i was reading the guitar nerd post so i decided this was appropriate

how many of you guys use drop tunings when you play guitar?

i refuse to, i use straight tuning. straight B since i have a baritone.
i think drop tuning is the cheater way of playing guitar. all you do is lay your finger across the neck and you have a power chord. it bothers me how many hardcore and metal bands use drop tunings. you dont even need to touch the guitar with your left hand to do chuga chuga hardcore parts, which is such utter bullshit. there's so much shitty hardcore and metal out there that sounds alike and i think a large part of it is people using drop d tuning.

or maybe im just retarted

straight b is a fuckin drop tuning play a six string then you will know standard is in E motherfucker.

Im just fuckin with you b is cool when it aint dropped im fuckin shitfaced man.

I drop tune very rarely, mainly because i was always taught to tune down and play standard. I play in standard B, but sometimes I tune to drop A to get a lower sound simply by dropping the B string. Its just easier sometimes.

I have a guitar in "Open G" tuning (GDGDGBD [it's a 7-string]), and despite having two perfect fifth pairings, it's harder to play than a standard E form. And I don't play chug chug hardcore or anything on it. It's great for the avantgarde modern black/death style I write.
But yeah, a typical drop-D style tuning can get pretty boring. It makes you want to rely on the hands-free power chord much more than you should and more importantly screws up all the fun scales that sound a lot better than chugging up and down the E/A strings with one finger.

Does anyone ever tune anything up, or to quarter steps? I know Dusty from Despoilment is pretty fond of B quarter-flat. I want a quarter-step guitar.

I play in standard E. But when it comes to drop tuning, I think it depends on what you're playing.

open g for metal? thats pretty interesting. open g tuning is usually used for finger picked folk stuff. i tune my acoustic to that sometimes. its great for slide guitar as well.

at this point, I either play in standard or b.

Personally I don't enjoy playing drop tunings. I prefer playing standard E, D#D, C#, C or B...

Some people use drop because they suck in standard, but some people use drop just so they can move faster through power chords. Some bands do this very well, and some you know only do it in a song or two then they switch back to a standard guitar.

we tune to B flat on half our stuff and A flat on the 6th for the rest

Drop tunings are for pussys. Any other form of tuning is awesome, like the open G tuning, that's pretty cool. My buddy Matt from Non Compos Mentis used some of the craziest open B tunings I've ever seen, he's one of the sickest guitarists. 5 Minutes Hate is straight up 7 string tuning, however I use 6 string guitars. I just leave off the high E. It works for me!

Check our shit out if you want to........

http://www.5minuteshate.com

wa waaa waa my buddy matt, bhelahglh sickest guitar player ever. heharheadshrh non compos slipknot.

stfu, you know as well as i do that not every person that has played drop tuning sucks. most people just abuse it.

RustedAngel said:

Here's a novel idea, why don't you shut your fucking hole fag! Non Compos is sick, Matt is sick, I never said he's the sickest ever though. Yeah, not all drop players suck either, I just think it's the easy way out, it's for pussys, that's all I said. You must be one of them huh. And if you think Non Compos is anything like slipknot that says a lot about you and your musical tastes, you probably listen Nickelback and Saliva.

you should be suprised by the fact that I know who non-compos is. not many people do. to be still stuck on a local band that broke up like 4 years ago is pretty pathetic.

no if you read my previous post, you'd know that I don't play drop usually at all. some songs other people or I write, certain parts can be played quicker in drop than in standard.

so your going to say both guitar players in NILE suck? they could fuck you in the ass with a chainsaw, and then beat you over the head with their drop tuned guitars.

a lot of 7stringers use the low e as the drop a string.

MESHUGGAH!!!!!!!!! (though meshuggah plays in F i think)

"he's one of the sickest guitarists. "

up there with yngwie im sure.

siberia you're super gay and you're friends with prisoner 13. you couldn't even make a simple post about guitars that didn't turn into a shameless promotion for your crappy band that nobody cares about. and on top of that you name dropped on a local band that broke up years ago. i dunno what the final score is but you def lost about a billion points. give it up.

and tom could smoke you on guitar any day of the week. fact.

Ok dude, I never said that people that play drop tuning suck, I said it's the easy way out, it's for pussys. Nile can play whatever way they want, I am still entitled to my opinion that drop tuning blows! And what else, Matt Roy from Non-Compos and Drowning Man is a friend of mine, I'm not all about his bands, he still plays guitar and he still is one hell of a song writer. As for Prisoner 13, so what if I'm friends with them, so what if you don't like their music. Have you heard my band's music? Not a thing like p-13. And yeah, since when is playing the guitar some sort of competition, all you could retort with is saying that so-and-so could out play me on the guitar, WHO FUCKING CARES. I'm just trying to support my band and state my opinion. Why don't you all grow some dicks and quit fucking whining about useless shit.

