What is the purpose of using non-standard bass tunings?
The most common reason is to get notes you could not otherwise play. Sometimes you just need that lower note to make something sound the way it needs to sound. For instance, on a 4-string bass the open string D is the lowest D note you can play in standard tuning. It’s really not all that low. So, many people will play in “drop D” where you tune the open E string down to a D. Another reason is to match the guitar player’s tuning. Some guitarists, like Stevie Ray Vaughn, tune down all their strings a half-step making the strings looser and easier to bend. A lot of today’s guitarists use drop D so they can play the one-finger power chord with ease and to get that lower, heavier sound. So the bassist might need to match the guitarist’s tuning to get the proper range of notes. Changing the tuning can cause all the scale and arpeggio fingerings to change. A different tuning can help you to play notes you might not have otherwise been able to play. At my other website you can print out fretb
