question for the guitar players...

[Clams]

I know that to get the "Truckers' sound" you have to tune down a step (or is it a half step?). My question is, is there a way to achieve that sound without having to re-tune the guitar every time you want to play something different? I recall something about playing in standard tuning and putting a capo on the first fret. Is that true? Maybe one of you experts can advise.... Thanks!

[Zip City]

I know that to get the "Truckers' sound" you have to tune down a step (or is it a half step?). My question is, is there a way to achieve that sound without having to re-tune the guitar every time you want to play something different? I recall something about playing in standard tuning and putting a capo on the first fret. Is that true? Maybe one of you experts can advise.... Thanks!

no, you have to tune everything down a full step, but then you can just stick a Capo on 2 to play songs in regular tuning

[Clams]

I know that to get the "Truckers' sound" you have to tune down a step (or is it a half step?). My question is, is there a way to achieve that sound without having to re-tune the guitar every time you want to play something different? I recall something about playing in standard tuning and putting a capo on the first fret. Is that true? Maybe one of you experts can advise.... Thanks!

no, you have to tune everything down a full step, but then you can just stick a Capo on 2 to play songs in regular tuning

Ahhh yes, that's it. Thanks Zip. So to tune down a step, the strings go from EBGDAE to what?

[pearlysnaps]

DAFCGD

[OtisTheBulldog]

If you prefer standard tuning, you can of course just play and sing the songs in standard tuning and make it your own. Of course, you probably won't get the lower sound you're looking for but at the end of the day it's all about how you want to do it and deliver it anyway. So experiment.

And if you prefer staying in standard tuning, you can take DBT songs and just transpose the chords down a whole step. For example, if you're playing a song in which the chord progression is G, C, D - you can make it F, Bb, C. Same progression, just lowered.

Just experiment for what sounds & fits best for you. A lot of performers tune down to not only have a lower, heavier sound - but also better fit their vocal range. I myself have a much easier time singing tuned down a whole step. The tension on my neck was adjusted for this type of tuning and I use medium strings. I carry a capo in my case for instances I may play with someone else who's in standard tuning. Like previously said, just put a capo on the second fret and you're in standard tuning again.

Or you can just splurge on another fancy guitar and have one for each tuning

Edit to say: Transposing is a key skill for any musician. You may take a song where you're having trouble matching your voice. Say, Neil Young's "Helpless". You may find that playing this song in the key of E is more suitable to you but the tabs you find have it in the key of C (I'm not sure if this is true, just using it as an example).

Having some ground knowledge in theory is huge. If Helpless is in G, the progression is G, D, C. It helps to understand the relationship that D & C share with G. In this case, D is the 5th degree of the G major scale and C is the 4th degree. G is the one. Knowing that, the progression is I-V-IV.

So if you want to play in E, you know that B is the 5th and A is the 4th. So now your I-V-IV progression becomes E, B, A.

Obviously this is a simple example and not completely thorough but I didn't want to get into that. Just want to give you a better idea of some of your options if keeping your guitar in a certain tuning is important to you. Sorry if you already know all this - I just don't know where you're at with any of this. I hope that helps. I'm no expert on music theory but I have an ok understanding and in pop/rock music - that's really all you need anyway.

[RevMatt]

Some guitarists prefer standard tuning even when playing songs originally recorded with drop or open tunings. I have a good friend who plays guitar in one of the bigger Stones tribute bands. He told me he doesn't do an open G tuning, even if he is playing Keith's parts. He says he can finger all the suspended ninths in standard tuning and it sounds the same. He says he is more comfortable playing solos in standard tuning. So it really is up to you.

[Zip City]

DBT songs just aren't the same in standard tuning, even transposed, as your low D chord is now a higher sounding D chord

[Steve French]

Black Sabbath also tune down, yes? (due to Tony having an industrial accident, all those years ago, and being short some fingertips): is it the same tuning as DBT uses?

I have often wondered

['Scratch]

Tuning it down just gives you that dark heavy sludgy sound. Sometimes I split the difference and tune my acoustic 1/2 step down. D# G# C# F# A# D# It gives it a little more growl.

[Tequila Cowboy]

I've been playing tuned down a step for years. I started that way because Ben Harper uses it occasionally (I was learning Burn One Down at the time) and I found that it really worked for me since I had lost some vocal range as I got older. It was a happy accident when I realized that DBT played nearly everything down a step. Because you can capo anywhere I haven't found it limiting at all and in fact opens some things up for my songwriting.

[Buford]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9E4L4_2 ... AKMypJY%3D