I am officially FED UP with downtuning

[Davey]

i've got two... well, one isnt in working order, cos i took it apart as i'm working on it.
and i havent got the money to finance a guitar from scratch at the moment

[HTH AMPS]

I can't understand the whole anti-downtuning thing - seems it's now the popular camp to be in  :roll:

This wouldn't sound right if it wasn't in drop G... http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=UOC3k9xZO5I

From my perspective, downtunings offer a different tonality than standard that informs the music being made.  Like someone said earlier, the DM version of Dirty Deeds (by 6FU) just doesn't work with the downtuning.  otoh, Deicide's version of black night rules... http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=DT9OJtdXxVQ

[Transcend]

Well i play in D standard simply because my vocalist fits better in D standard in E he sounds too forced.

[Johnny Mac]

How about looking at this from another angle...

Classical music uses lots of different instruments that are tuned differently but are all tuned relative to each other in concert pitch. In order to get different sounds and textures from their music the composers used different instruments for certain things like cellos and double basses, timpani for the dramactic heavy stuff like Mars for instance. For the more gayer stuff for want of a different term they would use say piccolos and violins. These are only sweeping generalistions but you can see my point. For music that was played and vocalised like some of the examples here downtuning a guitar and tuning each string in different intervals too makes that guitar something completely new and capable of something  well...different! (I counted 7  :lol:)

I mean music would be fvcking boring if we didn't have these bands doing detuned stuff wouldn't it!

I love Meshugga. Nile are a new one on me. It's as brutal as it can get surely! Can it get any more brutal?

The masses that listen to Heart fm and all that wank still struggle with Cream and Hendrix, in a more modern form the Foos. Can you imagine their reaction to this stuff??  :lol:

[Johnny Mac]

I can't understand the whole anti-downtuning thing - seems it's now the popular camp to be in  :roll:

This wouldn't sound right if it wasn't in drop G... http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=UOC3k9xZO5I

From my perspective, downtunings offer a different tonality than standard that informs the music being made.  Like someone said earlier, the DM version of Dirty Deeds (by 6FU) just doesn't work with the downtuning.  otoh, Deicide's version of black night rules... http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=DT9OJtdXxVQ

That Purple cover sounds like the musics on 78 and the vocals are on 33 (and a 3rd)

[Ratrod]

Davey, I know what you mean. It's almost a competition about who tunes his guitar the lowest to get the heaviest sound. (read pissing contest)

IMO the true heaviness comes from how it's played.

I agree downtuning works for some songs, listen to Sabbath.

Nowadays it's downtuning for the sake of downtuning or compensating for lack of skills.

It's just like too much distortion. it's so easy to hide behind.

It's EMO!

 :lol: :lol: :lol:

[FELINEGUITARS]

How about looking at this from another angle...

Classical music uses lots of different instruments that are tuned differently but are all tuned relative to each other in concert pitch. In order to get different sounds and textures from their music the composers used different instruments for certain things like cellos and double basses, timpani for the dramactic heavy stuff like Mars for instance. For the more gayer stuff for want of a different term they would use say piccolos and violins. These are only sweeping generalistions but you can see my point. For music that was played and vocalised like some of the examples here downtuning a guitar and tuning each string in different intervals too makes that guitar something completely new and capable of something  well...different! (I counted 7  :lol:)

Good point about classical Johnny

My two gripes with downtuning are :

Usually it restricts the vocalist to sounding like a wounded creature in a horror movie, or maybe they were a cr@p vocalist anyway.
Not always though - check out this clip
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf4uZ9pvZbk
or this one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjzaN0mNQ0Q
Most venues PAs cannot handle the sound at al and it comes over sounding like cr@p - good example id the Astoria - no downtuned band ever sounded good there in recent years. I saw Wednesday 13 there the other week and whilst they were quite good fun (reminded me of WASP without the charisma and distinctive vocals) the guitar sounds were somewhat of a mess through the PA. The support act Hanoi Rocks (who I was actually there to see) -  sounded much better simply because they were tuned to concert pitch or half tone down.

[Roobubba]

Nowadays it's downtuning for the sake of downtuning or compensating for lack of skills.

Actually, I find it more difficult to play the fast articulate stuff in downtunings - or, more specifically, with heavy gauge strings.
It's this argument that I don't get.
We down-tune so that we get the sound we want, simple as that. :)

Roo 

[MrBump]

This thread is ace!

Loads of metal-heads tearing chunks out of each other!!!

 :lol:

As a pretty much non-metaler (these days anyway), I'm fascinated with the idea of downtuning and extra strings.  I'd love a 7/8 string guitar wih chunky strings, strung low - I suspect that there's a whole lot more to do with it than just "chugger-chugger-chugger"...

... not that there's anything wrong with that.  Please don't hit me...

Mark.

[38thBeatle]

In my band we downtune to Eb-does that count?

[Roobubba]

Davey did come in with a good point, which I suspect is more the gripe than anything to do with what tuning the guitars are in, that changing tunings is a royal pain in the arse (especially if you use the same guitar in more than one band, too).

We just tune to "Drop A", which is A-E-A-D-F#-B by my definition. Everything we play is in that, the bassist has a 5-string so if I were to use another guitar, we could just as easily play in standard E tuning, but given that we have nothing which benefits from that, what's the point? :)

I don't see the point in changing tunings. Pick one and stick with it! (I guess dropping the bottom string a tone and bringing it back up is okay, but that's as far as I'd go). My guitar is set up to be in a given tuning with a given gauge string. Why on earth would I want to ruin the setup by tuning it differently!? :)

Roo

[CJ]

This thread is ace!

Loads of metal-heads tearing chunks out of each other!!!

