Hi fellow lyntian.

i have a question on a guitar tuning . why we drop tuning or flat tuning the standard tuning

can the sound of the whole sound produce in the band can harmony if im the only one of the member using eb tuing on my electric guitar but other member second guitar using standard tuing and the bass also using standard tuning.

i curios why someone change the standard tuning and why the purpose to do that

fellow expert lyn.net guitrist please healp me on my mind boggling

Usually you hear the guitarist uses drop tuning, the purpose is to match with vocalist voice. The whole band should use the same tuning.

---

Added on June 2, 2010, 12:12 pmThe Eb half step down tuning that you mentioned gives the overall sound richer and deeper. Some vocalists feel more comfortable singing half step down.

This post has been edited by la bella: Jun 2 2010, 12:12 PM

Reasons
- to suit vocalist
- to get mean tone, say u want low D tone, the lowest you can get from standard tuning is on the free D string and on 5th fret of A string which the tone is not deep enough, quite high i guess, so how? You want a deeper D, so you drop the E string la. The drop D is not necessarily for metal only, ive seen acoustic player do also, very nice bcoz he was playing solo majorly in D.

yes you can play along with band with Eb as long as you tell them u using Eb, bcoz they are using standard. Many times i play with band, i drop D but the rest standard, as long as u know what to do sure can.

This post has been edited by ashportal: Jun 2 2010, 02:58 PM

Sorry to interrupt TS.

Can I ask what is
1) drop tunning
2) flat tuning
3) standard tuning

You playing drop D tuning DADGBe while other playing standard should be ok, i'm wondering, if you play half step down Eb Ab Db Gb Bb eb tuning, while your 2nd guitarist having standard tuning, would it be fine? Especially when you need to play open strings.

This post has been edited by la bella: Jun 2 2010, 01:42 PM

i think d sound gnna b horrible....

Sorry if misleading, what i mean is they shift left hand position one fret more/less either you or the rest shift, and regarding open strings, this is very subjective, if the song u want to play involve open strings, i guess better dont coz sure it will sound horrible, but if the song do not involve open strings, y not? i mean sumtimes u are not rich to have more than a guitar to have 2 type of tunings, and it is annoying to tune guitar on stage to play next song, again this is subjective, depends on how u want it, for me i prefer both depends on the song. Anyway this is good question

Faceless, to clarify:

A guitar has a standard tuning of E A D G B E..... which is, lets call it the "base" tuning.

1) drop tuning
Drop tuning means that you "drop" the last string to a full step down, but don't touch the rest of the strings..... which reads as D A D G B E.
The reason for this, is easier fretting for bar chords, and also giving you a deeper, lower tone (normally for metal) while still able to retain the standard tuning for solos and stuff like that.
For example: To play a G minor Chord on standard tuning, you'd fret:

E---3---
A---5---
D---5---
G---3---
B---3---
E---3---

That means you have to bar the chord with your index, ring and pinky finger. But if you Drop D

D---5---
A---5---
D---5---
G---x---
B---x---
E---x---

See? Because the E is now Dropped to a D, I can just bar with my Index finger. It's the same chord, but I just need one finger to barr the notes.

2) flat tuning
Means that instead of tuning only 1 string down, you tune all the strings down from the "base" tuning. Which means if I want to tune to a D, I have to tune E A D G B E all one tone down, or one full step down: D G C F A D.
But you can also tune it a "half step down", meaning you can just tune it to Eb Ab Db Gb Bb Eb. This is equal to playing everything one fret down from standard. A full step down means everything is played 2 frets down from standard.

3) Standard Tuning are of course the standard E A D G B E base tuning.

More info can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitar_Tuning

Thanks for answering. Very practical answer.

Thank you very much Blacktrix.

Tune to D. Is it the same as saying tune to key of D?

no no do not have diff instruments with diff tunings
had a problem before where i had to use a capo to play a Drop D song
im in Drop C and others in Drop D.. sounds really off

yeah according to blax it is easier for us players when we are having the guitars in droptuning
so that we can bar chords or progress in scale easier (depends on ppl tho)

there are also extended range, multiscale options in guitars and basses (sorry to confuse u guys)

no.

Tune to D i assume u mean DADGBe. that means you tune your guitar to the respective open notes.

A key, depends on the song. and only the song. Which means that even if u are on DADGBe, you still can play songs in all keys.

thanks for the reply to all btw i'm thinking of using 11' gauge electric string and tune it to standard tuning but got advise from someone to tune it to Eb cos standard tuning might be heavy for the neck. if im using Eb it may be odd for other member to use standard tuning btw mine bridge are fixed type.

You can have standard tuning on 11'gauge. Maybe you need to set up your guitar neck, adjusting the trussrod.

i've used 11s for standard tunings, not much issues though. i agree with la bella, bring a shop to adjust the truss rod if there is any buzzings.

Yes, you got me right. So what does it mean to tune to key of D?

good thread. a friend of mine uses 'half tune down' for his rhythm. so for a bassist, how should I change my bass tune? (i'm replacing a bassist for a jam session) : )

Eb Ab Db Gb for the bass tuning..

tuning to the key of D that means when you play open string, it's automatically playing D major, or DADF#AD... very uncommon though.

drum can drop tuning o not? lol, i dunno just curious

i see. i never played a bass before.tuning half down step for a bass is the same for tuning a guitar kan? like turn the tuning peg 45 degrees from the original angle?