bass guitar tuning

[bamba22]

What do you think is the most precise tuning method?
tnuner? another instrument? the bass itself? something else?

[bongomania]

"Most precise" for what? Tuning is all relative, unless the whole band uses tuners and locks in to the numerical standard. I'd say in normal band context, if you are playing with a horn section, tune to them. If you are playing with a piano, tune to it. If you are playing with guitars, use a tuner.

[Bryan R. Tyler]

Originally Posted by bongomania

If you are playing with a piano, tune to it.

Better have a fretless for that

[251]

Originally Posted by bamba22

What do you think is the most precise tuning method?
tnuner? another instrument? the bass itself? something else?

You must have one string tuned to pitch or to match the other instruments in the group.

Play the harmonics on the 5th & 7th frets of adjacent strings so they both ring at the same time. (7th on G + 5th on D, 7th on D + 5th on A, etc) With out of tune strings, the varying intensity you hear is the interference pattern of 2 waves that are nearly the same frequency. The faster the intensity changes the farther apart are the frequencies. Adjust the unknown string until the 'warbling' sound slows to a minimum.

This is the same principle used by most electronic tuners. Some can let you choose A = 440, 441 or 442. Strobe on String tuners are my favorite reference for tuning to pitch. SOS tuners can also be used in the dark & around other sound. They are limited to A=440 & bright light can be a problem.

for reference; http://store.daddario.com/category/1...s_S.O.S._Tuner

[Trapezius]

Originally Posted by bongomania

"Most precise" for what? Tuning is all relative, unless the whole band uses tuners and locks in to the numerical standard. I'd say in normal band context, if you are playing with a horn section, tune to them. If you are playing with a piano, tune to it. If you are playing with guitars, use a tuner.

I can't stress this enough.

[tobie]

If in doubt: you surely can't go wrong with an electronic tuner.

[PJSShearer]

Being able to tune by ear is a fundamental skill all musicians should have - see 251's post above for an excellent description. Maybe like me he started when electronic tuners didn't exist and we had to do it by ear.

At a gig I always ask the Keyboard player for an "A" and check my tuner against it. This is an old habit that came about because of dodgy steam (acoustic) pianos, which usually end up flat, and hammond/tonewheel organs attached to flakey power supplies, which I've seen vary between 1/4 tone flat and about the same sharp.

If there's no Keyboard in the band I get an "A" from the Gutiarist after he's tuned up - just in case!!.

But, if you have a singer in the band that plays Blues harp, that's another can of worms..

[Rickett Customs]

Make sure that your bass is intonated on a regular basis, depending on how frequent you change strings and/or brands, guages, etc. But yes, I would use a tuner. Some instruments will not be defined by 440 (as previously mentioned), sometimes 390 or up to 415 - 430, so that's what you'll need to know also, when using a tuner. "Concert pitch" is hard to define sometimes