standard tuning, but everythings one fret off

stanger503 · #1 05-16-2007, 11:54 AM

well the title says it. standard tuning, but whatever i seem to play i have to play one fret lower than what it really is. and this is really starting to pi$$ me off greatly. tuner says its tunes rite on. but, ***.......any help, i know someone has the answer.

Gadolinium · #2 05-16-2007, 12:07 PM

could be your intonation...... ie the length of the playable string. To adjust this, there is normally a screw or something at the bridge, which points down the neck (not the ones that lower and raise the saddles). Depending on whether your bass' frets are flat or sharp, you have to either loosen or tighten the screws at the bridge. Hope that helps...

CrashClint · #3 05-16-2007, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stanger503

well the title says it. standard tuning, but whatever i seem to play i have to play one fret lower than what it really is. and this is really starting to pi$$ me off greatly. tuner says its tunes rite on. but, ***.......any help, i know someone has the answer.

Try tuning the string open then press down on the 12th fret and check tuning there. If they do not register the same then your intonation is off. If the open string is dead on and at the 12 fret you are sharp, move your saddle for that string toward the back of the bass, if it is flat, move the saddle toward the neck of the bass. Re-tune open then check tuning at 12th fret and keep adjusting until both are dead on tune.

If your bass was designed using the Buzz Feiten system, tune your E open, tune the other strings pressing down where the E note would fall on that string (i.e. A string 7th fret).

manicbassman · #4 05-16-2007, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stanger503

well the title says it. standard tuning, but whatever i seem to play i have to play one fret lower than what it really is. and this is really starting to pi$$ me off greatly. tuner says its tunes rite on. but, ***.......any help, i know someone has the answer.

try another tuner... read the manual for your tuner, you may have set it to default to a weird tuning... so it's indicating that you're in tune for something like a semi-tone higher...

stanger503 · #5 05-16-2007, 03:04 PM

yup...did it, nothing and now this is reeeeeeeeeeeaaalllly sending me into a whole different world of pssed...***

stanger503 · #6 05-16-2007, 03:37 PM

well ive been playin for a while, never had a tuner, i just used my computers speakers and by ear which always worked....well still does apparently. i sat down and was playing to some songs and i did this a while back as well, and realized that i had to play one fret down to get what i should be getting. so today i went out and bought a cheap tuner, only for it to tell me that everything is in tune. only thing it did help me with was intonation which is now set correctly but has not solved any problem at all...so really dont understand this at all. 5th fret e string says its an a and 12th says its e....so thats rite there, but i dont understand why this is changed. everything ive learned needs to be taken down a fret?????? all of a sudden.....so i dont get it at all

Thangfish · #7 05-16-2007, 03:52 PM

May I ask what you are playing along with? CD player? Computer program? Guitar player?

theshadow2001 · #8 05-16-2007, 03:52 PM

Is it possible you used the song to tune by ear that was a half step up or down?

Blueszilla · #9 05-16-2007, 03:56 PM

Odd. If you're playing one fret down (I assume you mean towards the headstock), it would appear you are tuned high a half step. Is the tuner you purchased chromatic, hands free? Lots of tuners will let you tune to half step and note the half step with an extra LED or a change in color. Are you sure you're not tuning to a half step above/below E? Does the artist you're listening to vary from standard tuning?

edit: Last year I was substituting on a gig with a blues band that tunes to E flat. I tuned my bass right before we went on and within 2 notes of the first tune I realized I had tuned to standard and well, you can guess the rest. Anyway, it was simple to get it wrong.

marcray · #10 05-16-2007, 04:02 PM

what are you playing along with? Your favorite band that happen to tune E Flat? What is it?

Foamy · #11 05-16-2007, 04:11 PM

Umm...is the tuner set to 440? Or is it perhaps set elsewhere? Many tuners allow you to set your own A, or a "concert A". If you do that, it'll look like it is in tune, and it is - just to a different set of freqencies. Look at your tuner for "440", or one or more flat or sharp signs.

ThunderSix66 · #12 05-16-2007, 04:13 PM

bad intonation, check truss rods and bridge

fireandbass · #13 05-16-2007, 05:47 PM

i think the answer has been said already, he was used to playing along with the comp, or a cd, and since the tuner says he is right on at the twelfth and open, but he still has to play a fret lower, then, as has been said, the songs that he plays must have the bass tuned to Eb

stanger503 · #14 05-16-2007, 06:19 PM

well maybe...but i never had this problem before on my other bass.... and never realized it on this one until now. band was metallica.... and the songs were standard tuning, so mine shoudl fit rite in. but it doesnt. im also going to jam with my cuz's band probably friday so id like to have this sorted out so i know that im actually playing the songs right. you know. or everything ive been learning from them is completely wrong and a halfstep down. i just dont get it.

Thangfish · #15 05-16-2007, 06:58 PM

Some computer music players, and some cd players are capable of playback at normal speed / lower pitch. Maybe an accidental setting?
Just a thought.

marcray · #16 05-16-2007, 07:27 PM

I once tuned by sight to the studio tuner with new strings... monitors were not on yet... but failed to notice that there was a little flat sign lit up in the corner of the tuners display... so thinking my bass was dead in when I started to pay attention and the monitors went up I was in e flat... maybe? Just a theory...???

if it's set up then I suggest you get it seen to professionally and pay attention to what is done and why....

manicbassman · #17 05-17-2007, 12:43 AM

are you playing to tab??? cos some tab doesn't specify what the tuning was and assumes Eb for particular bands...

There should be a note somewhere specifying if it's standard tuning or what (such as "all strings tuned down 1 step") or else the tab lines themselves say what each string is tuned to like:

Gb|------|
Db|------|
Ab|------|
Eb|------|

normal tuning would just be:
G|------|
D|------|
A|------|
E|------|

or:

|------|
|------|
|------|
|------|

Son of Magni · #18 05-17-2007, 07:03 AM

get a tuning fork...

ehque · #19 05-17-2007, 08:50 AM

hrmmm. my default sound drivers have this "karaoke" ability to detune and retune on the fly. basically it can downtune ANYTHING that comes out of the speakers.

Perhaps you have it set to that setting?

pkr2 · #20 05-17-2007, 09:17 AM

A good start to solving your problem would be to answer the only pertinent question that you have been pointedly asked. What are you playing along with???? and how do you know what key it was recorded in???

Do you have to offset by one fret when playing with another instrument that is tuned to A440 live??

Please answer the above questions and someone may be able to help you.

If the bass is tuned to standard A440 and the intonation is reasonably correct, you are simply overlooking something that should be obvious.

If the music that you are accompanying is tuned to a standard pitch, and the bass is tuned to a standard pitch and you have to play one fret off to be in tune, You would have to prove that one to me because it is a complete impossibility.

I would rather think that somehow you are not being clear as to what is really happening.