OH HI

If you're not sludging peoples faces off in drop Q with a guitar dragging across the ground are you even in a metal band anyway? :)

I have to admit that I'm married with standard tuning, even if I love a lot of rock/metal bands that play in lower tunings, I just find a really cool challenge to make everything sound aggressive and cool in standard tuning

"This is so stupid, for real, so stupid" Kalium, djent kids,Doomers, sludgers and Andrew Baena: I kinda feel that's targeting me, a little bit

*ANDREW BAENA HAS JOINED THE CHAT*

Hello Pete, my name is Joey and I watch your videos.

I stand with the point that Mark Holcomb once said "changing tuning helps creativity"

3:42 Djentica!

What opened my eyes to “heavy” was hearing some opeth riffs for the first time. Could t believe they made standard tuning sound so heavy. It was the I learned it’s more about what you play and how you play it. Going low only works for so long

I think the silliness of an 8 or 9 string is that people play on 2 or 3 strings.

I think tuning low, especially into 8 or 9 stting territory, is pretty dependent on what you are playing, and I think tunings have a threshold. For example, I think Black Tongue, Humanity's Last Breath, and Meshuggah would sound pretty bad if they tuned up to anything higher than G or maybe A, whereas Anthrax and Metallica would sound bad if they were any lower than B, and you can see where this is going. Just how I see the downtuning thing. I write death metal mostly, and I play between B standard and A standard on my 7 string. I think any lower would muddy up the riffs I play, and any higher would make them have way less punch

E standard is too bright for me. D standard is perfect though.

I tune down because there’s something about drop A chugging on my 7 string that makes people involuntarily move their heads in ways only known to the likes of crackheads and contortionists. There’s something beautiful about watching a seemingly unsuspecting metalhead release their inner groove-demon to the heretic-esq sound of pure dirt funneling from my fingers through the guitar, through my metal zone, through my amp, and right to their noise organs

Down tuning also makes riffs sound a shade darker. I had a song and I couldn’t decide between D standard or C# standard, but I chose C# because I liked how it sounded darker than D.

Caution: Too much low chugging makes your palms hairy, and your guitar green.

My guess would be that metal became more and more rythmitic over the years, and lower frequencies are more suited in that regards.

IMO, I'm a 49 years old guy who started at guitar at 15, do whatever inspired you to play and to write music. Personally, the downer I've ever tuned is a seven in Drop A. Six in Drop B, but I normally use sixes in Drop C. Now I'm trying to Uptune. I've tuned one of my sevens in Drop B with the first in F# instead of E. It will probably work for me. Playing a six in standard tuning from time to time it's also enrichment. Cheers from Spain.

"Maybe I could call my friend and do a collab video. Nah, he's probably busy." That is such a mood.

That song had my head bobbing and literally pulling the "fuck yeah, that's nasty and I love it" face... You know the face I mean, the one that looks like you just ate something so sour that your mouth caved in on itself as well as being a little too spicy for you and now your angry about it. Immediately followed by doing a stern face Judge Dredd impression. If you don't know that face from how I described it. Then you've never loved a nasty riff first time hearing it.

Rediscovered eb tuning after everything sounding too muddy, it's fun, thrashy and clear. Love the fact opeth and chaos ad era sepultura sound heavy af without downtuning.

I first started down tuning to b standard in the early 90's because of Carcass and Type O Negative when I got a seven string around 2004 I still tuned to b standard, but with the low f#. I enjoy the way it sounds, other tunings can be heavy too and in some ways heavier or at least more aggressive. Though the just play bass argument holds no water, a low tuned guitar doesn't have the same timbre as a bass at all. Ok enough nonsense from me cheers all.

I was tuning down my E string that day to drop D to play some tool. Then I dont know why, I went down to C to play neon by John Mayer, i had no idea I even did it. Suddenly, I dont know what got over me, I couldn't stop. After a few minutes, I was playing Periphery songs. 5 minutes passed, I was way past the point of playing meshuggah and animals as leaders songs. Just I was about to reach the doom eternal stage, my friend pulled me out of it. Any further and I would have almost bought a 20 string from stevie T or something. Terrifying true story.

Why not just get rid of the three treble strings? It is not like they get played at all

DEP have to be one of the heaviest acts of all time and they played in E-standard throughout their whole catalogue 😍

Never went lower than D on my six strings, but then again: I''m an old school kinda guy.

