Hi, I'm very new at bass. Need help using my electric tuner?

[HeCouldBeBrian]

I bought a bass package two weeks ago. I don't think its in tune anymore, so i want to use the tuner that came with the package. The problem is that I have no idea how to use it. All it says on it is "Ibanez Automatic Tuner"

It can be used for bass or guitar apparently, so it has a row of lights for bass and guitar.

underneath the row of lights, it says

LB 4E 3A 2D I(or 1)G and HC

there's one two letter pair under each light.

how do i tune my bass?

[()smoke()]

the letters correspond to the strings of your bass

assuming it's a 4 string, when you hold it in playing position, the string closest to your head (the fattest one) is tuned to E, the one below to A, the next on to D, and the skinniest one nearest your feet, to G

like this : E-A-D-G

[Surprise Panda!]

Exactly what smoke said LB or HC is if you have a 5 string

[psychotiger]

Adding to what Smoke said...

LB= "low B" HC= "High C" If you bought either if the JUmp Start bass packages made by Ibanez then LB and HC don't apply to your bass as it is a 4-string. 5-stringers have either a low B or a high C. 6-string basses have both. Soooo...

Plug your amp cord into your bass and the other end into the hole in the tuner most likely marked "input". Turn up the volume knobs on the bass and hit the open E string (the big fat one). Tighten or loosen the string until it is in tune. Repeat for the other 3 strings. My advice is to get another bass player or even a guitard to help you. Much easier. Just be wary of the guitar players as they are evil.

And welcome to bassdom!

Oh, and don't trust Pandas.... or crab-people.

[()smoke()]

Originally Posted by psychotiger

Oh, and don't trust Pandas.... or crab-people.

[HeCouldBeBrian]

I used the tuner and it broke the G string on my bass. now i have to get it retuned. this is such ********.

[lowdown3]

Dont get mad bro....
This is part of playing the bass or guitar......Loosen all the strings and start again and keep your eye on the tuner,Now turn the tuner slowly.If you go to fast you will over turn it.get ittowhere its very close then when you finish with the last string go back and tweek it to where it is tuned.Like ()SMOKE() said
The Fat string close to you head is tuned to E
the 2nd string working down ward is tuned to A
the 3rd string working down ward is tuned to a D
the last string working downword again closer to your feet is tuned to a G

Now this is on a 4 string bass.....
Do not forget to plug in the chord and do not forget to turn up the volume controles on the bass,If you do not turn the up you will not get a signal..
Have fun BRO.......

[psychotiger]

Brian,

I did the exact thing you did with my first guitar. Passed the correct G-note, don't think I made it to the next octave before...twang! I think my problem was I had no reference point for what I was doing. Best to get someone to show you how to use the tuner and how to tune without it as well. And the broken G-string? Now an oppotunity to learn how to change a string (with someone's guidance)! If you can afford a bass instructor, at least for a few sessions, this would go a lot easier. The "See one, Do one, Teach one" model of learning is quick and helpful. What's your general location? Are there bass instructors around?

Oh, and try not to get so mad that you throw your new bass through the amp. It's better to wait until you are in a band then grab the guitard's 6-string and throw it. Aim for the singer.

[tom once dead]

Originally Posted by psychotiger

Brian,

I did the exact thing you did with my first guitar. Passed the correct G-note, don't think I made it to the next octave before...twang! I think my problem was I had no reference point for what I was doing. Best to get someone to show you how to use the tuner and how to tune without it as well. And the broken G-string? Now an oppotunity to learn how to change a string (with someone's guidance)! If you can afford a bass instructor, at least for a few sessions, this would go a lot easier. The "See one, Do one, Teach one" model of learning is quick and helpful. What's your general location? Are there bass instructors around?

Oh, and try not to get so mad that you throw your new bass through the amp. It's better to wait until you are in a band then grab the guitard's 6-string and throw it. Aim for the singer.

Ha! Aim for the singer! If it was me I would pick up the head on his stack and throw it at the drummer.

Same kind of thing happened to me, I was tuning the D string and I went passed D (not my much) and it went, but the strings were old. Only differecnce was that I had been playing for about a year.


