I have heard of drop "D", down tunning 1/2, whole steps and what not but the other day I was sent a peice to record a bass line for and it was driving me nuts coming up with a line for it.
The bed that was sent had drums and guitar and the guy stated tempo. Any ways, I start jammin' to this tune and "What the hell . . .!!" It does some weird shyte.
So I ask the guy whats up with the song cause it is throuwing me off. Come to find out the guitar was tuned DOWN to
C, G, C, F, A, D (two "C" notes are an octave apart)
Talk about a weird tunning. It worked for the song but I do not think I have ever seen that.
Any else ever see some weird arse tunning?
HAZ
An old conservative.
I'm just an old conservative, 4 strings, frets, EADG tuning, boring. I'm thinking of re tuning my Gretsch or Ric to DGCF, wow, that's revolutionary. LOL
I must say that I don't really understand how different tunings affect the song. I mean it just changes the position you play on the fretboard for bass and for guitar it changes the shape and fingering of a chord (to the best of my limited knowledge). Why and how this changes the song I can't fathom.
Changing the pitch on the other hand makes a big difference and I understand this.
I guess there's a lot of theory I don't understand. :^(
Well, what happens is these
Well, what happens is these folks tell you what chord "shapes" they are using but if the guitar is tuned differently or they use a cappo it changes the notes. That is what was throwing me off. One of the chords that is played in the song is a "C" but with the detuned guitar it is not a "C" but rather ... may Wheat could tell ya what it would be called, my theory still is not all that great, getting better but it is hard to name a chord when the tuning is different.
HAZ
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Musicians Collabaration Studio / a place for musicians to get to gether and create music on-line
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"Carburetors man!! That's what life is all about."
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If they're going to be
If they're going to be playing a lot in alternate tunings, I'd get them to send a file and write the line by ear. Generally, if someone is playing in an odd tuning, I expect them to give me the chords as if they were in standard tuning, though I can usually figure them out by ear. If they're in an odd tuning, then watching their hands just throws you off anyway.
I'm not super great at transposition on guitar. I've known some players who were great at it ("well, it would be C, A, D, G, but I'm in drop D with a capo at the fifth fret, so it's . . ."), but I'm not one of them. :)
Wheat
bassplaying.com
The problem I have with
The problem I have with playing by ear, I tend to pick up on one of the other notes, usually the "b" notes, in a chord and not the root. Say some one is strumming a G chord, I would hear and play the Bb as the root rather then the G. To my ear it sounds fine but then again, I do like really off beat tones in some songs.
Anyways, the guy I recorded the line for was prety stoked on it. I am going to see if he minds me putting it up on My site. It is an interesting piece that sounds a bit dark with an Eastern sound as well I cranked the bass and brout it out front a good amount in the final mix.
Mwaaaahahahahahaha!!

HAZ
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Musicians Collabaration Studio / a place for musicians to get to gether and create music on-line
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"Carburetors man!! That's what life is all about."
Musicians Collaboration Studio
It's actually cool that you
It's actually cool that you can hear the third, as adding other chord tones to a line can really add some complexity. I somtimes hear the fifth more clearly (or want to stay on it when the chords move on). This can be a good thing, so long as the line works, though the root is always going to ground it more strongly than any other tone.
Wheat
bassplaying.com
I definitly agree about it
I definitly agree about it being a good thing. The problem I am finding is that just about every one (at least that I have wrote a line for) that is doing the On-line collab gig likes to hear that root to ground the song rather then any of the other notes. I will keep sending them my "weird" lines (as well as the stright forward lines) on them and so hopefully sooner or later some one will like it.
HAZ
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Musicians Collabaration Studio / a place for musicians to get to gether and create music on-line
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"Carburetors man!! That's what life is all about."
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Ok, I got ya
I see. They still call it a C chord even though it really isn't. That would throw me off as well. The reason I didn't understand is that I thought they'd give you the chords as they really are.
You would think but you
You would think but you should not do that. Could be dangerous.
Actually, the guys that know how to write music give you the chords as they really are. It are the ones that only know the bassic chords that seem to write the chord shape rather then the actual chord.
The fun part is when some one uses a capo, gives the chord shpes and does not tell you they have a capo on. Now why is the tuning off? Hmmm?
HAZ
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Musicians Collabaration Studio / a place for musicians to get to gether and create music on-line
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"Carburetors man!! That's what life is all about."
Musicians Collaboration Studio