drop B/E tuning

[aesop]

i am trying ot learn "parabola" by tool and most good tabs i have seen use a drop B/E tuning. their guitarist says this is what they use for this song. i can drop the 5th string to E but i cannot drop the 6th string to B. i have an acoustic guitar but i don't think that would matter much. my tuner won't pick up anything after i drop it any farther than D, except an A a little before my string almost falls of the fret board. can someone help me get my 6th string to B?

[cyberfret]

It sounds like you have a standard guitar tuner. At some point you might consider buying a chromatic tuner instead. Then you can tune to any note.

You are probably still going to have some serious tuning problems. Your 6th and 5th string are going to be very loose, unless you use heavy gauge strings. But here is how you can tune the 6th string to B.

If you have your 5th string tuned to E already, then play your 5th fret on your 6th string, and tune that note so that it is the same as the open 5th string (E). Or if you are familiar with harmonics, play the 5th fret harmonic on the 6th string, and tune that to match the 7th fret on the 5th string (again this is assuming that you already have your 5th string tuned down to E)

You might also just tune to the CD itself.

--Shawn

[Tony_Iommi]

Here's one--How do you tune to the CD? Just find the lowest note played on it and drop your low E to that?

[cyberfret]

Originally posted by Tony_Iommi
Here's one--How do you tune to the CD? Just find the lowest note played on it and drop your low E to that?


If you are tuning to a CD it is not always the open string that you are going to tune to, it just depends on the song. You are looking for a note that is being held long enough for you to tune to it. For instance if there is a song that starts on the G chord, you could tune your 6th string 3rd fret (G) to that chord and bass note.

--Shawn