Hi all, thanks for the information Greg, btw I met you at a Stick seminar in Vancouver in 2006.

After years of baritone melody I decided to check out the DBR tuning for a couple of reasons, mainly because I'm needing the Stick more and more for bass gigs and sessions...and the idea of having fourths tuning instantly made all the bass guitar pieces I know accessible.

I first tried it by taking specific strings from older sets to make a close approximation of the proper melody string gauges. After playing with the low B in the 6th string, I realized that it really threw my visualization off, so I went back up a 1/2 step with C as the low string.

The greatest part about this from an electric bass perspective is that on the 5th string, it puts G at the 2nd fret marker, and C at the 7th fret marker. On the 4th string, C is at the 2nd and and F is at the 7th. Since I read a lot of charts in standard notation, it really makes finding notes quicker because I can visualize the G and C on the 3rd fret of an electric bass's E and A strings. From that anchor point, playing bass guitar lines on the stick becomes second nature.

With B on the low string, the low melody fret markers have sharps on them, plus strings 6-10 are suddenly different from my 7 years experience with standard Stick bass tuning.

I realize we should be able to play the Stick keyless, since open strings aren't really used, and there are no black keys...but when living in a scene where I have to play rock and jazz electric bass parts exactly as they are supposed to be, this tuning is wonderful! In my experience it might even help reduce "Stick Rejection Syndrome", where producers/musicians sometimes poo-poo the Stick because they're worried that it won't do the job of the bass guitar.

As a first-day test, I recorded myself playing a song by RUSH, called "Leave That Thing Alone". Rush bass lines have typically been difficult for me to play in 5ths tuning, so this is a great example of the usefulness of DBR.

Thanks all!
Jim McLaren

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7MXgHzTbTk[/youtube]

Hi all, thanks for the information Greg, btw I met you at a Stick seminar in Vancouver in 2006.



Thanks all!
Jim McLaren

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7MXgHzTbTk[/youtube]

I had the opportunity to try Greg's DBR Ten string. "D" and "B" being Devastating Bass and I can't think of anything good for the "R". Two things really jumped out at me about this tuning. The first is that I can pick it up without ever having played the Stick and with a simple instruction that these 6 strings are like a 6 string bass I could start noodling with half a clue about what's going on. All the mechanics were still a little strange, but it wasn't a completely alien instrument. The inverted bass in fifths side could just be ignored, but experimented with to get some familiarity as time goes on. I think that would be huge in getting people over the hump of initial Stick frustration.

The second thing I noticed was that it sounded like a great solo instrument in the hands of Greg Howard. Of course, in the hands of Greg Howard two rubber bands and a paper clip would probably sound good. You didn't think, oh he's playing a bass. Had I not known it was tuned like a bass I would not have noticed any difference besides color between the DBR and his other Stick played that night. Obviously the compositions were created to make maximum usage of the DBR tuning, but it didn't sound like a bass -- except when you want it to sound like a bass.

Thanks again Greg!

My next Stick will be another DBR - completely frettless (Im not that good, just crazy) Ill find a nice piece of wood and let Emmett go to town. Linnear fret markers in the usuall places - I dont need much refrences.

"The present day composer refuses to die!" -Edgar Varese

Peace, m-