The "musicality" of low tunings?

[poopyalligator]

I play in standard, and my music is pretty heavy. I have one guitar is in drop c, but I never go lower than that usually. I think stuff sounds too low and muddy when you go lower. That is just me though.

 

[groverj3]

Personally, if I write anything it's always in either standard (E) or one step down (D). I'm not a huge fan of anything below C standard and I'm not a big fan of drop tunings. I always kind of got the impression that most people only use drop tunings to make powerchords easier, which seems incredibly lazy. However, I know that isn't always the case now it's just a personal thing. I'm not a fan of half step tunings because I can never get my strings to feel comfortable (Eb for example). I don't have any 7s yet either but hopefully that will change soon.

 

[Konfyouzd]

I write riffs in the key in which I hear them. This is one of my main motivations for playing an 8 string. I can play something in the exact key I hear it in rather than trying to transpose what I hear into what's "available."

 

[NaYoN]

Near the end of this video we use a 9 string guitar tuned to Ab which is 2 octaves below the 5th string of a regular 6 string guitar. We've been experimenting a lot with lower octaves.

We think that the timbre of the instrument changes quite a bit when you go into super low registers, and it adds diversity to the sound. Using that low register and also the regular guitar registers in the same song provides a very fulfilling sonic assault.

 

[BucketheadRules]

I personally cant really use anything below G but I like it when other people do.

Wow, you only go down to G?

Aw, you little puss. I'm usually in a custom open tuning which is 19 octaves lower than standard, and that's just for playing Sum 41.


As regards the original question... any tuning can have "musicality", it depends entirely what you do with it. Plenty of shite has been written in standard as well as good stuff, but plenty of shite has also been written in drop A or whatever as well as the good stuff.

 

[no_dice]

I love the sound of low tunings but I often have trouble writing in them. I just really have a soft spot for super low notes played on guitar.