Problem with drop tuning...

[Hellbat]

I have the opposite problem. 3 female singers, not metal. I get a lot of "Can we go up another step" and it's like, Fuck, my capo is at 9 I may as well just get a fucking mandolin.

[toejam]

Megadeth decided to tune everything down to D last year to accommodate Mustaine's aging voice. D does sound cool, but a little weird if you're usually used to E or Eb.

[BLOOD SPLATTER]

Guitar set-up & more importantly amp settings....will take time to adjust as your ears are "tuned" to E or Eb....

[drewbag]

Re-joined my old heavy metal band recently, all drop C or dstandard... at first it was a little hard to get used to but my Fusion is actually handling it pretty well!

I think active pickups really help with drop tunings. They might not sound tonally the same as passives, but in a band situation, espacially heavy stuff with drop tunings, they seem to give the extra 'oompff' to cut through the mix effectively and hear the pitch of the notes properly. Harder to control but it was like night and day when i switched from passive to active at a rehearsal.


I still think I would record with passives as the tones are sweeter, and when im jamming on my own i prefer the sound of passives.

[bratfink]

Megadeth decided to tune everything down to D last year to accommodate Mustaine's aging voice. D does sound cool, but a little weird if you're usually used to E or Eb.

Wasn't Youthansia in D as well?

[bratfink]

I have played in B since the early 90's, blame Carcass / Napalm / Bolt Thrower etc. I use 13 thru 56 strings to keep tension. Things are different, when I go back to thrash occasionally and play in Eb everything is tighter the intonation is better and the pickups respond better. But there is something I love about the off tone sound of a 25.5" scale length in B, it's quite dark.

[toejam]

Wasn't Youthansia in D as well?

I thought that one was Eb.

[bratfink]

I thought that one was Eb.

Possibly, I know it was different to the other Megadeth albums.

[xenophobe]

I am having a VERY tough time dealing with the drop tuning. Nothing sounds right to my ear.

What pickup are you trying to use? A Super Distortion or EMG 85 are excellent at drop tuning. A JB sounds horrible drop tuned.

Also, your amp settings will probably have to change a bit.


I have no problem playing any tuning. I often go from E to flat, to drop D to drop C# and never really had an issue except with drop C# being a bit flubby. And that's with 9's.

[toejam]

Possibly, I know it was different to the other Megadeth albums.

I think everything else was standard, just Youthanasia was Eb, from what I remember. The newest album that they're working on is supposed to be the first one in D, I believe.
I read something about them touring last year and saying they're dropping down to D now to accommodate Dave's voice, so I'm assuming they'll also do so on the upcoming album.

[VoiceX3]

I think everything else was standard, just Youthanasia was Eb, from what I remember. The newest album that they're working on is supposed to be the first one in D, I believe.
I read something about them touring last year and saying they're dropping down to D now to accommodate Dave's voice, so I'm assuming they'll also do so on the upcoming album.

Youthanasia was in Eb at the direction of the producer, Dave was not completely on board with that but went along because he wanted a #1 charting. If you listen to the version of A Tout Le Monde on UA it is in standard E. All of Supercollider is standard tuning a whole step down to D which does sound great on some songs like the title track and Dance in the Rain.

Now here's my pet peeve. Some may think it's okay to be in a cover band and just play everything in one tuning.......IT IS NOT OK.....AT ALL. I say cover band because if it's a tribute band doing one thing then that makes sense or an original band and you're writing in that tuning, but if you're going from playing Over the Mountain into 5 Minutes Alone in the same tuning you are going to sound like Dogshit. Period. No arguments. Dogshit. If you can not change guitars fast enough then you need to rearrange your setlist accordingly. Then learn to change it as quickly as possible, I did it for years and unless you're having an issue it should take no more than 30 seconds. If it takes longer than that you need your guitars set up properly so they'll be ready to go as soon as you pick them up. They should be tuned before and between EVERY SET. If you have issue with the sound of lower tunings, either A) Don't play those songs or B) get a longer scale baritone guitar or C) get and learn to play a 7 string. Anybody that says "Well that's what Ozzy does" or "That's what Megadeth did"....etc. They wrote the songs and can do whatever they want. In a cover band, you didn't. It's as bad as those guys that just "play whatever they want for a solo"....news flash, if they paid a cover to see a cover band, they did not pay to hear your own creation. I realize that not everyone can play solos note for note, but at least keep it in the ballpark.

Getting off my soapbox, while it might take a while to find the right combination, it is the only RIGHT way to do any justice to the songs you are playing and the original artists that wrote them.

[pianoguyy]

But is the audience, which consists of 200 drunk Joe Blows trying to make time with the local fatty, 50 drunk local fatties, and 10 even drunker musicians sitting in the back leaning against a wall thinking "I could have done it better", going to notice that you played Van Halen Unchained in E instead of Drop D.

[roodyrocker]

the issue of playing songs in a cover band in the original tunings as well as dead on solos will probably get you many varying opinions so here's mine It depends by cover band if you mean a tribute band or a cover band which plays lots of different artists in one show. If you're in a tribute band then yes, play it using the correct tuning. In my band we do various 80's covers and I used to take multiple guitars with me and in one night played guitars tuned to E, Eb, D, Drop D. In some instances that guitar was used for 1 song out of 30+. I did what you said, had the guitars tuned and ready to go in less than 30 seconds, tuned between sets, etc... I still think that when tuned in D live, things sound muddier than the same song tuned in D on record. As for changing amp settings to accommodate that tuning, nope I wasn't about to do that for just a couple songs here or there. I had no issue playing songs tuned in D mind you. I simply used the same amp settings throughout. For solos, it's funny you should mention Over The Mountain because my band did that song in our set. That one in particular I think requires pretty much a pretty close rendition of the original solo. You're not going to get away with just winging something. And I did that one pretty much note for note. However, my goal for the evening wasn't to copy VH, Lynch, etc... Note for note. Rather I'd like to think that what I'm playing sounds Van Halenish or Lynchish. To me that's more impressive if not equally impressive as note for note. In other words, if the audience walks away thinking that what I played could have been written/played by VH or Lynch or Rhoads himself then I'm happy.
Oh, forgot one more thing about the tunings. If you're in a tribute band then it definitely helps if your singer sounds like whoever your band is emulating. But if you're in a cover band doing multi acts, I think it's unreasonable to expect someone to sound like Ozzy on one song then Brian Johnson on the next then Mark Slaughter on the one after that AND do them in the original tunings. Your singer's voice will be blown out by the 2nd set. So yes, I'm willing to drop the original tuning from say E to Eb if that's what my singer wants. It's not that big a deal. In fact for the last 3 years we've had a female singer so hitting high notes on 80's songs isn't as big a deal anymore but OTOH 99% of what we do was originally sung by male singers. The only exception I can think of is Vixen, we do that one right

[toejam]

Youthanasia was in Eb at the direction of the producer, Dave was not completely on board with that but went along because he wanted a #1 charting. If you listen to the version of A Tout Le Monde on UA it is in standard E. All of Supercollider is standard tuning a whole step down to D which does sound great on some songs like the title track and Dance in the Rain.

Ah, Super Collider is in D? Shows what I know! I've only listened to that CD a few times. It's not all that bad, but I never really paid that much attention to it. I'll have to dig it out again.

[VoiceX3]

Ah, Super Collider is in D? Shows what I know! I've only listened to that CD a few times. It's not all that bad, but I never really paid that much attention to it. I'll have to dig it out again.

Supercollider as a whole isn't bad, but there are a couple tracks that really drag it down, and a couple really good songs. It's not Risk for sure.