Are Dropped Tunings Necessary For Heavy Riffs ?, Can standard tuning also sound heavy ?? Options

[SpaseMoonkey]

Yes, good point about attack. I have a heavy pick attack when playing riffs and I've had people pick up my gear and they sound nowhere near as heavy as me.. it's also related to exactly how you hold the pick, where your hand is etc..

Another good point from Jams about down tuning for the singer's best range

So very true. Metallica actually plays lower than what they wrote some songs, because it fits his voice being lower now.

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This post has been edited by SpaseMoonkey: Nov 10 2012, 12:40 PM

[Cosmin Lupu]

Well for me, it's a whole new sonic range and heaviness comes - as Ben pointed out in his post above - from a congregation of elements not just from downtuning. If you are downtuned and you don't write music in such a way so that it sounds heavy, it will not, even if you are in drop Z As Mert likes to say

I love playing downtuned nonetheless - even if its dropped or not Exploring and variating will bring out endless possibilities, but then again, limiting yourself to some specific elements can always bring out the creativity lying in there.

I guess its all up to each and every one

Cosmin

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[thefireball]

I find myself downtuning to try to sound heavy.

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[Rammikin]

For me, tuning down isn't about getting a lower sound, it's about getting a different sound. On a downtuned guitar I can use heavier gauge strings, which have a very different timbre than normal gauge strings. That distinct timbre gives the guitar a very different sound that is more than simply a lower pitch. fyi, I've been using Ernie Ball Cobalt strings on my drop C guitar and they sound great.

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[waynedcoville]

Lots of heavier bands back in the day didn't tune unnecessarily low.

I believe Cannibal Corpse was Eb. Lamb of God tends to play in Drop D, as does Vital Remains.

I have noticed a lot of bands are playing in B lately. But in the long run that is standard tuning on a 7 string.

Black Sabbath tuned down to C

one thing that I know that makes heavy parts sound heavier is to juxtapose them with mellow parts. case-in-point: early Metallica, who usually were tuned to either standard are Eb, used delicate clean parts inter-mixed with the distorted parts. much like Opeth. its effective.

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[Cosmin Lupu]

Well, hybrid tunings can always be interesting as well - how about this one? B F# B G B E which is basically a hybrid tuning of Dropped-B (low strings) and Standard E (high strings) used by the Australian band Karnivool on their debut album called Themata.

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