Back to BASSics..

Bout to go to the liquor store and get a beverage and practice...

this reminded me that I have posted nothing about the bass recently.. so here's my quick version of how to tune a bass..

INSTRUCTIONS:
How to tune a Bass Guitar

There are several ways to tune a bass guitar. These include "relative" tuning, "harmonic" tuning and using an electric tuning device. While the electric tuning device is the easiest, it doesn't work if you don't have an electric tuner. Every bass player should learn, in case they need the skill at a gig, to tune a bass without aid. The following instructions will allow you to tune a bass by "notes."

You will be tuning the bass so that it sounds in tune with itself. This is known as "relative tuning and that means your bass will sound adequate when you play, even though you might not be tuned exactly to pitch. To ensure that relative tunings are tuned to exact pitch, you might tune your first (E) string to a known good note on another instrument, or to a note on a synthesized instrument which cannot get "out" of tune.

I Holding your Bass and Knowing the Strings

When you hold a bass properly, you will see that the thickest string on the bass is closest to your head. This string is the E string and, tuned to a known good note or not, it is the string on which your tuning is based. The next string down is the A string. The string below that is the D string. Finally the bottom string is the G string.

II Tuning your First String

Relative tuning of a bass works because all the notes on a bass are the repetition of an octave pattern. If you don't understand that, don't worry, once you get to the theory of a bass it will make sense. For now just be aware there is a pattern of notes on the neck of the bass. The important pattern for us is that an open note on any string should sound like a played note on the 5th fret of the string above it. Sound hard? Not really. Watch.

To tune the 3rd string (A) relative to the 4th string (E), play the 4th string, 5th fret. Listen to that note, and using your tuner try to tune the open 3rd string until it matches that pitch (A). When the pitch matches, the 3rd string (A) is in tune.

III Tuning the Remaining Strings

The good news, as I mentioned above, is that this pattern repeats.

Repeat the process you used above with the 2nd (A) and 3rd (D) strings. Play the 3rd string, 5th fret. Listen to that note, and using your tuner tune the 2nd string until it matches that pitch (D). When the pitch matches, the 2nd string (D) is in tune.

Last, repeat the process with the 1st (G) and 2nd (D) strings. Play the 2nd string, 5th fret. Listen to that note, and using your tuner tune the 1st string until it matches that pitch (G). When the pitch matches, the 2nd string (G) is in tune.

III A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words/Notes

For those who have trouble with all the letters/notes I've used in this discussion, here are two graphic representations of the process.