How many bands play in Eb ?

SexyGreyFox

SexyGreyFox

SexyGreyFox

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Just shows you can learn something after 37 years of playing in bands.

Over the years I've tried to practise to many artists and I used to think my guitar was way out of tune or my record player was playing slow or something.
I'd learn songs and then think "Surely these chord changes fit better if played a note higher" etc. I always remember learning Whole Lotta Rosie back in the 70's and they were playing in Ab but I transposed to A to make it easy to play. More recently I learned Heatseeker by ACDC and that too was in Ab but played easier in A. I then get the video out and they are playing in A but my guitar says Ab.
I then get a Black Sabbath DVD out and watch Iommi playing Paranoid on the 12th fret but once again my guitar says Eb. I then read an old article in GUITARIST with Scott Gorham saying how Thin Lizzy always played in Eb because it gave a heavier sound, made the guitars easier to play and the strings lasted longer. Thats when I realised all the problems I had learning Lizzy songs in the 70's.

Anyway, since I've had my brain flashed I've now asked my band to tune down to Eb since I'm singing all songs by Bon Scott, Brian Johnson, Bruce Dickinson etc one note higher than them and I'm suffering for it.

Makes me wonder how many more bands play in Eb.
 
An octave down then B G D A E B

Code: 
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|---7/9-9------------6/7-7-----------------------------------------|
|---5/7-7-----9-8-7--4/5-5-----5/7/5--2---------------------------|
|----------00-7-6-5---------00-3/5/3--0---------------------------|

|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------9-----------------------------9------------------------|
|---2--2-2---7----2--2-2--898----2--2-2---7--2-2--8--7--5--------|
|---0--0-0--------0--0-0--676----0--0-0------0-0--6--5--3---------|

|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|---9-9-9-9------------------------------------12-9-----------------|
|---7-7-7-7-9-12-9--8-9-8--7-7-7-7--7-8-9-12--10-7---------------|
|-----------7-10-7--6-7-6--5-5-5-5--5-6-7-10----------------------|

*n
 
Im surprised you hadnt noticed this before dm; its very common throughout the guitar greats. SRV and Hendrix spring to mind. Allot of people use one tuning for recording and another for playing live, simply to give the songs a slightly different feel.

In my opinion, Eb sounds ALLOT nicer than E, just as C# sounds better than D.
 
SidewinderINC said:
its also a lot easier to sing to a flat sound ;)
Click to expand...
Or if your voice is actually lower than what most normal people sing in (like mine, oddly...)

Most Thrash bands tune to Eb. It's often considered by pureists that its not thrash if it's not in Eb.

I play in Eb. I think it sounds better on acoustic.

My band play entirely in Eb too.

I love it. I think it's a lot better than E.
 
It helps on the bends aswell.

I think that's why Guns N' Roses tune to Eb because if you listen to Slash's soloing there's a lot of bending.

Metallica tuned to Eb from Load onwards due to Hetfields voice going a bit.

My guitar is tuned to D at the minute because I'm writing a song and my voice is crap :p
 
Dave said:
Spock's Beard usually play to Eb tuning. :)
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Heh cool didn't know that! I suppose it's because Neal Morse has (had) quite a restrictive range. I'd be interested to see if they tune to Eb as often now Nick sings lead.
 
Andelusion said:
Heh cool didn't know that! I suppose it's because Neal Morse has (had) quite a restrictive range. I'd be interested to see if they tune to Eb as often now Nick sings lead.
Click to expand...

True, all the Neal Morse- era stuff like The Kindness of Strangers is in Eb. Not really listened to the newer stuff that much.
 
This really is fascinating and I feel like I've just been broken in.

When I joined this particular band 7 years ago they had 3 guitars each on stage. I asked why and they said 2 were tuned to E and the other was tuned to Eb because their ex singer couldn't reach notes in certain songs. I told them that I didn't want them to keep changing guitars through a set because it looks awful and if I couldn't reach the notes in the original key then I wouldn't do the song. Its taken me 7 years to realise that I'm not singing some of these songs in the original key but one semi-tone higher. I'm looking forward to the next gig now the only probelm is that my lead guitarist uses 3 Steve Vai Jems and dropping down a semi-tone might mean they have got to be setup properly. The other guitarist uses Gibson SG's so no problem there.

Thanks for this, its been an eye opener.
 
Just to update you that we have now done 6 gigs tuned down to Eb and the difference is amazing. Not only do the guitars sound a bit heavier but my vocals are less strained and the audience wouldn't know. Instead of singing one note higher than Brian Johnson, Bruce Dickinson, Ozzy etc I'm now singing in the same key. The Jems were straightforward to tune down too.

Thanks everybody.
 
Dm, it's definitely all about the key. I'm only on backing tracks but sometimes when learning a new song I'll spend the biggest part of an evening just finding the right key.
 
My band plays in Eb, but that's only down to the fact that my range isn't all that great. :p I think that if my voice was better then my guitarist would be more inclined to play in concert pitch.
 
Totally, totally on a tangent here, but here's a bit of info you might know, or might not, and after you know it, you'll notice it a lot on films etc.

Because film is recorded at 24fps, and soundtracks are usually added to the film, the resulting conversion to TV / DVD etc (25fps) puts the soundtrack approx 4% faster and higher in pitch.

Listen to a song you know really well, on a DVD, and you can hear the shift in pitch and the slight push of the tempo.

Obviously it means the film runs shorter too. Apparently less knowledgable, supposed film buff types have complained to stores about how the running length has been shortened for the DVD release of their favourite film. I believe LOTR was like 12 minutes shorter and caused quite a few complaints.
 
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