Part of it is just because a lot of my favorite guitarists downtune. I was first introduced to the concept with drop-D riffs from Led Zeppelin, Muse, and especially TOOL. Then I got into more progressive metal like Dream Theater and Ayreon who both regularly use 7-string guitars. The other reason is because I'm also a vocalist and I can sing much more comfortably in B or C than I can in E (though it does depend on what I'm singing in a specific key). Usually I don't go lower than drop-A on my 7-string.

Given the fact that everyone is tuning lower and lower, it's only a matter of time before we get Drop B pop songs. But why I tune low is because a lot of the songs I learned were in drop tunings and I enjoy the low sounds. To this day, Drop A# still holds a special place in my heart

You’re right. Tony Iommi tuned his guitar down after the accident and had fingertip prosthetics. The lower string tension was the ticket.

Dude! Your riffs are always so sick!

I love the chug of drop tuning 😂😂😂👍. Awesome video and thanks for sharing your tips .

It's about how the riff is played, is what makes it heavy. Not always the tuning.

Great job with getting the clarity on that low C#. A ,lot of bands try to use 9 string tuning and it just sounds too muddy. Great work.

Almost all the music I got into in my early years as a guitarist was down tuned so it was only natural. My new favorite tuning to mess around on my 7 string is DDGCFAD where the low D is a full octave down. You can get some nasty octave riffs and the classic octave power chord which sounds soooo good that low.

I grew up with it just like you. I've never gone lower than drop G though. Great video as usual dude. \m/

I typically don't down tune much but I love the different chords you can get out of Drop D and things similar. It adds a different dynamic to writing.

Awesome jam 🤘🏼

Great Vid Pete As Always. I'm A Bass Vocalists, We Play In Drop C Works Great For Covers We Do Of 80's Snyth Pop Metalized Ofcourse.

I have an Agile Sceptor 827, I tune it UP a half-step to C-standard/Drop F. So glad to see someone else playing an Agile 8 lol

Great playing and collab with Andrew. Cool riffs. This seem so much fun to play... To be honest Mick Gordon's style Doom riffs are probably the main thing that might push me to try this one day.. More reasonable down tuning from nu-metal era is so common today.. Drop C or Drop A are kind of the new standard today... Crazy.

I LOVE that Cattle Decapitation tunes to E flat.

Great duo!!! Also, something that I learned listening to Loathe, is that you only need a long baritone guitar instead of more strings. And it depends of your preferences of course

Thanks, DISTROkid!

I just came across this thumbnail on I.G feeds, I thought I was the first but lol... Sed life😂💔💔 Great content bruv🙌🏻✨

the double harmonic major is an amazingly trve kvlt key. I love it

I grew up on eb and standard, drop D was edgy none of the older guitarist seem to know anything about so that was cool, but essentially a simplified power chord it didnt leave much to the creative imagination so i never used it in my own playing, only to cover the popular songs of the day. Years later the tuning snuck into my own music albeit a modified version of it. And maybe thats the thing, your own style may end up being nothing like you grew up idolizing sometimes, yet the influence is still there.

How low can ya go, another epic performance from pete 🤘🏼😈🤘🏼

I just got Billy Gibbon’s 8-40s and tuned a full step up from standard and dropped the low E back down to E for a Drop E on my S style with a single EMG 81. It’s pretty fun

Metal has always been about being extreme, but has now reached a point were the extremes have been fully explored. And that endless downtuning, combined with the hyper excessive aggression and the speed of light tempoes kinda show that in my opinion. The most brutal stuff has been done, the fastest thing has been done, the slowest thing has been done et cetera and so forth. Time to get some fresh air into that scene.

I actually addressed the lower tuning with a short scale bass outfitted with ridiculously huge guitar strings. It worked pretty damn well because scale length with thicker strings landed me with the same problem you talked about. String popping out the back. Ibanez src 6. Only like $700. Worked out better then I could've hoped.

I've always assumed the appeal in downtuning has something to with the way that in nature, low frequencies are usually made by the largest version of things. For example a tiny yappy chihuahua vs the boom of a doberman. So the lower you tune the bigger the "creature" your lizard brain hears is. And the listeners experience probably varies but when you are playing a down tuned instrument you know that you are in control of that "creature" which is quite a powerful feeling. Disclaimer though: This is based on 0 research and nothing other than gut feeling but either way is my two cents x

*_Everybody gangsta till the Djent guy starts to tap his 8 string Strandberg guitar with independence in both hands_*

I got into down tuning really after getting into Crowbar when I was a kid, I just loved his tone & how those down tuned riffs sound & even feel at the appropriate volume. So, 25 years later, I now play a Baritone Tele with a 27" scale tuned to A\Drop G...

