Tuning for metal ?

[kiwiclapton]

Guys , I don't know where to start .  What tuning would I use  while I'm learning some metal? I've been a blues player for years, now it's metal time.

Is it true that Opeth play in std ?

[?]

Yes, Opeth usually play in standard tuning. A couple of songs are in drop D and most of Ghost Reveries is in an open D tuning (DADFAE), but they have never actually tuned down.

I personally tune to C# and drop B, and use a capo when I'm playing a song that's in a higher tuning. A lot of metal bands tune down, and standard D seems to be popular, but there's not one tuning that's "better" than the others. I'd say it depends on what kind of stuff you like to play - for example, if you mostly play Opeth and/or traditional metal, standard tuning should be fine, but modern metal may require going lower.

[Elite]

I only play in standard on a six string (EADGBe) and seven string (BEADGbe). My band has one song in Drop D (DADGBe), so I have to use that tuning occasionally as well, unfortunately. On one song, I used a funny tuning (EADABe), to make open strings ring out more, but live I'll play that one in standard as well. Down-tuning has never been my thing, because I can just as well abuse that seventh string on my seven-stringed guitar.

[Kotowboy]

EADGBE

Bands need to remember how to do this.

Just because your 8 string is tuned down a tone - doesn't mean it's automatically heavy.

[kirksnosehair]

Our album has 6-strings playing the rhythms L=Bridge Humbucker on a Phat Strat, R=Bridge Pickup on a Les Paul.  Both guitars were tuned BEADGB.  Fucking strings were almost hanging off the neck.     But the sound was actually pretty badass.

[Kotowboy]

I only ever detune the low E to different pitches when writing.

AADGBE is a favourite of mine.

I also have another guitar permanently in Eb std to play along to those albums which are a semitone flat.

I can't be arsed having guitars in Drop C or Drop B and having to retune them all the time.

[rumborak]

I always assumed the drop D popularity came from the fact that power chords become a one-finger thing. That way you can play riffs fast that otherwise would need awkward sliding.

[wolfking]

Guys , I don't know where to start .  What tuning would I use  while I'm learning some metal? I've been a blues player for years, now it's metal time.

Is it true that Opeth play in std ?

This was one thing I always respected from Opeth.  Just goes to show good songwriting makes great heavy music, not necessarily tuning your E string down a hundred steps.  I was honestly quite shocked when I first went to learn some Opeth and realised it was in standard.

[Kotowboy]

Indeed. I'm getting really bored of hearing metal songs in Drop C or on 8 strings.

[PixelDream]

Downtuning can be a bitch. I've been in C standard for a while, with thicker strings on my Les Paul. But the thing is, the neck length should be longer too, 'cause the resonance and timbre '  everything just seems off to me. Just switched back to 0.10's in Eb standard, and it's pure joy. So come to think of it, even if you're tuning a half step down, you'll at least sound different. We've all heard the low E power chord so many times before.