How to make low-tuned guitars bite

The lower the pitch, the less the snarl from your tone – so how do we combat this?

Just as how the two certainties of life are death and taxes, the two certainties in modern metal are low tunings and weird screechy noises. But the lower players drop their tunings, the more their guitar tone can suffer.

Done right, low tunings can have serious weight and muster, but done wrong – as it is so easy to do for a myriad of reasons – and tones can be all mud, no clarity.  

Sylosis and ex-Architects guitarist, Josh Middleton, who is also a brilliant metal producer, has recently addressed these issues. He’s one of the last bastions of metal players not tuning beyond C#. He prefers the “bite” you can get from more traditionally tuned guitars, and went through the motions to make his Architects rig – with the band tuning to G# and F# - have the same snarl as he gets with his Sylosis rig.

So, be it demoing or gigging, what can we do to our low-tuned guitars to sharpen their teeth, and weaponise their bite?

“The truth is, if you play in a lower tuning, you're never going to get that same bite as a high tune guitar. And I've wasted a lot of time trying,” Middleton begins.

The core issue, he says, is that there are inherent differences in the EQs of guitars tuned to Eb and G#, as per the example in his video. Where the Eb chugs have that teeth-baring tonality, it goes away once those tuning pegs have been abused. What comes out is a little “fizzier” in the top-end, and “murkier” in the low. Simple EQ-ing might eradicate the underlying issues, but there are other things to consider.

Tonal fundamentals

“So, first up, just accept it's a different type of guitar sound,” Middleton continues. He says players, when referencing other songs as stylistic and tonal guidelines, should stick to songs in the same tuning. You’re never going to get the metallic bite of ‘80s thrash from an instrument tuned the best part of an octave lower. That’s like asking a scuba diver to cook you a Michelin-star meal.

Interestingly, he says that “the way that I dial in my amp settings and cab and mic placement settings from tuning to tuning doesn't actually change that much.” However, with lower tunings, he'll look to lose some low-end right at the start of the signal chain.

If using a plugin, carving out the low-end on an amp sim is a great starting point. For real amp users, an EQ pedal that gives you autonomy over low and high-pass filters in comparison to standard overdrive pedal designs can be a big help. It's also worth considering the pickups of the guitar; if their voicing is already quite low-end heavy and dark, then a more mid and treble-focused pickup will help combat the issue at source.

The lowness of the tuning will carry a lot of low-end by its very nature, so here, you're looking to counteract that, not overload the low-end.  You’ll probably be surprised how much low-end you can get away with losing without actually losing the impact of low-tuned guitars.

String tension

Another way to combat the issue at the root is by reconsidering the gauges of your strings, and perhaps the scale length of the guitar itself.  The key is maintaining as much string tension as possible. The tighter the strings, the bitier your tone will be. Some players like a bit of flop and flub in their strings, but in this instance, it will work against your quest for a more cutting tone.

The generally accepted cut-off point is that, when tuning below B on a six-string guitar, a baritone guitar would be advised. That longer scale length helps keep the same gauge strings a lot tighter. That's not to say you couldn't put thicker strings on a six-string to get to the required gut-punching depths you want, but that would also create a far woollier tone. EQ-ing might help tip the scales back in the right direction, but it could require some extreme amp settings. Don't make your life harder than it needs to be.

For plugin and modeller users, don’t overlook the impact impulse responses can have on enhancing or hindering clarity. Different IRs accentuate different aspects of tone, so finding one that puts clarity at the fore can work wonders – especially if you find yourself using super thick strings.

For Middleton, what he found worked best was an angled cab. The speaker cone is leaning back at a slight angle, and that allows a microphone to face downwards and get a lot closer to the speaker. This helps produce a more direct sound that isn't coloured or smeared by other factors.

Keep it tight

Once all those factors have been considered and, hopefully, applied, the other issue has nothing to do with your gear. When I worked an office job, my boss would often say “that’s a PICNIC problem.” When I asked him what he meant, he said it stands for ‘Problem in Chair, not in Computer.’ Sometimes, the tools we use can’t be blamed when human error is at play.

What I mean here, is that you should try to play as tightly as possible. Push or drag the riff even slightly, when the odds are already stacked against you because of your tuning, and your tone will suffer. A consistent pick attack can work wonders here – practice, and dedication to nailing the riff in your hands before any gear gets involved, will produce a night and day difference.

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