands of modern djenty bands actually sing pretty high, say Tesseract,they sing even higher than the standard E minor. So at some point, down tuning on guitars becomes up tuning on vocals :)
angryktulhu Correct. Which further enhances the high notes to the listener because there’s such an opposition (while melodized or harmonized) between the singer and the meat of the track. It definitely has a multi faceted effect on music. I love both sides, standard and dropped to the floor. They all have fantastic impacts when executed by good bands.
I have an Agile Sceptor 827, I tune it UP a half-step to C-standard/Drop F. So glad to see someone else playing an Agile 8 lol
I inadvertently began down tuning when I was a teenager, because I was too lazy to get a tuner. And like most kids back then, we just tuned our guitars to Metallica's Sanitarium and that was good enough.
I typically don't down tune much but I love the different chords you can get out of Drop D and things similar. It adds a different dynamic to writing.
feels weird watching this, when the lowest i've gone is Eb and thats so the strat sounds amazing
Never really thought of why. I just started trying to get the tones I was hearing in my head. From what my drummer friend says "I write really dark" sounding music, so guess it just works for me.
That's exactly why Iommi tuned down. It made the notes easier for him to fret. I tuned down 1/2 step when I was in a band because of the vocalist. She complained her voice was gone after practice. So we tuned flat problem solved.
for me personally, most of my favorite bands are in d to c standard. that is just where my ears sit comfortably.
I think metal downtuning is a response to how pop culture is shifting to be much more bass heavy than ever before. Modern mixing for pop music and rap has been all about treble at 10, mids at 3 and bass at 20, and headphone companies are regularly making headphones more and more responsive towards bass. It's just makes sense to make more bass heavy music to appeal to a more bass heavy audience
Also, it sounds metal as fuck
As a guitarist, I grew up with E/Eb standard, as Metallica was my early influence in the Black Album/LOADs Era. Nowadays, I tend to stay in Eb standard, but, depending on the song, I may tune it to whatever makes it easiest to play. That includes moving from standard tuning to dropped tuning whenever it's appropriate.
In the band I play in now, I'm the drummer and primary vocalist. We started out in E standard, moved to Eb standard about eight months ago, then, last month, moved to D standard. It's much easier for me to sing now, as my vocal range is baritone (D2 to G4, though I can extend it with falsetto up to E5).
"This is so dumb. I love it."
Because it sounds so badass!
3:56 Don't really know anything about guitars or music but it just sounds like a bass with distortion or whatever you call it
Crowbar, Down, Sabbath, Pantera, C.O.C, Acid Bath... the list goes on and on😂😂😂
Serious answer: I drop my 7-strings to Drop-A if I'm playing something in D-minor and feel the need to bust out a massive fat riff fest at the end of the song.
As for my 8-strings, I keep them in uh.. I believe it's called "double drop E". This is again just to make those low notes more harmonic with anything else I'd be playing.
*_Everybody gangsta till the Djent guy starts to tap his 8 string Strandberg guitar with independence in both hands_*
More density in tone depending on application, resulting in fuller, darker, rounder sound, plus it's easier on a vocalist.
Down tuning is so passe, the kids these days are up-tuning bass guitars to chug.
I have 5 guitars that I tune individually from standard to drop D, drop C to drop B, drop A, drop G to drop F, and an octave below standard/drop D. Used for more range and playability with open notes.
Wes was definitely overshadowed by Fred...he's a great guitarist
For me it's a long story to why I like lower tunings but here is the short:
I was a huge NWOBHM fan, especially a fan of Iron Maiden and went from that to sleaze (don't ask how and why, it just happened...). Well... We started a band me and a few friends, trying to become either the next Mötley or even the next Europe. And we got a singer who sounded like Lemmy. So at first we down tuned half a step, and did like three songs. And I just fell in love with the sound of a down tuned guitar. So I decided to tune down further and landed in drop c . So that half sleaze, half motörhead wannabee band found a cool sound. And even to this day, low tuned guitars just fills my heart with... stuff that is nice and stuff!
I've always been against down tuning as it is, in my eyes, just an easy way to sound "heavy" and a lot of bands have that as only thing they have going for them, making for lazy musician ship
I used to think this, and then I realized I was stupid. Just play in the tuning you thinks sounds good. I gave in a few years ago and just started tuning my guitars anywhere between A and C and it's been nothing but smiles ever since. A good riff/melody is going to work the same, and downtuning all the way down to A is only 7 more low notes on the bottom of the guitar... You gain 7 lower notes on the low string, and lose the 7 highest on the high string. It just doesn't matter that much. Play in the tuning that makes you happy.
