When first starting to play, learning how to tune a bass guitar is one of the first skills a beginner needs. No matter how hard you try, you just can’t make an out-of-tune bass sound “right.”
Regular practice is essential to learning an instrument and knowing proper bass tuning makes practice much more fun and rewarding, especially when you’re learning the School of Rock way and playing with other instruments. It’s now easier than ever to tune your bass guitar and keep it in tune.
First, let’s start with some of the basic parts of the bass. Tuning is controlled by the tuning pegs on the headstock of the bass. Turning the pegs changes the pitch by tightening or loosening the string. Tightening the strings makes the pitch go up; loosening the strings makes the pitch go down.
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You should tune your bass every time you play it. You can’t expect your bass to always stay in tune between practice sessions. As a general rule, basses stay in tune easier than a regular guitar, but you still want to check your tuning every time you play.
If it doesn’t sound quite right when you are playing, or if it sounds “off” when playing along with recordings, it is a good idea to check your tuning.
Clip-on electric tuners have revolutionized tuning. Unlike old fashioned electric tuners that you have to plug into, clip-on electric tuners attach to your guitar’s headstock and sense the vibrations of the strings. They will tell your bass guitar’s notes are “flat” (too low), “sharp” (too high) or in tune.
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Some tuners may have difficulty picking up the E string (lowest note). When buying a tuner, check to see if it can easily read the low string. These tuners are inexpensive, easy to use and accurate. Many practice amplifiers also feature built in tuners as well.
You can find hundreds of tuner apps available for mobile devices, many are even free. These apps use your mobile device’s built-in microphone to hear the pitch of the strings. As you adjust the tuning peg for each string, the display on your device will tell you when you are in tune.
You can also tune using a reference pitch from another instrument like a piano that you know is in tune. This is a little more difficult since you have to tune one of your strings to the reference pitch “by ear.” This involves listening to the reference pitch, playing the same note on the bass and comparing the pitches.
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Adjust your note to match the reference pitch. Once you have one string in tune, you can then tune the bass to itself by playing a fretted note on a lower string and then tuning your open string to match that note.
If you’re playing a standard bass guitar, you will notice that your bass has only 4 strings. The standard tuning for a 4 string bass is E, A, D, G (the same as the four lowest strings on the guitar but one octave lower). The bass strings are tuned in fourths.
5 string basses are becoming more common. They can be tuned adding an extra low string B, E, A, D, G or by adding a high string E, A, D, G, C. Unlike the guitar which has most of its strings tuned in 4ths and one string tuned to a 3rd, bass tuning is generally done in all 4ths.
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If you really want to expand your tonal range, try a 6-string bass. 6-string basses add both an extra low string and an extra high string: B, E, A, D, G, C.
There are simple ways to expand your sound without adding extra strings. Drop tunings became popular in the 90’s for heavier music. Drop tuning is when you lower the pitch of your lowest string, usually a whole step below standard.
Drop D tuning is done by lowering the E string a whole step down to D. This makes the D note a fifth below the next highest string. This expands the tonal range of the bass and sounds “heavy”.
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Metal bands often tune down even lower to drop C: C, G, C, F and some bands even use drop B: B, F#, B, E.
In situations where you need to be able to go back and forth between standard and drop tunings, drop D tuners are very useful. These tuners allow you to change the tuning on the fly without having to use a tuner.
Whether you use an electronic tuner or tune “by ear”, if you follow these simple steps you will have a guitar that is in tune, stays in tune and is more fun to play.
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By continuing to use our site, you are agreeing to our cookies policy. For more options and additional information, visit our Privacy Policy Page.The goal of the Cipher System is to communicate musical information in clear, direct, and efficient terms. That means, eliminating as many sources of music speak (cross-calculation and double-talk) as possible. To that end, the following departure from standard procedure will be adopted on this web site;
The standard numbering order of the bass guitar’s four strings will be reversed: the lowest pitched string (E) becomes string 1, and the highest pitched string (G) becomes string 4 (see Figure 1). All references to string number on this web site are expressed accordingly.
Most of you will welcome this change. I, for one, have always found low E = string 4 numbering order confusing, as all other terminology in music had been. Furthermore, there is no good reason, purpose, or logic to that order, and it’s not even consistent with other examples of standard procedure. Consider these truths:
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Tradition alone is not good reason enough to justify and perpetuate standard string numbering order. It is broken, so lets fix it. We’ll use Commonsense String Numbering Order here, rather than conventional string numbering order. Given the way I feel about using numbers that communicate well, I simply could not bring myself to write the upcoming book nor produce this web site using screwy String Numbering notation.
By the way, this goes for all string instruments, guitar, bass, and instruments tuned to fifths as well, e.g. violin and mandolin.
All text, images, system components, devices, key terminology* and logos, on this web site are copyrighted [physically at the U.S. Library of Congress]. Reproduction in any form without written permission from the author and creator is prohibited.
Bass Guitar Tuning Guide
[*including but not limited to: The Cipher System, The Cipher, Music Theory Cipher, The Guitarist’s Music Theory Cipher, Blumberg’s Music Theory Cipher for Guitar, Cipher Formula, The Five Degree Calculation Line, Perfect-fourth Calculation Line, The Seven Degree Calculation Line, Perfect-fifth Calculation Line, Fretboard Navigator, Counting Grids, The Pattern of Unisons and Octaves, Rooting-Center, The Fifth String Pattern Shift, The Third String Pattern Shift, Commonsense String Numbering Order.]
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