Tuning down

chris77

Last night I tuned my acoustic down a semi-tone, out of curiousity and because I thought it might suit my not too musical voice a bit more if the songs were a little bit lower. :-[

Nevermind the singing however. I just really really like the way she plays now! The drop in tension means the strings (12-52 Rotosounds) now have a very nice slinky feel to them and she now plays like butter. Bends and Barres are a breeze because I don't have to fight the tension as much as before, and venturing above the 7th fret is now as easy as on an electric.

Tonewise, there seems to be a bit of a volume drop and hearing open chords sounding differently is a bit weird at first. Otherwise it's all good.

I think I will keep her tuned down like this for a while. I have a nice capo that can be used in a pinch if there is a sudden need for std tuning open chords and just shifting up a fret on my barres or scales will cover that part should the need arise. Mind you, with it's onboard tuner it is so quick and easy to tune up anyways, that that shouldn't even ever become an issue.

Anybody else here who likes to tune down a semi-tone or so?

NileshHansjee

My electric guitar is tuned down a step pretty much for the reasons you mentioned: when I feel the need to torture people with my singing, I struggle to reach E consistently (except for alcohol-fueled falsetto - I do a mean Supermassive Black Hole). To my ears I also get a fuller tone - some pieces sound cheesy in standard but come to life a step down.

My five string bass is also tuned down a step, mainly for the slinky feel you mentioned - it makes tapping much easier.
The low A rumble is awesome - in moderation. Too much and it becomes muddy.

Chocklit_Thunda

Can't say I've ever tuned a full step down but yesterday I did tune my acoustic down to Open D and I must say it was an eye opener! It gives a completely new dynamic to the sound ?

AlanRatcliffe

The tone is why many do it, including SRV, Hendrix, etc.. Down a half-step and heavy strings...

Malkav

I'm a firm believer in adding more strings rather than tuning down the existing 6 ?

Then you can have ALL the range!

Chabenda

Chad Adam Browne wrote: I'm a firm believer in adding more strings rather than tuning down the existing 6 ?

Then you can have ALL the range!

"And then, one day, Chad had an epiphany and knew that his life would never be the same again...."

AlanRatcliffe

Chabenda wrote: "And then, one day, Chad had an epiphany and knew that his life would never be the same again...."

Classic!

Renesongs

I absolutely adore the sound and feel of a strat tuned down a semitone. I have heard a lot of of reasons why Hendrix, SRV, and many of the greats before and after did this. but the most obvious reason to me is that Brass, (Sax and Trumpet), are tuned to Eb or Bb. A lot of jazz standards are written in Eb for the same reason the one's that spring to mind are Take Five (Paul Desmond and Dave Brubeck) and Spain (Chic Corea), The irony is the Spain borrows quite liberally from Rodrigo's Concerto De Aranjuez which is a guitar concerto in standard tuning.

flatfourfan

This is why we need many many MANY guitars, each one of my guitars is in a different tune and next is to get even MORE guitars with different tunings and also different gauges of strings.........imagine the excuses that I can use with the wife now.

Yes dear, I know i have an RG already, but this one is drop d with 9's, the other has 10's............hellooooo?

Codex7

flatfourfan wrote: This is why we need many many MANY guitars, each one of my guitars is in a different tune and next is to get even MORE guitars with different tunings and also different gauges of strings.........imagine the excuses that I can use with the wife now.

Yes dear, I know i have an RG already, but this one is drop d with 9's, the other has 10's............hellooooo?

LOL! Good one! ?

Now for the obligotary noob question. How do I tune my guitar down to Eb? (Some GnR songs in Eb I want to give a bash) I normally tune my guitar with an iPhone App (yay for technology! ? ). Any way I can use it to tune my guit to Eb as well?

Thanks!

AlanRatcliffe

If the tuner is not chromatic (able to tune to all the #s and bs), simply fret the string at the first fret and tune down until it is the same note the open string would be.

Codex7

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: If the tuner is not chromatic (able to tune to all the #s and bs), simply fret the string at the first fret and tune down until it is the same note the open string would be.

Ah - great, thanks! It is chromatic. OK, I think I get it now. Thanks Alan!!! ? ?

AlanRatcliffe

Then just tune each string down a semitone. So E would become D#/Eb, A would be G#/Ab, etc.

Psean

I really like the sound my acoustic tuned down a semitone or two. It really come to life when it's tuned down. I've messed around with open D and DADGAD on it too and quite liked them.

DaFiz

I kept my dreadnought tuned down a semitone for years and sought out all the Neil Young/ Led Zeppelin numbers that worked for me.
Along came LIVE - Throwing Copper and Secret Samadi and I had a fantastic time with t hose two albums.
It took a HUGE effort to revert to standard tunings and I missed all the old songs I used to jam.

Bottom line is... you need an extra guitar ?

Renesongs

Bottom line is... you need an extra guitar

Amen to that especially if you have a floating bridge. I'm going to set up my daughters Squire to Eb with slightly heavy gauge stings and then set the intonation for the gauge and tension.