Please help me understand non-standard tuning

Hello,

Surely this is a stupid question, but I’m gonna ask anyway. I’m learning on a 4 string, and have always used standard tuning so far. As I’m finishing up the course, I’m straying off into learning songs instead of finishing the modules. Anyway, the tab I have for the next song I want to learn looks like this:

tuning

Am I correct in thinking that, if I want to play that song, I have to tune my E string to G#, my A string to G#, my D string to C#, and my G string to F#?

Am I understanding this properly, or am I way off? Is there an easier way? I’d hate to screw around with my tuning all the time to play one song…

Any help is appreciated!

Thanks,
Grant

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Yes - it’s Drop-D, tuned down a half step.

Drop D would be DADG, tune that down a half-step and it’s Db/Ab/Db/Gb which they listed (oddly) as the enharmonics C#/G#/C#/F#…

Tuning to drop-D isn’t bad, tuning down a half-step isn’t bad, so if you really want to play the song, it’s not bad. Or buy another bass and keep it tuned this way. :slight_smile:

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BTW, typo there- you’d tune your E to C#, not G#. I’m sure that’s what you meant - just making sure.

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Probably because the song is in C# minor. There is not really a key of Db minor (because you would need to double-flat the B to avoid having two A’s in the key.)

(just guessing)

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OK - yeah, there’s likely a good reason - just looked odd to me… :slight_smile:

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It looked odd to me too, then I remembered the key thing and had to look up which ones were omitted :slight_smile:

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Thanks for the responses everyone! And sorry for the typo in the original post, not sure how I missed that! So I guess this leads to another question. This tab comes from Songster (I’ve had mixed luck with them so far). They offer something called pitch shifting, and if I’m understanding correctly, they convert the tab to standard tuning so it can be played that way. Is that even a thing?? Is it recommended, or is it a bad idea?

I’m only asking because I hate to keep de-tuning and re-tuning for one or two songs, but I will if I have to. And sadly, the second bass isn’t even a consideration at this stage of the hobby…

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If you like alternate tunings, it will be a consideration later on, @Grant . . . :wink:

Good luck
Joe

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I don’t understand what the pitch shifting will do - are you playing the “same frets” as you would on an alt-tuned bass (which would make it different notes)? Or are the playing the “right” notes on a different place (and in a different octave?) on the bass? If the former, then I guess you get to practice the song - you can just do the actual tuning when you want to play along with the original, and you’ll already have it “under your fingers”… If the latter, that seems like a waste of time. Unless I’m missing something. Which I likely am.

I mean, tuning isn’t that big of a deal. Takes, what, a minute of your practice time? Before I played around with pitch-shifting and stuff, I’d just detune the bass when I wanted to practice that song. If the tuning put me off of practicing it, then I’d take it as a sign that I didn’t really want to play that song all that badly…

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I don’t know–my feeble understanding of pitch shifting with regard to Songster is that they (after you pay, of course) show an alternate tab of how to play the song using EADG tuning. I’m not sure if that’s accurate, or even a good idea if it is. Truth is, you’re right. De-tuning and re-tuning isn’t that hard, so I’ll just deal with it for the sake of learning the song. Thanks to everyone for the help!

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My confusion comes from the fact that if it’s detuned to C#, then there’s bound to be notes outside the range of a std tuned bass.

And sure, maybe you can learn to play most of the song with std tuning, but then if you switch to the “correct” tuning, you’ve got to relearn the entire song since all the positions would change. That’s why I said “waste of time” if that was the case. :slight_smile:

Good luck, enjoy, and don’t fear the (re)tune. :slight_smile:

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Not to necro, but a fellow bass friend who has a lot more years invested in the instrument than I do, shared this:

Some thoughts on tuning, the why’s and when’s, mostly… And talk of some real oddball tuning by some well-known artists!

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Ok, so I got over my aversion to de- and re-tuning, learned the song, and all is well. My next hurdle along the same line is how do you adapt a five string tab to a four string bass? This is what the tab looks like:
image
What do I do about that B string?? I’m sorry–I realize this is basic for most of you…I just can’t get my mind around it…

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Well, any notes below the lowest E cannot be played. You could play an octave up if you want but won’t sound right in most cases.

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If you’re tuning down, then for any notes on the B string in the tab, translate them to the E string. You’ll also have to adjust the tab for the E string if you’ve tuned down, since the tab is written as if it’s tuned to E, not to whatever you’ve tuned it to…

For example, if you’ve tuned to drop D, and there’s a D tabbed as 3rd fret B string, you just play it as open “D” on your drop-tuned E string. Any note above that which is tabbed on the B string could be translated onto the E string… But an F tabbed as 1st fret E string, would need to be translated to 3rd fret E string, since your E string is now a D string.

But as @John_E said - you won’t be able to play anything lower than your lowest tuned string…

Hope that’s clear and/or helpful…

I recently gave tuning down from E standard to B standard a try… Felt kinda wobbly to play, but could still be a solution if you want to give a song a try (unless you need the G as well) :sweat_smile:
I do have a five string as well, but it sure feels better playing on a bass with more string distance… Which really makes me think of modding one of my bass guitars to BEAD :smiling_imp:

Do it, it’s great :slight_smile:

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Well, filing the nut might be tricky for me… tend to mess up things when doing handiwork. I’d probably need to order at least one spare nut if I want to get things done (especially since I don’t want to invest in nut files) :sweat_smile:

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That’s what I would do.

Nut files are a waste of money for this - you don’t need them for this, and you will probably use them exactly once. All you need is a small round file.

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BEAD could work since the tab shows nothing played on the G string. Now I’m going to further show my ignorance. Switching to BEAD is more than just re-tuning? The term “nut filing” sounds like a great way for a beginner to screw up an instrument!

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