Well, this may be a silly question but I don't know about different tunings. Is there anyway to make my guitar sound heavy (meaning heavy metal) without having to buy extra heavy gauge strings? And I can play the songs what are normally in standard tuning, but sound heavier. I hope I explained myself well enough. Please tell me if I asked a silly question and im really sorry if I have :oops:
Lots of heavy metal songs are played in lower tunings, and if you want to do that you need heavy strings or you'll be disappointed by the sound of your slack strings. You can sound pretty "heavy" in standard if you do lots of palm muting and set your EQ for lots of bass and mids with the treble rolled off.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
A lot of metal is played in drop D - DADGBE tuning, or variations therof involving tuning the whole guitar down by an equal number of semitones from drop D. For example, drop C - CGCFAD. These tunings have the advantage of being able to play one finger powerchords - again, for example, the bottom three strings in drop C would give you a C5 chord with the root doubled. Another advantage of this is not having to re-learn the fretboard for soloing.
Like Ric said, though, the lower you tune, the heavier gauge strings you'll need - you can't play powerchords if your strings are floating in the breeze!
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
