This is true. I have a tuner built into my BassPOD which I use when playing with others....at home I always use the method I described above though, feels like its a good skill to have.
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Got a tuner question
- Thread starter pica
- Start date
This is true. I have a tuner built into my BassPOD which I use when playing with others....at home I always use the method I described above though, feels like its a good skill to have.
Thats like saying that you cant drive if you cant drive a manual. I do agree that learning how to use a tuner is an essential skill to learn prior to playing (which the OP obviously didnt do, sorry pica). I know several guys that tune "by ear" and a lot of the time they are atleast a half step up or down and we dont figure it out until we have been playing for a while and "something doesnt sound right". I have a TU-2 and its allsum. I suggest everybody have one of these. I dont know I lived without it.
RELATIVE tuning by ear is critical- it's how you listen and if you can't tell that your first string is flat by almost a half step, how can you tell if the note you're playing is right?!? I think that's what JimmyM's saying (don't want to put words into his mouth, but that's the gist I'm getting).
That's not to say that anyone should be able to grab a G out of thin air and be able to tune an instrument. It's OK to have a reference pitch (I have tuning forks all over the house because I'm always leaving them around when I check my stuff). But once you establish that you've got one string tuned to concert pitch (or you've determined that you've got three of four strings tuned to each other), then there's no reason you can't quickly learn to tune the other strings so that your bass is in tune.
That's what the OP seems to have trouble with. They don't know how to tune the instrument to itself (the fifth fret to open string tuning), AND they don't know how to operate the tuner. If the OP checks the G string that's reading F# against the D string fretted at the fifth fret that should tell them whether its a defective tuner or defective process.
John
That's not to say that anyone should be able to grab a G out of thin air and be able to tune an instrument. It's OK to have a reference pitch (I have tuning forks all over the house because I'm always leaving them around when I check my stuff). But once you establish that you've got one string tuned to concert pitch (or you've determined that you've got three of four strings tuned to each other), then there's no reason you can't quickly learn to tune the other strings so that your bass is in tune.
That's what the OP seems to have trouble with. They don't know how to tune the instrument to itself (the fifth fret to open string tuning), AND they don't know how to operate the tuner. If the OP checks the G string that's reading F# against the D string fretted at the fifth fret that should tell them whether its a defective tuner or defective process.
John
you completely and totally missed the point. and i mean by a long shot.
anyway, if you don't want to learn how to tune your own instrument by ear, that's just laziness, but it's your own laziness and only you have to answer for it so it doesn't affect my life one way or the other. but let me tell you...those of us who can tune our own basses and guitars without a tuner would never be caught dead in a band with musicians who couldn't. yes, we all use tuners, but if something happens to your tuner, you're lost. if something happens to mine, i ask the keyboard player for a G and i tune by ear and the show goes on.
Just listen to some youtubes of old performances, and it's obvious that some people, even pros, just don't have an ear for pitch. I don't have perfect pitch, but I can tell if somebody is half a step out of tune on the first note.
I saw a show a few weeks ago where the keyboard player didn't have his transposer set right for one song. He just kept on playing! And he was just doing fills. If I was in that band, I would have walked over and told him to stop. Seriously, I would have turned his amp off if he didn't. I asked the singer why she didn't stop and correct the problem. She said she didn't want to show him up and was hoping he'd fix it.
Needs a transposer? Strike one!
Playing in the wrong key? Strike three, yerrout!
Hey, what about strike two?
Grab some bench, son.
LMAO!!!
I found the TU-2 to be less reliable than my truly awesome TU-3, in terms of telling me what pitch that I was near. The TU-3 is able to differentiate with greater subtlety, in my experience.
This is different to me than just tuning completely by ear. I can get close, but I don't have perfect pitch. But I agree with you that people should be able to tune, by ear, to a reference.
That is truly funny.i'm not saying don't use a tuner ever. hey, i'm not jeff berlin here
True but In a studio setting.... tuning w/ a tuner is very important for each band member to be in tune w/ each other and in a live situation you can't hear on a stage that well.... I'm 37 and I use a tuner every time i play....
Tuners have spared us the annoying cacophony of onstage tuning (at volume). For that, I am thankful.
I use a tuner to tune most of the time, but I fully agree with Jimmy.
If you are serious about playing the bass, learn to tune by ear.
Learn to tune by the 5th fret method and learn to tune with harmonics.
The point is not to get your bass in tune
the point is to teach your ears to recognize if your in tune.
If you are serious about playing the bass, learn to tune by ear.
Learn to tune by the 5th fret method and learn to tune with harmonics.
The point is not to get your bass in tune
the point is to teach your ears to recognize if your in tune.
We can agree about that, for sure.i'm not saying don't use a tuner ever. hey, i'm not jeff berlin here
It is bound to be a mystery until 50 years after the last reported Elvis sighting. I don't think that clock has started, yet.
Hey guys, Pica here. I can't believe all the responses my question got. I have two basses, a Fender Squier and an OLP. The tuner works fine on the OLP bass so it's not the tuner. Somebody had suggested tuning the G string using the 5th fret on the D string. I tried that and I'm not really sure. I'm fairly new to playing the bass and I always used the tuner and never learned to tune by ear. I'll have to have my instructor teach me that. Thanks to everyone who responded. Cheers
Cheer up my friend, NOBODY has a perfect ear for pitch, not even Jeff Berlin
. As you say, if only you can get close...The 5th fret method is amateur procedure and forbidden to all those who understand the meaning of tempered tuning.
And
I play fretless so I''m less without a 5th fret.So, to tune by ear I compare the harmonic of 7th 'fret' on G- string to the harmonic of 5th 'fret' on D-string etc. etc., a method every bass player should know.
The point is, however, with a really good tuner you not only can tune silently and without bother from noisy band members, but you can also SURPASS the accuracy of any living human ear.
And by a really good tuner I mean the Sonic Research ST-200. It's even better than MY ears. Wow.