Also some adivice. Buy a Learn to play bass book. And for future reference, When the small amp that comes with the package, its not a good thing, its best to turn in down

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally Posted by HeCouldBeBrian

It can be used for bass or guitar apparently, so it has a row of lights for bass and guitar.

Originally Posted by psychotiger

Brian,

I did the exact thing you did with my first guitar. Passed the correct G-note, don't think I made it to the next octave before...twang! I think my problem was I had no reference point for what I was doing.

Yes - the big thing is to make you don't try to tune a bass G string up to the pitch of a guitar G string - guranteed broken string every time!!

If it feels really tight - then stop !!

[62bass]

Originally Posted by HeCouldBeBrian

I used the tuner and it broke the G string on my bass. now i have to get it retuned. this is such ********.

You need help guy. I started a long, long time ago, before electronic tuners and learned to tune to a piano or a pitch fork. This was the first thing I had to learn to do. It wasn't all that hard and I got good at it after a while. And years later when in the recording studio I never used a tuner, but tuned always to the studio's piano.

Maybe find a good teacher and pay for a few lessons to get you going. If the teacher is any good at all he'll be able to teach you to tune the bass. If he can't do that and you're not completely beyond help (only a very few guys really are that bad off) then he shouldn't be teaching.

Don't rely on the tuner. Learn to tune by ear. It's a vital skill.

[joeyl]

Originally Posted by 62bass

You need help guy. I started a long, long time ago, before electronic tuners and learned to tune to a piano or a pitch fork. This was the first thing I had to learn to do. It wasn't all that hard and I got good at it after a while. And years later when in the recording studio I never used a tuner, but tuned always to the studio's piano.

Maybe find a good teacher and pay for a few lessons to get you going. If the teacher is any good at all he'll be able to teach you to tune the bass. If he can't do that and you're not completely beyond help (only a very few guys really are that bad off) then he shouldn't be teaching.

Don't rely on the tuner. Learn to tune by ear. It's a vital skill.

62bass is right. I could not tune a bass when I first started. Even borrowing my friend's electronic tuner (at that time the only choice you had was Boss TUs and they were expensive) I would go above and snap a string, or be an octave lower. It was a mess. I got a couple of lessons from a piano teacher, he showed me how to tune the bass, once you get a feel for the tension and the pitch the tuner starts making sense, I learned a few basics such as how to hold the bass, how to fret the notes etc. It was worth the time and money (he only charged me $40 bucks total for a few lessons because I was a friend of a friend and he was not really a bass player)
now I only use the tuner for loud on stage pre-gig situations.

[lowdown3]

Hey guys want to here somthing funny.......I was tunning my 5 string bass one time andfor some resone was not thinking and talking to my wife when I over tuned the B string and popped it.......put a new one on and again it busted till I remembered you can tune the B string to a G very easy.
So hey bro every one pops strings one time or another for not knowing what you are doing or plain dumbness.

[SC Bassboy]

The best story ever is from Peter Cetera, the old bass player from the band Chicago. I was reading in Bass Player magazine a while back that when he first started playing bass someone told him to tune it like the first 4 strings of a guitar, which he did. Literally. He said he could barely play the thing cause the strings were almost and inch off the fretboard. It was weeks before a seasoned bass player picked up his instrument and realized what he had done.

[John-P]

Also...using other tuning note sources should help develop your ear. Try using a piano (if you have access to one) along with the electronic tuner. The lowest string (E) on your bass should be the same pitch as the lowest E on the piano. That may help keep you tuned to the right octave. To complicate things, written (staff notation) bass charts are always written an octave higher than the instrument actually sounds. So when you see a middle C in the music, and play it correctly, the sound your bass makes is an octave below middle C.

Have fun!

[Solarmist]

YES like ^ said.....Make sure its plugged in to the tuner (with batteries...right?), and youv'e turned the volume up - even though you can't hear it, the tuner can, and must.

[Blake Bass]

Get a teacher!

[robert43]

In another post this dude said that his brother been playing guitar for 4 months maybe he can help

[Flintlock]

Originally Posted by robert43

In another post this dude said that his brother been playing guitar for 4 months maybe he can help

Guitarists don't tune. They just say "I'm playing in drop f"

[sublime0bass]

when starting to play bass (and as a good habit to form) make sure you tune up EVERY TIME before you play