 :lol:

As a pretty much non-metaler (these days anyway), I'm fascinated with the idea of downtuning and extra strings.  I'd love a 7/8 string guitar wih chunky strings, strung low - I suspect that there's a whole lot more to do with it than just "chugger-chugger-chugger"...

... not that there's anything wrong with that.  Please don't hit me...

Mark.

i wonder if somebody's gonna start an officially fed up with extra strings thread?

[Ratrod]

i wonder if somebody's gonna start an officially fed up with extra strings thread?

Tempting.  :lol:

[temps]

The thing is ... every band i get in to it's like this

we're playing in D ... okay, fine, tune my guitar to D and lets play.. right, that's the point of having a band, yes? next week.. we're going down to C# >.<   ... WHAT?? why? it's heavier... the $%&# it is.

other band, allright, can we keep this in Eb, IF you dont want (for whatever reason) play in standard? sure, okay. no problem. week later.. say, can we go to D? *sigh* okay, at least we're playing... next time i talk to em, dude says, listen, i droped my guitar to C# the other day and it sounds amazing! WHAAA??? $%&# OFF!

okay.. couple of friends decide to make a band, i compromise and put the tuning into D for the sake of writing material and not being the only one steping out of line. yesterday the guitarist sends me a message over MSN that goes exactly like this: We're tuning to C# now.. literally told him to suck my dick and to $%&# off with the band and that i'm never going below Eb again. drop-D is acceptable and if they dont want to play in that, they should look for another guitarist.

i'm SICK of growly mushy droptuned guitars and the pinch harmonics that sounds like a cat shrieking in slow motion. $%&# that
it's the downtuning for the sake of downtuning. the material doesnt sound any better and on the same strings and same setup, you sound like a total mess. everything is drowned out by the low end

Please, for the love of god, only post stuff like this on Harmony Central from now on.

When I think of modern metal in E standard tuning, I picture power metal man-girls in tight pants shrieking about something from Lord of the Rings. Or, even worse, a cheeseball "true thrash" band like 3 Inches of Blood who want to evoke the spectre of 80s thrash.. which is difficult when they are writing some of the absolute worst songs I've ever heard. There also seems to be no shortage of lame ass 3 Inches ripoff bands in garages all over the western world, who sit up on their high horses talking about how 6 strings in E are all you need while they write some of the most boring derivative cr@p I've ever heard.

Tuning is just a tool in a guitar's arsenal like anything else. If you want to write a whole bunch of songs that sound the same and should have come out 30 years ago in the avalanche of horrible music that was the new wave of British heavy metal, have at it. Just don't make me listen to them. I write in all kinds of tunings to get the sound I want, and if I ever am in E standard, that's because there is an extra string there to give me that B every now and then..

BTW if the low end starts to overpower everything else, you turn the mids up...

[CJ]

The thing is ... every band i get in to it's like this

we're playing in D ... okay, fine, tune my guitar to D and lets play.. right, that's the point of having a band, yes? next week.. we're going down to C# >.<   ... WHAT?? why? it's heavier... the $%&# it is.

other band, allright, can we keep this in Eb, IF you dont want (for whatever reason) play in standard? sure, okay. no problem. week later.. say, can we go to D? *sigh* okay, at least we're playing... next time i talk to em, dude says, listen, i droped my guitar to C# the other day and it sounds amazing! WHAAA??? $%&# OFF!

okay.. couple of friends decide to make a band, i compromise and put the tuning into D for the sake of writing material and not being the only one steping out of line. yesterday the guitarist sends me a message over MSN that goes exactly like this: We're tuning to C# now.. literally told him to suck my dick and to $%&# off with the band and that i'm never going below Eb again. drop-D is acceptable and if they dont want to play in that, they should look for another guitarist.

i'm SICK of growly mushy droptuned guitars and the pinch harmonics that sounds like a cat shrieking in slow motion. $%&# that
it's the downtuning for the sake of downtuning. the material doesnt sound any better and on the same strings and same setup, you sound like a total mess. everything is drowned out by the low end

Please, for the love of god, only post stuff like this on Harmony Central from now on.

When I think of modern metal in E standard tuning, I picture power metal man-girls in tight pants shrieking about something from Lord of the Rings. Or, even worse, a cheeseball "true thrash" band like 3 Inches of Blood who want to evoke the spectre of 80s thrash.. which is difficult when they are writing some of the absolute worst songs I've ever heard. There also seems to be no shortage of lame ass 3 Inches ripoff bands in garages all over the western world, who sit up on their high horses talking about how 6 strings in E are all you need while they write some of the most boring derivative cr@p I've ever heard.

Tuning is just a tool in a guitar's arsenal like anything else. If you want to write a whole bunch of songs that sound the same and should have come out 30 years ago in the avalanche of horrible music that was the new wave of British heavy metal, have at it. Just don't make me listen to them. I write in all kinds of tunings to get the sound I want, and if I ever am in E standard, that's because there is an extra string there to give me that B every now and then..

BTW if the low end starts to overpower everything else, you turn the mids up...

so you criticize him for his opinion on downtuning... and then make the same type of idiotic post? you just made the same type of post that davey did, except you inserted your own opinion. at least he didn't tell people where he's allowed to post his opinions. good job. at least his opinion makes some sense though... do you honestly believe that you can not write a good song in standard tuning?

i completely agree that different tunings are just another tool for a guitarist to use. but if you believe that you can't write a good song in standard tuning, i have to question your skills. i know that's a dumb thing to say, but saying that only 80's hair metal bands can use standard tuning... well that's just ignorant.

its really all a matter of opinion. you can't say a certain tuning is bad, that doesn't make sense.

please, for the love of god, don't post that type of stuff anywhere anymore. there's really no point. express you're opinion, don't tear down someone else's.