Death metal guys. Tuning?

[jdr94]

i tune to c. and i tune it normal/standard. maybe i'm just old school. whenever i do try drop c it messes with my scales and so forth. i just get confused with it. funny thing is our lead guitarist plays drop c so we end up with variants of the same riff but it comes out sounding awesome. all i know is when i play in standard E it sounds like i'm playing a freakin banjo.

[Spivonious]

When I went through that phase I tuned to D standard, mostly so I could play along with Death's Sound of Perseverance. Anything lower and I would have had to move to a heavier gauge string. And forget about intonation that low; the saddles just don't move forward enough.

[m2pmd70]

How about on a 24" scale?

[horns666]

Its doesn't matter really ..whatever works for you. My kid wanted me to learn and show him an old Arch Enemy riff w/ original singer Liva. To my surprise its in standard tuning.

[Mass Defect]

I tune my guitars at C# standard. With it I can do more Death metal stuff Immolation, Dying Fetus, Origin, Devourment, Misery Index, Deeds of Flesh while also going for some doom-y or sludgy stuff like Black Sabbath and Eyehategod.

[ezbprimerib]

We are death and thrash metal. D standard tuning. I think its low enough to have balls but still well in the range of being tasteful (see the blast beat part of the first tune)
Some unmastered clips of us are here: http://myspace.com/writhing

[MartinBarre]

I've retuned the guitar from C# to Eb, simply because I'm getting a band together and we won't be doing any death metal but I still want to play this guitar!
So it's in Eb, working well for Motorhead....

[imaguy2]

Back in the day, when I learned how Carcass tuned, I started tuning to B; I used a set of .13's.

I switched back to standard because it was not only more aggressive sounding, but my guitar stayed in tune and intonated better.

In this day and age, low tunings are so played out and overdone that there is nothing interesting about hearing that kind of sound anymore. Don't get me wrong, Nile will always rule, but that's because they write good songs, not because of their tuning.

[RunDMC]

Back in the day, when I learned how Carcass tuned, I started tuning to B; I used a set of .13's. <snip>

Man, I just got my reissue CD/DVD flippers of Necroticism and Heartwork. It is great to hear those tunes again. (And it wasn't too long ago I watched that Red Dwarf episode.)

I was really disappointed they didn't have any dates in the UK for their summer get-together...

[imaguy2]

Man, I just got my reissue CD/DVD flippers of Necroticism and Heartwork. It is great to hear those tunes again. (And it wasn't too long ago I watched that Red Dwarf episode.)

I was really disappointed they didn't have any dates in the UK for their summer get-together...

I really should put on Heartwork or Swansong again. I haven't listened to the melodic death metal Carcass in ages... Reek of Putrefaction is always on rotation though.

[MartinBarre]

Didn't Carcass use C?

[Axewielder]

Your scenario would work better with a baritone guitar. You'd have a hard time getting a Les Paul to intonate properly if tuned to A below E standard.

+1, Les Pauls are not the best choice for detuning on account of their shorter scale length. Unless, of course, you are "Smakk Chylde".

[Ace]

I have Gibson scaled guitars tuned as low as A standard, and they play and are intonated just fine. I have a great amp that can track clean and heavy at that tuning. It's all a matter of knowing what your doing. If you guys don't believe me, mail me one of your guitars and I will set it up in A standard and send it back. You pay shipping both ways.

[phill_up]

I've retuned the guitar from C# to Eb, simply because I'm getting a band together and we won't be doing any death metal but I still want to play this guitar!
So it's in Eb, working well for Motorhead....

My guitars are tuned to E, Eb and D. I have thought about a 7 string to get even lower, but damn the neck would have to be wide