Anxiously awaiting FM3 firmware 5.0 beta

Status
Not open for further replies.
I'm always fascinated by this. I've never had that percentage of songs in a different tuning (I guess trying to stay faithful to the 80's when that was popular?) only a handful, and those were typically open tuning types of things which warranted bringing a second guitar. Never worked with a singer who asked to play in Eb.
It has nothing to do with the original key of the song. The tunings are based on what the singer is more comfortable with. There are even some songs from the same band where on is in standard and another is half down.
 
Last edited:
I'm always fascinated by this. I've never had that percentage of songs in a different tuning (I guess trying to stay faithful to the 80's when that was popular?) only a handful, and those were typically open tuning types of things which warranted bringing a second guitar. Never worked with a singer who asked to play in Eb.
For my needs it's because I'm in a cover band and we all learn the songs away from practice and learn from the recordings so it's helpful to be able to match those exactly. Some songs just sound right tuned down a half step too.
 
For my needs it's because I'm in a cover band and we all learn the songs away from practice and learn from the recordings so it's helpful to be able to match those exactly. Some songs just sound right tuned down a half step too.

Are there many current bands running in Eb? I'm just old school I guess and would just keep a second instrument tuned to Eb if I commonly needed it.
 
Never worked with a singer who asked to play in Eb.
I'm the primary singer for my 90's rock cover band, singing about 70% of the songs. We also do 95% of our songs in the recorded key. We initially started the band in Eb, but after about a year and a half, I demanded we start playing songs in the recorded key, meaning we finally tuned up to standard tuning. We also play a lot of songs that are difficult for me to sing, but I enjoy singing at the edge of my range.

That said, we have enough songs that, if for instance, we come to the part of the night where we're supposed to play 4 Non Blonde's "What's Up" and I don't think my voice can do it, we just call an audible. We also build sets around not having too many difficult songs in a row for me.

My guitarist's original reasoning for playing in Eb is that "it sounds heavier." I call bullshit on that. I think, for songs that you're familiar with since childhood, they sound just weird in a different key. That's just my opinion, though.

Are there many current bands running in Eb? I'm just old school I guess and would just keep a second instrument tuned to Eb if I commonly needed it.
Every professional band I've ever been in, including my current one until I put my foot down and demanded we tune standard. Most cover bands do, is my experience.
 
Are there many current bands running in Eb? I'm just old school I guess and would just keep a second instrument tuned to Eb if I commonly needed it.
If you mix between E and Eb then you have to bring at least 4 guitars. I auditioned for a band a while back that did songs in E, Eb, drop D, D, and C tunings.
 
If you mix between E and Eb then you have to bring at least 4 guitars. I auditioned for a band a while back that did songs in E, Eb, drop D, D, and C tunings.

I'd bring 3 and use something like the virtual capo effect as the backup. I guess at gig volumes things would drown out the dissonance of amplified note not coming from the actual instrument, I've never used a virtual down tune live (and haven't gigged in a while) but I absolutely can't stand it if I can hear even a whisper of the original string tuning.
 
I'd bring 3 and use something like the virtual capo effect as the backup. I guess at gig volumes things would drown out the dissonance of amplified note not coming from the actual instrument, I've never used a virtual down tune live (and haven't gigged in a while) but I absolutely can't stand it if I can hear even a whisper of the original string tuning.
I wouldn't do it if I could hear the original tuning either. It sounds pretty clean at gig volume.
 
Are there many current bands running in Eb? I'm just old school I guess and would just keep a second instrument tuned to Eb if I commonly needed it.
I had to chime in here.......I am in a 10-person cover band. We target playing weddings. We have a four-piece brass section. With respect to standard guitar tuning, brass instruments work really well with the keys of Eb and Bb. We do play songs in other, more traditional (concert-tuning) keys as well. Switching guitars between songs to accommodate key changes is not practical for me. The bottom line for me -- as a guitar player -- is that I have had to learn how to play the songs in the somewhat guitar-unfriendly keys such as Eb and Bb. In the case of this band, it had nothing to do with the range of the vocalists, but rather is done to make life easier for the brass section.
 
I had to chime in here.......I am in a 10-person cover band. We target playing weddings. We have a four-piece brass section. With respect to standard guitar tuning, brass instruments work really well with the keys of Eb and Bb. We do play songs in other, more traditional (concert-tuning) keys as well. Switching guitars between songs to accommodate key changes is not practical for me. The bottom line for me -- as a guitar player -- is that I have had to learn how to play the songs in the somewhat guitar-unfriendly keys such as Eb and Bb. In the case of this band, it had nothing to do with the range of the vocalists, but rather is done to make life easier for the brass section.

Eb and Bb are unfriendly? Only if you need that open Eb note...
 
Was mainly curious it being only 8 days before Xmas / Holiday shutdown so if it was still a week or so away I wouldn't imagine they'd want to release such a major FW during the shutdown period with no support available ....... just thinking out loud ..... no drama's and totally cool either way :)

Ben
Since it looks like there will be no drop today I agree it seems improbable there may be one soon. Then again what does “Xmas shutdown” mean in the ?post? COVID world. I imagine many types of work has adjusted to being able to work from home. There may be some benevolent employees offering to do some work while on break.🤔 I imagine if they are concerned at all with a smooth roll out then there’s no chance. OTOH, at this stage most problems are code related which can be worked on anywhere. FAS could be thinking to roll it out on Christmas Eve and let everyone mess with it for a week or two and see how it goes.🥴 Just bouncing thoughts around. Who knows except FAS. We’ll see.

It is funny seeing the different “wants” people have. I’m curious to try some of the drive models assuming they will be included.😀
 
My band does about 40% or so of our songs in Eb. So manually down-tuning our guitars is not really an option. The Digitech Drop pedal is the best solution at this point in time. The FM9 just received the improved pitch block and now I can retire my Drop pedal for that rig. Looking forward to Fractal porting to the FM3.
Don't mean to sound like a smart ass but if 40% of my songs were in Eb, I'd simply have another guitar tuned to that.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom