Why do people tune low instead of writing brutal riffs?

[hobbit]

I don't understand some things. Why is it that instead of writing good riffs and having good guitar tone people tune really low and put on thick strings and then have amps with a lot of bass. When you play with a good bassist they will have all the lower bass tones covered and you end up sounding bad if you have a very deep guitar tone.

[Voltaire]

FWIW-I don't even have a bass guitarist in my band and we sound KICK ASS

 

but also.. i don't drop tune OR use heavy gauges I'm in standard E and use 9's

[exposeenmity]

Because they're n00bs and can't write. Simple really....N00B.

 

:poke:

[FaultyChildSeat]

I don't understand some things. Why is it that instead of writing good riffs and having good guitar tone people tune really low and put on thick strings and then have amps with a lot of bass. When you play with a good bassist they will have all the lower bass tones covered and you end up sounding bad if you have a very deep guitar tone.

 

What bands are you talking about?

[TheAmazingBlob]

5 pages.

 

I agree, though. Seems like some people are just like "I tune low! I = BROOTAL!!" instead of worrying about making what they play teh brootalz.

[hobbit]

 

FWIW-I don't even have a bass guitarist in my band and we sound KICK ASS but also.. i don't drop tune OR use heavy gauges I'm in standard E and use 9's

 

 

You.. have no bassist? I don't understand how you can sound good.

 

 

I agree, though. Seems like some people are just like "I tune low! I = BROOTAL!!" instead of worrying about making what they play teh brootalz.

 

 

Well I hear these bands that play really happy kind of poppy riffs but tune very low and use a lot of distortion. They do not sound heavy but more like childish. Thats just my opinion though.

[tsunamijesus]

because the way those strings resonate sounds a lot better to me than an E. A is my favorite key so tuning Aadgad or Aadgbe gives me a lot of my favorite notes.

[tsunamijesus]

ps i dont play metal

[hobbit]

 

because the way those strings resonate sounds a lot better to me than an E. A is my favorite key so tuning Aadgad or Aadgbe gives me a lot of my favorite notes.

 

 

Thats an interesting theory but I don't think I would like music that sounded like a lot of low A's. Amps don't resonate at high volume in the low bass registers, at least from my experience. Maybe there are larger guitar cabs that sound different?

[The Hiryuu]

I don't understand some things. Why is it that instead of writing good riffs and having good guitar tone people tune really low and put on thick strings and then have amps with a lot of bass. When you play with a good bassist they will have all the lower bass tones covered and you end up sounding bad if you have a very deep guitar tone.

 

I like to think I've got both covered. Although I use pretty thin strings and don't use TOO much bass on my amp.

[exafro]

Why should you care what other people do? What sounds good in B most likely won't sound good in E so of course there are going to be differences in riff writing for each tuning.

[Chrisjd]

A lot of people do both. Low tuning with good riffing is going to sound heavier and thicker than standard tuning and good riffing.

 

So... If you can tune down and write good, great. Standard tuning bores me really fast when it comes to heavy music styles.

[Renoir1]

:snax: :snax: :snax::arg:

[JesterRace51]

I do both. It all depends on what I'm going for with a song. Personally, I like the way some riffs come off in a lower tuning. I usually find my happy median in CGCFAD. Sometimes for more melodic songs, I'll even go as low as Drop Bb. It's all relative to situation though.

 

My LTD is usually always in Drop C, while my Jackson never leaves Eb or Drop C#.

[BradXXX]

Well for every noob that is bad at playing in low tunings, I'm sure there are just as many that think they are guitar gods playing poorly in standard. But, you gotta start somewhere. I remember when I started playing guitar years ago. Gross.

 

It also comes down to taste and what kind of music someone likes. I personally love how B sounds. A is pushing it but there's some bands that pull it off really well. See Acacia Strain.

[Kenny Powers]

I don't understand some things. Why is it that instead of writing good riffs and having good guitar tone people tune really low and put on thick strings and then have amps with a lot of bass. When you play with a good bassist they will have all the lower bass tones covered and you end up sounding bad if you have a very deep guitar tone.

 

and who is this?

[Kittie Rose]

I find having a 7 string just gives me so much more of what I need. I always approach the B string like it's "special" though. Guess I've never fully gotten used to it. Maybe that's a good thing.

 

BTW I Don't play metal either.

[greg apocalypse]

One of my bands tunes to drop c, not because we're TEH {censored}ING BR00TAWL like you, it's because we sorta just do. We did it as n00bs, but we just don't change it. It makes everything just that much more chuggier, deeper, punchier

 

metaler.