Drop tunings are just as valid and useful as any other guitar tuning. If you think its a cheater way of playing than you haven't fully explored the possiblities. Half of our shit is in Eb and the other half is Drop Db. Lately I've been fucking around with Drop Bb which is a bitch to get anything to sound good in.
But the Drop shit is like anything. It can be interesting or boaring depending on what you do with it.

right now, the only thing that tom smokes is his pecker in his room alone.
mostly cause he won't move out of maine

the_reverend said:

heat it up arron, heaaaaat it uuuuuuuup!

i like using dropped stuff cause it makes heavy even heavier

call it cheating call it gay call it what ever you want i don't care

i suppose it is cheating to use a pitch shifter, harmonizer, reverb and deley to beefen up my guitar sound too

see I wouldn't use drop to make something heavier, because you can do stuff just as heavy in standard, IF NOT HEAVIER...

I'd use drop if a riff pattern worked better in drop than in standard.

we actually do it for a little bit of both
personally i prefer the dropped 6th i just like the sound better


RustedAngel said:

"drop tuning is for pussys" idiot. Just because you drop tune your guitar doesnt make you a pussy. I rarely drop my 7 string , when I do its because I want to achieve a lower sound on some songs. Nile tunes in drop A and they pussies?? Wormed tunes in drop A are they pussies? Maybe if you knew anything about guitars you'd understand that a specific tuning doesnt make you a "pussy"

i play drop d. big fucking deal. i like e tuning, but i want that extra chug, so i drop it. i like how it sounds. that and it makes for some nice barred chords too. so eat shit.

OH and TYAG tunes in drop A, are they pussies???? YES! Damn stupid pussies who tune to drop A on jackons and go threw a metal zone. Damn pussies who get yelled at by undercover cops wearing sandels in malden. ROAR!! DROP A!!!!!!!!! PUSSY ROCK !!!!!!! GRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

xPaulBLAHBLAHx said:


damn right they are, but its okay because matt plays his guitar upsidedown-backwards. even drop d is difficult under those conditions.

George said:
oh and holding the 5th string with one finger takes a hell of a lot more talent huh?
i tune to D, drop to C (CGCFAD) not because i want to shortcut powerchords...but because it sounds better for the style of music i play (http://dysentery.cjb.net )

I tune to E flat. that makes me better then the whole WORLD

Terence said:

d sharp? go yngwie!

as did jimi hendrix.

I hate to break it to you but your guitar won't sound any different if it's tuned to drop D or if it's tuned down a step. The sound is exactly the same, you're playing the exact same notes so whoever says it makes the music sound better is out of their mind. It's really a personal preference, I have my opinion as I stated but some people have no respect for an opinion and take EVERYTHING personally. That's your problem, not mine so don't jump on my shit for it. I really see no need to play in drop tuning, but some people feel the oposite, that's fine, I can respect an opinion.

i can get down two lower notes, which sounds a lot better when playing slam breakdowns, hence why i put a link to my band's music. it sounds extremely corny when tunes to e. its all in the context of the music man

..and no need to get defensive man, its just a discussion

Hey dude, I'm sorry for the defensiveness, I was just given a bunch of unecessary shit from a couple people. Yeah, tune however you want, I was just saying that if you tune to DADGBE your open chord will sound exactly the same as if you tuned to DGCFAD and played as a standard tuning. I posted a link to our music too but being from VT we gets no respect.

Peace

oh your from vermont...that explains a lot

jesus said:

Yup, oh by the way, have you listened to our music, it's a lot like Phish!

jesus said:


obviously an e power chord isnt much harder than a drop d chord, but its still crap for a guitarist to rely on nothing but the 6th sring to play songs. how can drop tunings sound better for the style of music you're playing? i assume you're not playing country right? well standard tunings sounds exactly the same. if you want your guitar to sound lower tune all your strings down.

you can write great stuff with drop tunings. nile is a good example of that. but the problem is you have the stupid ass hardcore bands comming left and right doing nothing but drop d bullshit. there's no talent in that. drop tunings really do limit your playing ability if you dont know what you're doing. its a nice way for kids who dont know how to play guitar to be in a band.

George said:
well if you read my post you'd see that i do tune my whole guitar down, and drop. if you read what you quoted you'd see CGCFAD
and i dont play in a fucking hardcore band.

Me and Yngwie are going on tour, Satriani caught a case of the gout, so Im filling in on the tour. We will ride in a convertible Mustang, whilst hoisting our E flat guitars in the air, exuding our arrogance across the US

i want a shirt that says hottie, or dollface
but i dont think they make them in XL :*(

Terence said:

right on, it will be nice seeing you guys duel once again.

I'll also be on tour sometime next year with Dio and Color Me Badd

One whole step dow sounds killer to my ears lately the regular D tuning.

in my old faggy band i used drop c tuning
now i use standard c

that band ion dissonance, i think they must have
a drop f or something. cause its really really low.

B all the way here!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Like I said before, I tune one guitar down to G. ~~cheesy smile~~)

youre weird...lol

"I tune my Bass to W...for Wicked Low"- Brandon of Bane of Existence

Hahaha, what's that vibrate at, 2Hz?

I was messing around with standard tuning and dropping the E to B...fucked up shit.

Cryptic Warning tunes to Eb, like Guns n Roses. I feel so much less metal than any of you saying that. Haha. Eb sounds so wussy compared to B.

No worries, all our stuff is in Eb too. Nothing less-metal about not bottoming out the low E string.

anyone who tunes to Eb OWNS THE WORLD