Importance of Learning to Tune by Ear

[slap_happy]

Forgive my redundancy if you've read my other posts.

I'm at school studying industrial design and my current project is designing a bass amp combo for use by both the blind and sighted. This amp would be used more for home use/practice than anything else so I think a built in tuner would be nice (think Roland Micro Cube, etc.) All electronic tuners I've ever seen or used have either had a needle gauge or use some LED display to tell your whether your sharp or flat, but this obviously wouldn't be of much help to the blind. Given that an electric tuner can easily guess what note your trying to tune to, I figure an amp with a built in tuner could emit a tone that the user could tune to by ear, like a tuning fork or pitch pipe. When your tuning was close enough to satisfy the tuner, that tone could constant tone could change to a beeping one, or something similar.

Regardless of the user's interaction with it, how important/not important do you guys think it is for a musician to tune by ear? I've always used an electric tuner and wish I had developed the skill to tune by ear better. It seems obvious to me that it would greatly improve a musician's sense of harmony, etc.

Also, does such an electric tuner already exist?

Any other thoughts would be appreciated as well. I have a couple other posts in the amp section if your interested.

Thanks,
Jim

[BigOldHarry]

Tune by ear? Well, few folks have perfect pitch... But knowing how to tune your instrument to a string seems to be one of those things that EVERY player should be able to do... I used to teach it as lesson #1 for beginners... And when I do pick-up gigs, I always tune to the piano player (or guitar player) - - -I ask for an open G, turn *my* open G to that and then my bass to my G string. Simple.

[standupright]

i've never owned an electric tuner. i tune by ear after grabbing an a440 from either a fellow musician or my pitch pipe.

i prefer tuning by ear as i feel it helps keep my ear trained for good relative pitch.

[Billnc]

It's a listening art, you should be able to do it. Fretless bass gives your ear a workout.

[somedumbguy]

If a musician is blind and serious about music, then I can guarantee you they can tune by ear to another sound.

And I don't think tuning by ear is that important. That is what tuners are for.

[onlyclave]

Most electronic metronomes have a A440 pitch setting too.

[Orangeclawhamme]

Originally Posted by onlyclave

Most electronic metronomes have a A440 pitch setting too.

DISCLAIMER: I could be reading the frequency chart that I have incorrectly!

Is there an "A" on a bass, even one with 24 frets that is 440 hz.? If I'm reading the chart here correctly http://www.contrabass.com/pages/frequency.html the highest note is the "G" at 392 hz..

In other words, does a 440 tone do us any good??

[R. Laevinus]

Originally Posted by Orangeclawhamme

In other words, does a 440 tone do us any good??

Absolutely, it does.

You just tune to it. Any 'A' on your bass will do. The open A, if I recall correctly, will be something like one octave down (might be two... I'm getting old, leave me alone!), but you should still be able to tell if it's in tune. You can also always go up the octave to the next highest A, and Concert A (also known as A 440) can be found on the second fret of your G string.

Once you have one string in tune, tuning by ear is a simple matter of going by fourths.

[pjmuck]

At risk of stating the obvious, make sure your instrument is properly intonated first, otherwise no amount of tuning to 440 by ear is going to help if your instrument's not in tune with itself. (There are many threads here about how to do your own setups and intonation). I usually start with my low E string tuned to pitch via my tuner (or piano or some other instrument that's already tuned), checking the pitch a number of times as an open E, 12th fret E, and 12th fret harmonic, then tune the rest of my strings to the E's 5th fret harmonic (7th fret for other strings).

[Hammertime3]

We all might be surprised if we knew exactly how many good blind musicians have perfect pitch. I only know two in my area, and they both have it. One is a guitar, steel, and fiddle player in a local band, and the other is a girl singer from the Maryland area who used to sing in benefits here and there. She could tell the band what she was going to sing and what key it was in, start singing well before the band had started, and be right on. She amazed me, as did the fellow. Try tuning a double neck pedal steel by ear.

[Yerf Dog]

My tuner (Korg GT-12?) has a built in reference tone to the string your trying to tune to.

[OshKoshJoash]

played viola for 9 years growing up, so thats how i learned how to tune by ear. helps with bass too!

[grifff]

I tune tune by ear when it's necessary, but when you are in between songs on a gig I find it distracting to tune by ear. That's why I step on my pedal; it mutes the sound of me tuning.

[thumpybumper]

vox used to make basses that would emit G pitches to tune to.

[cat_saltnpepper]

depends on situation I guess. if a person is playing with the instrument such as the keyboard, must use a tuner I guess. still, if you are playing with the piano which can't be in tune perfectly - and slightly out of tune most of time - you better tune your instrument by ear so it'll work better with the piano.

A lot of the time you have to depend on listening for the beats - which is similar to what your suggesting. I have used a snare drum (especially in noisy rooms) as a way of amplifying the beats as the snare sort of goes on and off in time with the beating of the out-of-tune string. Maybe you could make a system that accentuated the out-of-phase beating?

[EADG mx]

Originally Posted by somedumbguy

And I don't think tuning by ear is that important. That is what tuners are for.

This is exactly the (lazy) mindset you want to avoid. Every brass, woodwind, and orchestral string player I know tunes by ear, or can tune by ear. Why should electric bass be any different?

[LBronson]

Just in idea for you,
I would think most blind people would use a tuning fork when they start out. A simple solution might be a post hole to set a fork in. My brother works with a lot of blind, and deaf, people. The ones that play have a great ear and learn keyboards and fretboards incredibly fast. This might not be the best solution for someone just learning how to tune but how many people took more than a week to learn how to do this.

[Stumbo]

Originally Posted by Yerf Dog

My tuner (Korg GT-12?) has a built in reference tone to the string your trying to tune to.

+1. This seems like it would be the answer for an amp for both blind and sighted.

[Chris K]

My idea would be to use an electric tuner (a strobe tuner is the best option, but expensive) and to find a way to transmit the light signal into an audible signal, like three bleeps for sharp, three buzzes for flat. Less sharp: two bleeps. Close: one bleep. Less flat, two buzzes etc.