dropping standard tuning

[six]

it's been a long time since I had something else than e-a-d-g-b-e on my guitar but today I really wanted to know if my quest for that old mick mars sound (might not be the best sound - but I like it somehow) would find an end if I finally give in and drop that tuning a whole step.
i didn't really want to do that "balance-act" with my floyd rose strat, so I abused my epi les paul. ok - this wouldn't result in that motley sound... but I really thought it would at least give me a clue how it'd sound.
but no! maybe I'm deaf but I really didn't hear that much of a difference - ok, it was lower .
is tuning down only a big strat-trick?

and btw - what do you think about these refelections: if this fatter sound (which I haven't really found) is a result of the lower tension, why don't they just build shorter necks? like droping the tuning on a 'normal' guitar and capo it at the second fret...

[Daddy-O]

I used to drop to D when I was big into blues-----more bottom and loosening the tension helps sustain. But I found that it was best to use larger strings. I switched to 11's and sometimes 12's from 10's. Because I was tuned down one whole step, the larger strings were still easy to bend and fret.

"Fat" is used a lot these days to descibe different guitar sounds. I guess it means different things to different people. To me, fat would mean more between the e's ..........more meat. Then there is big.....big sound to me is more of everything tone wise.

Then there is Big Fat and I think thats what you looking for.......you mentioned Mick Mars, I am listening to the riff in "Too fast for love" in my head and I'm thinking this:


neck pickup, volume pot on your guitar 100%, tone pot on you guitar 100%, boost your mids and bass, keep treb a little over half, use a bit a delay or reverb if you've got it, plenty of gain in your stomp box or dirty channel but not too much, drop a half or whole step in tuning to get more sustain and pick/ strum in the center of the pickguard area, switch to bridge pickup up and pick nearer the bridge for you breaks. volume pedals are a great investment too. dial in your tone and boost the volume a bit durring solos and breaks.

Just play around with different stuff and have fun even if it get fustrating.......thats why we do this guitar thing anyway isn't it?

[toyL]

ok...this may piss some people off, and I'm only gonna say this once, unless I say it again at some time in the future--if you want Fat, Thick, Crunch, Low-wide range, tune like this--CGCGCD...most chords can be found here with one finger, and damn near all chords can be found wth two fingers...hit any three strings on the same fret anywhere on the fret-board and see what happens...now you can focus on your pick-hand which you have probably been neglecting since day one....this tuning is also very melodic on the acoustic....later

[six]

daddy-o: wow! mids rule! it takes a time to get used to them - but it really seperates a rock-tone from a death-metal-shred tone!
having the gain at about 9 of 10 using the crunch-channel of my peavey transfex it sounds quite "motley" - even without droping the tuning.

toyL: I believe that sounds really fat... for chords. but I wouldn't really want to learn all the scales again!