One Finger Power chords.....

[Lefty Robb]

I have always been under the impression that low E drops wern't really cool and were for NU metal and noobs and stuff like that (yeah, I know EVH does it, and Steve did it for sliding, and yeah, I know im ignorant) but I reciently went to retune my jackson that was in standard D tuning, and dropped the low D down to a C ala Bad Horsie just to screw around and now I kinda like it, since I miss the low B on my now sold 7 string.

So what do you guys think about these tunings?

[fettouhi]

Drop D tunning is really cool. With my EBMM replica and the D tuna is can get a nice Pantera like sound.

Regards

André

[jono]

I think the best thing about drop tunings is usually that it makes you think slightly differently. So you might stumble on something cool and unexpected (if like me you normally stick to standard tuning)

I usually end up with some weird pedal note motifs going on when I play in a dropped tuning, but one of my fave tunes ever, Nuno's "Midnight Express" has the bass string down a tone, so that usually gets played at least once

[andy7jem]

It's all good, but i wouldn't want to only play dropped!! Variety is the spice of life so they say I just drop my Explorer down now and then for a bit of fun She's down to about C#-ish anyway!!!

[projectjem]

i did exactly the same thing yesterday and im liking it, a couple of my bands songs are drop d, while the others are normally either standar or half step. :-)

[Lefty Robb]

Back in the first few years of my guitar played I did a lot of drop tunings like C#-C# (Minor 3rd, or what I always called the "slayer" tuning), but for the past, oh, 5-6 years or so I've done nothing but standard or Eb, and now I'm starting to do a 180 on it. of course now I gotta get some thick strings, drop C and 10's don't mix well

[jono]

OK not wishing to hi-jack the thread, but I think it'll add an extra dimension to discuss, what guitar do you use for "drop-d" etc.

I use my JS-6 cos it has a gritty mahogany tone and the pickups aren't too bassy

[Algiman]

I tend to use one of my fixed bridge RGs because I'm too idle to adjust/retune a floyd, but my old alder bodied Yamaha RGX is also in drop D - shame the guitar is too worn out to risk on stage.

[Lefty Robb]

Damn it Jono! Stop hi-jacking my threads!!!

Thats a good question actually...

My Jackson is Alder and has always sounded much better than my basswood ibanezs with tunings lower than Eb, Infact I dare say that the Alder almost likes the low tunings better than standard E, which is why I always kept it in Eb, and now drop C. The pickups are a DiMarzio Distortion bridge and a Fast Track 2 in the neck. I could never get a good sound from my 550's and 470 in low tunings, no matter what the pickup, it always sounded thin.

[LonePhantom]

I love a bit of drop D tuning. I haven't really played much of it for a while until I finally got my EVH D-Tuna set up on my Edge equipped RG470 and put a temporary screw in the body to allow dive only for the time being (until I can get a Tremol-no).

I love playing power chords on the A string but also barring the e string as well (not sure what the technical term is for these chords), they sound great. Look like this anyway, someone may be able to advise me what sort of chords they are

Look like this:

eg

e|---------|----------|
b|---------|----------|
g|-7-------|---10-----|
d|-7-------|---10-----| etc
a|-5-------|----8-----|
D|-5-------|----8-----|

[Lefty Robb]

D5/G and F5/Bb there just typical split power chords, I love em too, there basically what I call "Dream Theater chords" just a bit easier to play. you can also change em up really easy:

(D A D G B E)


|--------------------------------------------------------------------|
|--------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-------7---7---9---9-----------7---7---6---6-----------7---7--------|
|-----7---7---7---7---7-------7---7---7---7---7-------7---7---7------|
|---5-------------------5---5-------------------5---5-----------5----|
|-5-----------------------5-----------------------5---------------5--|


|-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-------7-------7-----------9-------9-----------6-------6-----------7-9-|
|-----7---7---7---7-------7---7---7---7-------7---7---7---7-------7-----|
|---5-------5-------5---5-------5-------5---5-------5-------5---5-------|
|-5-------------------5-------------------5-------------------5---------|

[Planeflux]

Drop-X tunings are great because you don't need to detune all the strings for that low, crunchy power chord access. Certain riffs are also easier/possible to play. Aenema by Tool, for instance, is extremely tough to play in standard D. The downside is that the top string feels less tense than the rest if you're using a standard set of strings. I prefer tuning all the strings down to ensure equal/similar tension.

[elcid]

They can be cool, but 9 times out of 10 it's just ****ers that do it and then think they are heavy. Master Of Puppets, Rust In Piece, and most of Vulgar Display of Power were in standard tuning and Rein In Blood was only down 1/2 a step......


w......ank is a banned word?!?!?!?!?!?

[S-man]

Drop tunings are kewl. Though if I had one tuning that I had to live with for the rest of my life.....it would be E standard.

Tension and setup, string guage etc. can become issues. Ideally it would be nice to have a seperate guitar setup specifically for each tuning. I have a few guitars so some are setup differantly. I still have to multi task them, pretty much.

The one finger bar chords can get lame after a while. I guess I like variety.

[C.Thep]

I used to play exclusively droped d, I was a huge godsmack fan.

Now I only play standard.