5 string basses

[Huw]

the person selling one in the trading post has sparked interest.

they are tuned to BEADG as standard, correct?

my band tune CGCFAD. I find even with heavier gauge strings my strings are bit slack on a 4-string. is there any tunings i could use that would work with the guitars... could you tune it up? or is a step and a half too much of a push for the high strings?

there will be no standard tuning... please do not suggest!

[fatboy]

get a 5 string

leave the B, replace the E,A,G,D with heavier gauge

then tune it thickest to lowest the same as guitars,

tune up for the B to the C, then down for the rest

that will sort out the slackness and the tuning

our bassist uses his 5 or 6 string like this for when we play in C#/F#/B/E/G#/C# and B/F#/B/E/G#/C#

also i you tune up its gonna be in the same octave as the guitars

[Huw]

get a 5 string

leave the B, replace the E,A,G,D with heavier gauge

then tune it thickest to lowest the same as guitars,

tune up for the B to the C, then down for the rest

that will sort out the slackness and the tuning

our bassist uses his 5 or 6 string like this for when we play in C#/F#/B/E/G#/C# and B/F#/B/E/G#/C#

also i you tune up its gonna be in the same octave as the guitars

is E going DOWN to G not going to create slackness? Its like is it not like 9 semitones?!

what are 6 string basses tuned to?

[fatboy]

on the five string you are tuning it the same as the guitar barr their thinnest string

instead of having the low b added on to standard tuning your moving the note down the strings basiscalyl is will play like a 4 string with the added higher string,

the thickest string leave on, tuned up to C , then with the standard strings g/c/f/a which usualaly are e/a/d/g. the E has already been used with the thick string and tuned to C so the E sring your using as an A so tune it one step down,

yes tuned up

[Huw]

B up to C

E down to G

A down to C

D down to F

G down to A

or am i being spastic?

[WoodyRATM]

' date=' post: 443890"']B up to C

E down to G

A down to C

D down to F

G down to A

or am i being spastic?

Thats what i was gonna do.

and regarding what 6ers are tuned to as standard, i think its BEADGC, i cant think what else it could be...EADGCF or something?

[Huw]

Thats what i was gonna do.

sure that'll sort out string slackness?

[fatboy]

There are two common ways of tuning a 5 string bass

G

D

A

E

B

the B is added to the bottom gives you 5 extra lower notes below the E.

the second one

C

G

D

A

E

this way the e is on the bottom and you have the extra 5th string on the top giving you 5 extra higher notes than the usual G

the way you need to set up the five string is like the second one, then down tune each string individually to the desired pitch.

C down to A

G down to F

D down to C

A down to G

E down to C

since usually the tuning for a 5th string is having the lower B below the E, using the second way of tuning using the 5th to add higher notes moves the open notes of the strings down each string

1 2

G----C down to A

D----G down to F

A----D down to C

E----A down to G

B----E down to C

so the notes moving down the strings will compensate for the slackness involved in downt tuning

hope it helps

[WoodyRATM]

' date=' post: 443892"']sure that'll sort out string slackness?

Couldn't tell ya mate, i was just gonna do it rather than have my bass tuned BCGCF (i dont go lower than C with this band so i just left it), i was gonna take the A and use that for mirroring the guitar better.

But pauls answer seems decent (from having a quick glance.)

[Huw]

Couldn't tell ya mate, i was just gonna do it rather than have my bass tuned BCGCF (i dont go lower than C with this band so i just left it), i was gonna take the A and use that for mirroring the guitar better.

But pauls answer seems decent (from having a quick glance.)

There are two common ways of tuning a 5 string bass

G

D

A

E

B

the B is added to the bottom gives you 5 extra lower notes below the E.

the second one

C

G

D

A

E

this way the e is on the bottom and you have the extra 5th string on the top giving you 5 extra higher notes than the usual G

the way you need to set up the five string is like the second one, then down tune each string individually to the desired pitch.

C down to A

G down to F

D down to C

A down to G

E down to C

since usually the tuning for a 5th string is having the lower B below the E, using the second way of tuning using the 5th to add higher notes moves the open notes of the strings down each string

1 2

G----C down to A

D----G down to F

A----D down to C

E----A down to G

B----E down to C

so the notes moving down the strings will compensate for the slackness involved in downt tuning

hope it helps

so i buy a 5 string set up for EADGB (low to high) - instead of BEADG - with heavy guage strings than tune it down to CGCFA?

please tell me i'm right. it took me a long time to get that. i have no idea why.

[fatboy]

yes your right

remember to use a chromatic tuner

[Graham]

what gauge of strings are you using at the moment huw? for a new katerwaul song i tuned my bass down to (from lowest string) BEAD, so its like the lowest 4 strings of a 5 string bass in standard tuning. it seemed to cope fine with this. i use gauge 50 strings, so you could just try a heavier gauge, or if you are already using gauge 50's try the next set up. could you also maybe put your bass in to get set up somewhere to cope with the lower tuning?

[Huw]

what gauge of strings are you using at the moment huw? for a new katerwaul song i tuned my bass down to (from lowest string) BEAD, so its like the lowest 4 strings of a 5 string bass in standard tuning. it seemed to cope fine with this. i use gauge 50 strings, so you could just try a heavier gauge, or if you are already using gauge 50's try the next set up. could you also maybe put your bass in to get set up somewhere to cope with the lower tuning?

i put my bass into rnb with 50-110 guage. still found it a bit slack. might get some of those GHS strings off thomann that go up to 115 and get it set up somewhere else.