That said, there's a boundary somewhere around 8 or 9 strings where you cant hear the melody as well anymore.
I played Tuba throughout school, so I love the low and contra notes.
I started tuning to Eb because a lot of hair metal bands like Ratt did. I think they probably did it just to sound a little different. Ab and Eb sound more interesting when society is so used to A and E. Same with Motley Crue, who tune down to D standard. It gave them a slightly heavier sound and, most importantly, made them sound completely different from everyone else. At first glance it sounds like drop D, which even some official Crue tab books claim, so they were harder to copy. Of course these days, drop tuning doesn’t sound as special anymore. I think it’s down to the sort of timbre you want. Drop C has a very different emotional feeling to Drop C# and Drop D, and same for E, Eb, and D standard. Personally I don’t like anything below about Drop C.
tuning down brings different vibes. I use drop C, 7 string drop A, and 6 string drop G, and they all hit really different. keeps me from getting bored.
For me when I was younger I was always intrigued by how different certain guitar tones were produced, and the first song I ever learnt was Smokahontas by Attack Attack which is in Drop B and my first riff Crazy Train which was in standard E. Just learning about the different tunings and how they sounded was just fascinating and now it's just a part of life.
I realized recently that besides the usual "I think it sounds cool" I downtune because my musical background is mostly the (electronic genres) breakcore, speedcore, and hard DnB. Those are all genres where the main melodic element comes from (essentially) a bass of some kind, which meant that, when I picked up guitar again, I was initially (however subconsciously) after a somewhat similar tonality
I mean for me it's pretty simple, unless you want all your songs to be in exactly the same tonal range having variations in tuning fixes that pretty easily
or perhaps even modulate through keys other than E minor?
the double harmonic major is an amazingly trve kvlt key. I love it
Just causally sitting in the back of class head banging with the teacher looking at me like what’s wrong with this kid
It's silly to get an extended range guitar just to only use the low strings
You hit the nail on the head with why Black Sabbath tuned down. Tony Iommi lost the tips of two of his fingers on his fretting hand, so he made makeshift fingertips by melting down thimbles, and tuned his guitar lower to relieve string tension to make it easier and less painful to play. This also inadvertently gave Sabbath their trademark sound.
As for why we keep tuning down lower and lower. I believe that a lower tuning gives a deeper and more guttural tone, which is especially suited to bands who utilise unclean vocalists. It’s not just metal bands who tune down though. Most of Neck Deep’s songs are in Drop C.
I also think it’s partly a “my dick is bigger than yours” type of competition. The lower you can go, the heavier your band will be, kind of thing.
i generally either play in 7-string A standard or Drop G, because that's what my favorite bands play
Basically... every modern metal guitarist, in one way or another, wants to be Lemmy. Even if they don't know it.
I needed this 😂😂
I love that this song is on guitars made by Agile and Fast, because that's exactly what downtuned, chuggy metal is not... lol
Mikael Åkerfeldt put it quite nicely, said something like when people can't come up with good riffs they downtune and it all sounds good.
I tune down mostly to fit the riffs I/we write to my vocal range. But also sometimes to experiment. I tried many different tunings like Drop d - Drop G, the architects tuning (F#-F#-B-E-G#-C#), open tunings for acoustic and stuff like that. Most songs end up in Drop B because that fits my voice the best. I recently learned new vocal techniques to go higher and different screaming techniques so now we could probably go to Drop C or maybe Drop A for heavier stuff.
My band does for 2 reasons:
1. Vocalist is a bass-baritone, so it just works better overall with their register.
2. We like the sound of it and it helps to create our own unique sound.
3. Allows us to dip in and out of other genres for experimental work to see what we like, want to play, or want to write for.
When you brought up Tony Iommi you were actually totally right when you said he lost his fingers and tuned down because of it. He lost his ring and middle finger above the first joint and the exposed nerve ending were to sensitive to play. His solution was to string his guitar with banjo strings (lighter gauge string set) and tune down. He also carved bars of soap to work as caps for his finger tips. They all worked and helped carve him a unique guitar tone never heard before.
