how would i get my low E string to detune down to drop D with pitch block?

jazzgtrl4

jazzgtrl4

Experienced
Hi sorry for the noob question about the pitch block..I just suck at using the pitch block..I have to cover this tune by the black keys, lonley boy..anyway it has this opening thing where he plays the low E string open and then detunes real quick like hes using a whammy or something to tune it down to drop D..I tried messing around with the Detune in the pitch block but couldn't get it there..any ideas?..thanks
 
We play that song and I use my Whammy bar to do it. You can do it with the Whammy setting too, but make sure your amp is kind of loud when you try it. Otherwise the ambient sound of your non-detuned guitar strings will mix with the amplified sound of your detuned signal and sound like crap.
 
addedc said:
We play that song and I use my Whammy bar to do it. You can do it with the Whammy setting too, but make sure your amp is kind of loud when you try it. Otherwise the ambient sound of your non-detuned guitar strings will mix with the amplified sound of your detuned signal and sound like crap.
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Wow how quietly are you playing a gig where the amplified sound isn't louder than the acoustic volume of the guitar itself?!
 
I wondered that too lol

I think maybe he meant he's just picking up some unintentional noise from the slack, but unplucked strings ?
 
Cool, thanks. Ya ive used the whammy, but can i actually use it to detune down to D? thats in the pitch shifter right..
 
used the advanced whammy. set start = -2 and stop = 0

then attach the external which is linked to your midi cc pedal to the control parameter.

now the whammy is always going to be on, but you may not want this, so you can set it to auto engage when you move the pedal, so when you link the external to control, set auto eng to fast position
 
It drops an octave, not a whole step. One YT comment said it's a Boss Harmonist pedal, which seems plausible based on the video below. You might want to consider a momentary switch plus modifier damping to make this easier. Even with a pedal, damping would allow consistent results from quick pedal moves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7e9PB5m__c
 
Detune is not the correct effect. And it definitely does not drop down simply to D. It drops a full octave to a lower E.
 
I've got a preset to play Lonely Boy.

It uses a Whammy (controlled by a pedal or switch) to drop the pitch.
It uses a high Damping value in the modifier menu to control the pitch dive.

The Pitch block is always on, but its Mix is also controlled by the pedal, so there's no audible bump when the dive starts.

It's no chord, so it only the low E string.

You need to set the Drive to one of the Fuzz types.

Pitch block before Drive block and Amp blocks.

Type= Classic Whammy
Mode = Down 1 Octave
Pitch Source = Local
Track Adjust = 6.17
Hi Cut = 8008
Pitch Track = Mono
Control = attach to External (your pedal or switch). Set Damping to 141 ms.
Mix = same external. Min = 100, Max = 0, Start = 60.1, Mid = 0, End = 49.8, Slope = 100, Scale = 10, Offset = -100, Damping = 10.

And use a slapback delay.
 
I was talking bedroom playing where the ambient unamplified sound mixes with amplified sound -- or it could happen at one of those new whisper-pop gigs.
 
Detuning just one string isn't possible without separating each string into separate signals. That's why guitar synths and modelling guitars have hexaphonic pickups - each string has its own signal and can be processed independently of the others, making it possible to apply different pitch shift intervals to each string.
With a normal pickup, the sound from all of the strings is mixed together, so there is no way for the axefx to only apply pitch-shift to the low e-string.
 
MesaGuitarGuy said:
you want to detune just the low E to D, but play and keep the rest in standard tuning?

Not sure it's possible with the Axe
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for this particular song/riff, he'd only be playing the low E string when he uses the effect. so technically the "entire guitar" is down tuning, but only playing that one note.
 
MesaGuitarGuy said:
you want to detune just the low E to D, but play and keep the rest in standard tuning?

Not sure it's possible with the Axe
Click to expand...

Agreed with Chris its not needed this way to play the tune. But I believe this is possible using modifiers, in particular the filter section? Cooper had a section on it in his video.
 
Gilly said:
Agreed with Chris its not needed this way to play the tune. But I believe this is possible using modifiers, in particular the filter section? Cooper had a section on it in his video.
Click to expand...

There is no way to pitch shift only 1 string out of 6. You can TRIGGER the pitch shift when a note range is played, but it will still affect the entire audio signal.
 
i'm pretty sure they use the whammy pedal for an octave drop...it's definitely not just from E to D...
 
When you say "Drop D", you are referring to a normal open tuning with the E (6th) tuned down to a D. This would only be possible on a 13-pin guitar and an effects processor (such as the VG-99) that accommodates custom, or Drop D tuning. Otherwise, as the above threads tell you, the result is all 6 strings tuned down 1 step. (I think this is not what you want). Your explanation (different from your post heading) suggests that you would do this only for a brief cut. That would be possible using the pitch shifter and a pedal. Keep working at it, you'll get it!
 
Out of curiosity Yek (and others), what Amp model are you using to cop the tone?

As to OP: just use a simple octave shift, like a Whammy set to octave below. I'd use my Whammy V or DT personally, as I find them much easier and more effective than the pitch stuff in the Axe.
 
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