This sounds evil! Makes me want a 9 string now! Damn you Pete! Awesome video dude!

I have an .080 to a .017 all wound set on my 29.75" six string baritone tuned to G standard/drop F... i really don't even play much metal these days. It's an ambient monster.

Sign of the times in the late 90s...sometimes I'd be in A sharp,sometimes in E. Depending on my mood.I notice I usually stay in C sharp these days.But hey,what ever gets people playing.🤘Love the Channel.👍

Nice to see Wes Borland mentioned in this regard. He really is very underrated, and was tuning down to F way before it was cool lol.

I have found a love for drop F. My 7 string guitar sits perfectly in drop f with a nice 10-74. If You put time and effort into setting your guitar up properly for down tuning it's a blast. Plus drop F is the perfect down tune imo

I down tune my 8 string to Drop E. Because I love the sound, and because it fits with all my other instruments. which tend to be in E standard or Drop A. Also, Mick Gordon is one of my greatest inspirations, and his sound is perfect. And if you want to make that kind of music, you need to either get an extended range instrument, or use pitch shifters etc. These extended range instruments are actually hybrid instruments. Plain and simple, they are basses and guitars in one. And they can potentially sound so good with the right settings. and like you said, just fun. That song at the end was absolutely sick Pete. Keep up the good work, can't wait to see what else you come out with on your newly low tuned beast.

Thanks Pete for another cool video. It's probably just me, because I see a lot of love here for sub low tuning, but I feel music loses a bit of energy beyond a certain frequency. Any ways cheers, carry-on.

For me when I was younger I was always intrigued by how different certain guitar tones were produced, and the first song I ever learnt was Smokahontas by Attack Attack which is in Drop B and my first riff Crazy Train which was in standard E. Just learning about the different tunings and how they sounded was just fascinating and now it's just a part of life.

3:56 Don't really know anything about guitars or music but it just sounds like a bass with distortion or whatever you call it

I most frequently use drop B and drop Bb. I feel like that is the perfect spot to bring out those mids.

I use several tunings both on the 7 strings and 6 strings guitar depending on the genre and the riffs. My take is that you need to find your balance, and change the tunings accordingly. I tend to us CGCFAD, ACGFAD, A#GCFAD and EADGBE or DADGBE on a six string. Also DADGAD, CGCEGD and many others. B standard or drop A on a 7 string, or standard tuning with a F# on the lower string.

I have 5 guitars that I tune individually from standard to drop D, drop C to drop B, drop A, drop G to drop F, and an octave below standard/drop D. Used for more range and playability with open notes.

Ok, so Tony Iommi downtuned and used thinner strings to make it easier to play with leather bound thimbles. Metallica now use drop D tuning live I believe, I may be wrong but that’s the feels I get. And why do I downtime? Because I get real good vibes from playing in drop D and drop B (C# standard). E standard is kinda boring to me.

It’s so muddy alone, but it sat real nice in the mix. 🤘

I tune down mostly to fit the riffs I/we write to my vocal range. But also sometimes to experiment. I tried many different tunings like Drop d - Drop G, the architects tuning (F#-F#-B-E-G#-C#), open tunings for acoustic and stuff like that. Most songs end up in Drop B because that fits my voice the best. I recently learned new vocal techniques to go higher and different screaming techniques so now we could probably go to Drop C or maybe Drop A for heavier stuff.

I love using 65 gauge strings on all my 6 string ESPs and down tune to drop A. Shit crushes but still not super low. I do the same with my 7 string and 9 string agile scepter just changing string gauge and tuning.

Metal dudes have to tune lower and lower so they can reuse the same riffs over and over without ripping off other bands or even themselves.

Drop D opens the gates for great new chord flavors!! That’s what I play in primarily

I inadvertently began down tuning when I was a teenager, because I was too lazy to get a tuner. And like most kids back then, we just tuned our guitars to Metallica's Sanitarium and that was good enough.

drop a on a 7 is perfect for me, the open low a has a great dark tone to it, and the 6 high strings are uninterrupted standard tuning, so it is kind of a hybrid approach, you get a great low chug on the darkest note, and standard tuning too... I like bands that tun way lower, but for me, what i write in sounds best in a with standard.

Eb, because getting 8 gauge strings here is next to impossible, and 9's in Eb are light enough for me to bend like crazy. Also easier for me to do vocals in Eb.