[SevenString]

I don't understand some things. Why is it that instead of writing good riffs and having good guitar tone people tune really low and put on thick strings and then have amps with a lot of bass. When you play with a good bassist they will have all the lower bass tones covered and you end up sounding bad if you have a very deep guitar tone.

 

Because so many modern "singers" suck, so the guitars have to be tuned down to accommodate the fact that these vocalists' pathetic mewlings have no range, so they don't cut through the mix.

 

Hey, it's as good an answer as any to such a loaded question.

 

Whether stanard or detuned riffs are "brutal" (whatever the fvck THAT is) or not is up to the writing, not the tuning.

[ladykiller245]

u use a starting gauge strings at 14 and drop down to b flat and man i love it i can get that raw heavy mad texas blues!

[Estin]

i can't stand playing in standard, i have one guitar setup for Drop D and one setup for a half step down. The lowest i'd ever play is CGCFAD and thats pushing it. tuning a little lower is just plain heavier and thicker sounding.

[FWAxeIbanez]

A lot of people do both. Low tuning with good riffing is going to sound heavier and thicker than standard tuning and good riffing. So... If you can tune down and write good, great. Standard tuning bores me really fast when it comes to heavy music styles.

 

I agree with this, but with limitations when it comes to down tuning. A good riff is a good riff, regardless of tuning, and if you want that detuned sound, it can add a new element to the riff. But, you don't need to tune to Z flat to get there, and tons and tons of bands (especially local) like to think they can turn a {censored}ty riff into a heavy riff by just tuning even lower

 

It's stupid to go much past drop C unless you are using a 7 string or baritone or something, but thats somethin you learn when you're just starting out... kinda like scooping mids or using too much gain

 

As far as my personal method, I like to write all my heavy riffs on acoustic, and I'm not joking. You get a nice deep and rich sounding acoustic, and it will force you to play cleaner and focus on note choice. Plus, something about the way an acoustic resonates and rattles, it's got it's own kind of "distortion" when I hear it. I can tell you that when I get something to sound heavy as hell on an acoustic, it's going to be devilish in C# on the Diezel

 

Then again, I write a lot of music in Guitar Pro as well, and I have no problem listening to "gameboy" versions of music and translating them into different instrumentation in my mind. Some other musicians I know can't even listen to 10 seconds of GP and laugh when I mention playing heavy music on acoustic. So maybe I just don't have problems hearing my music played with different tones and timbre's but if you're like me, try writing a heavy piece of music on acoustic, you might be surprised

[Say Ocean]

One of my bands tunes to drop c, not because we're TEH {censored}ING BR00TAWL like you, it's because we sorta just do. We did it as n00bs, but we just don't change it. It makes everything just that much more chuggier, deeper, punchier metaler.

 

Haha I do that in my new band just for the hell of it. My old band was in standard and drop d so I was like eh lets do drop C. I like my tone better that way

[CenturyStanding]

 

You.. have no bassist? I don't understand how you can sound good.

 

 

Honestly, a lot of that depends on the style of music and tone of the guitar. Personally, I would not play without a bass player, but there are many bands that if you wiped their bass players off their albums you probably wouldnt notice. Pantera and mid-career Metallica are two perfect examples. Loved both bands bass players, but you can't hear a goddamn thing they play under the overpowering guitar tones.

 

And in reference to this entire thread, I roughly remember reading a Guitar World article back in the mid-90s that was about 7-string guitars and detuning and whether or not its necessary. They interviewed the dude from Korn who said "the 7th string makes my guitar tone sound huge" and followed it with Dimebag Darrel who said "most guys who play 7-strings should probably learn to play 6-strings first." I thought it was pretty priceless.

 

Though at the end of the day the key to everything is good writing. If a riff sounds heavy in E, it'll sound brutal as {censored} in A. If a riff sucks in E, no amount of detuning will hide that level of suckage.

[hobbit]

Because so many modern "singers" suck, so the guitars have to be tuned down to accommodate the fact that these vocalists' pathetic mewlings have no range, so they don't cut through the mix. Hey, it's as good an answer as any to such a loaded question. Whether stanard or detuned riffs are "brutal" (whatever the fvck THAT is) or not is up to the writing, not the tuning.

 

I hadn't thought of that. Yes I think modern 'singers' are not that at all and I can see why you might need an amp tuned low to mesh with that brutal throwing-up vocal tone.