I don't tune down, for 2 reasons:
1. If you need to tune down past D standard to sound heavy you're doing it wrong.
2. I have a Floyd Rose and really, REALLY don't want to have to re-tension the bridge springs for lower tunings, and I don't want to change strings until I absolutely have to.
I don't downtune to follow trends. The songs I write are all over the map and mainly I downtune to either fit my singing voice, or fit the mood of the lyrics.
Honestly, for the lels. When I was got into high school I joined a band who played in Dropped D, who then tuned down to Dropped C, and then Dropped B. It was the cool thing to do at the time. Now over a decade later, I have an 8 string but mostly play 6 strings in Standard E. I bought a 7 string because I wanted to play in Dropped A and stuff but that guitar was a total piece of garbage so I got a refund for that, and I didn't like that I needed a 5 string bass to accompany it. So I thought, why not just go all in and get an 8 string, and It's way better. For the music that I've written I tune to DGDGCFAD. The reason for this is because it's nice and low, but it also allows me to play my regular 4 string bass in DGDG, and I create a sub octave track to fill in the low end in the mix. It's funny that you bring up DOOM because for real that was a big reason why I bought an 8 string. It's just fun to tune low every once in a while. But I'm capable of writing heavy music in dropped D so the tuning doesn't really matter.
My band stays with standard tuning on 6 strings guitar. I think because our goal is not to sound super evil or viseral but more to energetic and groove. Plus we grows up playing our favorite songs that essentially written on standard tuning
2000 kid here everyone down tunes but man hearing blind for the first time really hitted me something that i even tried an 8string guitar but my small hands couldnt make it so i am still on my 7string in drop A
I play on C flat, mostly because my thing are old school videogames sountrack covers, and a lot of my favorite soundtraks like Castlevania series and Megaman X are written in C, so C tunning my guitar makes everything much easier.
I have an .080 to a .017 all wound set on my 29.75" six string baritone tuned to G standard/drop F... i really don't even play much metal these days. It's an ambient monster.
I just came across this thumbnail on I.G feeds, I thought I was the first but lol... Sed life😂💔💔
Great content bruv🙌🏻✨
Drop D opens the gates for great new chord flavors!! That’s what I play in primarily
I love playing E standard riffs in either D standard or C standard. They just sound better in most cases to my ear
Jeff Loomis when he was in Nevermore actually used some bass strings on his guitar for several songs.
I don't tune SUPER low, but my band tunes down to Drop A on 6 strings just because we like the tonality of it all. When we use 7 strings, We tune down to drop G and thats just because I grew up listening to Whitechapel a LOT and that's the main tuning they used for a long time.
Dude! Your riffs are always so sick!
Thanks! :)
I grew up on eb and standard, drop D was edgy none of the older guitarist seem to know anything about so that was cool, but essentially a simplified power chord it didnt leave much to the creative imagination so i never used it in my own playing, only to cover the popular songs of the day. Years later the tuning snuck into my own music albeit a modified version of it. And maybe thats the thing, your own style may end up being nothing like you grew up idolizing sometimes, yet the influence is still there.
I mean, you kinda answered your own question with that track.
That shit is heavy af.
Why we tune down? I started tuning down a whole step on my 7 string about 15 years ago after I heard Gojira. Then went drop C, Had to put a 56 and a 72 on the Low C and G respectively. The only way to get enough string tension on the lows. But the rest of my string set is basicially 9s. Fortunately, the 27" scale length helps a TON
I used to downtime all the time due to Slipknot and the like. Then I got a very bad 7 string when i got back into guitar after a few years on bass, sold it and got an 8 string. I've now discovered that drop A is pretty much as low as I need to go (apart from a low F# from time to time for some of my band's material). 7 strings are my sweet spot
I tuned down to double drop D on my 8 string the other day. Even tho I had a 80 gauge on the lower string, it was like playing on an overcooked spaghetti. I thought this was pointless and then I turned up the volume of my amp and the whole apartment started shaking. Loved it
I bought my first electric guitar in 2001. Every one down tuned from Mudvayne, SOAD to Slipknot. I learned a bunch of songs at C# on my 6 string and never looked back. I think bands like Korn and Deftones are a big reason down tuning is still very popular. If they didn't succeed with 7 string guitars doubt anyone would of done a 8 string.
Thanks, DISTROkid!