Super nice song! My third(ish) guitar was a 7-string after two years of playing so I might say that grew up with low tunings and after finding out that one can play Meshuggah I felt like there is no limit of how low you can go 😀 now I play mostly 7’s in drop G and 8’s in F# standard and every now and the I visit the Doom soundtrack low D stuff 🔥

Speaking of Kalium strings... They make a 0.266 gauge. And it’s $37.50 FOR ONE STRING! 😑

I have downtuned a few times but I always come back to standard E tuning for some reason. At one point I had a variax which let me tune using a knob and B standard was pretty fun.

I love dimebag Darell tuning❤️he experimented his tuning like C# and raised 40 cent❤️

From memory, first time I downtuned was just to play a slipknot song. So, took my strat down to c# standard/ drop b. Then realised things that were in e normally, sounded really nice in c# standard. Was great. Then later got a 7 string, cause I wanted to play trivium songs, so was b standard/ drop a. Then got another one, and decided I wanted that one to be half a step lower, for newer trivium stuff. Then had another 6, so figured eb standard, because some metallica, alterbridge and some other stuff. Then realised I could use the half step lower 7 for that, and sold the 6 at some point. So, current setup is; ormsby sx 6 in e standard ibanez rgir27bfe wnf 7 in... standard. (imagine learning the whole model number of an ibanez, amirite? I have no idea how I can remember it) ormsby hype gtr 7 in eb standard for a 7 (Bb?) squier strat 6 in c# standard. Fully plan to get another 7 at some stage, and depending on how it sounds, I'll either keep it as is, or change the tuning down low to like a standard or something, depending on who uses that/ if I find a band with songs I like in a lower tuning/ can think of some. In saying that, the ibby was my first 7 string. Absolutely loved it. Got the sqiuer how I wanted it, and that was starting to become the main guitar (though, I put the battery behind the pick guard, and used a normal jack socket, so now it just drains the battery, and I just cbf replacing the battery half the time. REally should fix that, and route out a battery box.). Then got the ormsby, so that was mostly the one, followed by the squier. Ibby still fairly regularly used. Then a few other guitars (a tele at one point. another squier. One of the best guitars I had tbh. But, stupidly sold it to a pawn shop, who more than likely still has it for about what they cost new), and recently got the ormsby sx carve 6, and that's been my main go to. The hype is a bit too sticky on the neck, so needs a bit of a sand. The ibby is, dunno. Something about it feels off atm. Think tuning stability is an issue atm, and probably old strings. Squier would get played more if the battery position didn't suck ass. But yeah, just got there to play songs, and then really liked the sound. Lower tunings playing standard tuning songs just sounds so nice. Like nothing else matters in c# standard just sounds so nice. I can't think of a good word for it, but it's just nice. Same with EDEN songs

I mean, you kinda answered your own question with that track. That shit is heavy af.

I started down tuning on my 6 string guitars to get a darker, warmer, and deeper sound. As well as being able to use a low B on my guitar. I got an 8 string now but I always go back to B tuning.

I started tuning down to D in the early 90's following Obituary tuning, then have tried to C and finally B like one of my favourite band at this time, Carcass. Almost 30 years after I am still use the B tuning but now with a 7 string. I still play a kind of old school death metal and for me this tuning is perfect to play this kind of music. If today I play on a regular 6 strings in E, I will have the feeling to miss something and I will not be comfortable. Try to play old Carcass or Gorefest songs on a 6 strings guitar in E and you will see the difference, B tuning really bring depth to the music

I mostly play drop C, I guess I like the resonant frequencies in this tuning. Recently I started playing a 7-string in drop A to cover standard E stuff and some heavy stuff as well. What i realised was that higher tunings suggest playing power chord stuff where deeper tunings rather suggest single string and string skipping stuff. So i frequently try same riffs and adapt them to these different tunings to play „outside of the box“

I am a proud owner of a 6 string red warlock(just like early Mick Thomson's warlock) which i bought really cheap, its always in drop B, C# or drop C.Well slipknot is my favorite band, but i grew listening to Papa Roach, LP all of the Nu metal scene.

Chiming in on the question; 1: Low screams/Growls go well with lower chugs. A trick I've heard on some records was using a 5-string bass dropped to A, and guitars chugging the upper 2/3 of an open A chord, which is your bottom two strings in a standard E tuning - sounds heavy af, even though you're omitting that baritone A. 2: Lower tunings just give the genre more sounds to work with, and go hand in hand with metal being a deliberately harsh and aggressive branch of music. Tuning down now is just like what speeding up used to be.

Because it sounds fucking awesome, Pete

It's like the first time I hear something tuned so low sound so clean and not all sluggish

Your guitar sound is really good. Which plugin did you used ?

I started down tuning just to see what it was like I started with d standard and drop c then drop b then c standard but then I started tuning to c# standard and for some reason I just fell in love with it the way it sounded it's really heavy but there's still a little bit of tightness to it and then I discovered that a lot of bands that I listen to use c# standard Dying fetus, Suffocation, born from pain etc and so I just fell in love with it even more by the way like your videos man awesome!

I tune to D Standard/Drop C one for the vocal range of me and fellow band mates, but also for the tone of the guitar, especially acoustic, I feel like it adds a nice low end overtone sorta thing

For me low tunings started when i decided to get a 7 string thanks to bands like Dream Theater, Area 11, Tesseract and then eventually got myself an 8 string because I wanted to play some of Periphery's Juggernaut albums and some AAL riffs. Now I've gone back to mostly playing 6 string guitars because I find them easier to play and write music on however I still like the sound of low tunings so I mostly play in drop C or sometimes drop A. Also in general having the lowest string down a whole step so it matches the 3rd string makes so much more sense to me for chords and writing riffs

I down tune because when I started learning guitar I also started listening to a lot more metal music, so one of the first things I learned how to do was tune a guitar down to D Standard or Drop C. Seven years into my guitar playing and I’ve played through at least a dozen alternate and drop tunings because that was a big part of learning guitar for me. If I got in a rut I’d just tune lower, if I got too low I’d go back up. Now I keep two of my guitars in Drop C and D Standard, one in E standard and one in A Standard. Acoustics sound fantastic tuned down a step too. To me, guitars just sound better tuned down a step and you can always capo up to Standard for covering songs.

I personally selected extended range guitar because early on learning songs, I hated tuning up and down, and I have Arachnodactyly (very long fingers.) So my solution was getting a 7 string, then and 8 string, and then a 10 string because...djent 🤘🏼😎

I primarily play in Eb Standard and C# Standard these days, but I got into low tunings thanks primarily to Devin Townsend, and it was purely because Open C was a really pretty tuning to play with and so different from what I was used to in a great way. It's only later that I realized how heavy the low tuning sounded.

I started tuning to Eb because a lot of hair metal bands like Ratt did. I think they probably did it just to sound a little different. Ab and Eb sound more interesting when society is so used to A and E. Same with Motley Crue, who tune down to D standard. It gave them a slightly heavier sound and, most importantly, made them sound completely different from everyone else. At first glance it sounds like drop D, which even some official Crue tab books claim, so they were harder to copy. Of course these days, drop tuning doesn’t sound as special anymore. I think it’s down to the sort of timbre you want. Drop C has a very different emotional feeling to Drop C# and Drop D, and same for E, Eb, and D standard. Personally I don’t like anything below about Drop C.

Never really thought of why. I just started trying to get the tones I was hearing in my head. From what my drummer friend says "I write really dark" sounding music, so guess it just works for me.

I played Tuba throughout school, so I love the low and contra notes.

I play in d standard or drop C because to me, sounds the coolest. I understand the appeal for some styles to go lower but I have the most fun on d.

For me it's a long story to why I like lower tunings but here is the short: I was a huge NWOBHM fan, especially a fan of Iron Maiden and went from that to sleaze (don't ask how and why, it just happened...). Well... We started a band me and a few friends, trying to become either the next Mötley or even the next Europe. And we got a singer who sounded like Lemmy. So at first we down tuned half a step, and did like three songs. And I just fell in love with the sound of a down tuned guitar. So I decided to tune down further and landed in drop c . So that half sleaze, half motörhead wannabee band found a cool sound. And even to this day, low tuned guitars just fills my heart with... stuff that is nice and stuff!

I used to downtime all the time due to Slipknot and the like. Then I got a very bad 7 string when i got back into guitar after a few years on bass, sold it and got an 8 string. I've now discovered that drop A is pretty much as low as I need to go (apart from a low F# from time to time for some of my band's material). 7 strings are my sweet spot

I don't like to tune down when I play. But I do like to listen to some of the down tune music. Your song in the video was really cool. I have a recording of the sound and tuning I enjoy playing with to test my setup and liked the riffs I improvised together. Give it a listen it's the only thing in my videos so far.