Is your bass always in tune?

[prister]

Is my bass always in tune?

When I get to it normally yeah. But who knows in between times? You'd have to ask my bass.

 

[DiMarco]

No. it is never in tune.
I bring it in a gig bag or a flightcase. The tuners often move in there a little while driving.
Then on stage I tune it. Five minutes later I tune it again because it acclimatises coming from the cold weather outside.

This is normal.

Unless I bring a carbon neck Zon. That stays in tune as long as the machine heads don't bump into something along the way.

I used to play an Epiphone a long time ago. That would go out of tune several times within a song. Total crap quality instruments.

 

[JGbassman]

Seriously guys? Nearly every time I pickup my bass (or any bass) it's a bit out of tune.

And my current bass has a neck on it that barely moves, regardless of the weather.

I guess I have crappy tuners?

^^^ THIS.

Honestly, I think people must have varying definitions of being "in tune". I tune every time I pick an instrument up. They are almost never 100% in tune. Unless you have perfect pitch, chances are your ears are fooling you a little if you think they are exactly in tune. I tune up with a stroboscopic tuner when I can, or use a clip on tuner/G_Strings app/Boss Tuner app when I can't. That all said, my basses are never FAR out of tune, but just slightly, say a few Hz.

All the things mentioned previously affect tuning... weather, age of the strings, etc. I also find that on many instruments, string bending can tweak the bass out of tune. I play a lot of slap bass. The plucking aspect of that can also tweak it out a hair. Although I don't use a pick, I would have to imagine heavy pick playing (or heavy finger playing for that matter) would also have minimal effect.

I think there are two mindsets here regarding being in tune. One being highly sensitive to pitch, using strobe tuners to set pitch, sensitive to the difference between hot and cold, etc. the other would be tuning by ear, not relying on super close tuning. I fall under the first, having spent time in a recording studio it was beat into my head to constantly check with a strobe tuner. In fact we wouldn't even record until the instruments were stabilized to the studio if they weren't studio stock. We always burned in the instruments first by playing them for a bit first, touch up tune, then record.

So what I would consider out of tune would probably be considered in tune to others here. I have many nice instruments, but notice my neck throughs with hipshot USA light tuners seem to hold their tune the best.

 

[CapM]

It's always in tune but rarely in the right key.

 

[Bob_Ross]

Depends:

The graphite-necked basses (one Modulus and one Steinberger) almost never go out of tune. Like, at all. Of the other more conventional wood-necked basses I own, most of them drift slightly depending on how long it's been played, or not played, where it's been, what type of tuning machines it has, etc.

My Lakland Skyline seems to go out of tune a lot, I need to touch that up at least once or twice during the course of a one hour set. My Rob Allen MB-2 almost never needs to be retuned. Ironically, both of those basses have Hipshot ultralite machines (though at the risk of sounding nationalistic/jingoistic, I will acknowledge that the Skyline uses the imported "licensed by Hipshot" version).

I only just discovered last night that the reason my 8-string needs to be retuned every time I pick it up is because the case presses on the tuning machines when it is closed!

 

[johnson79]

I tune mine whenever I play, and check periodically. They are usually pretty close, but if they sit for a while they need some adjustment.

 

[DreadyDiggs]

My two headless basses stay in tune very well.
My Ibanez falls out of tune everytime.
My P-Bass is so-so as far as staying in.

I check them constantly anyways so it doesn't matter to me if they stay in or not as long as I can get through the set in tune.

 

[Ghastly]

Under normal conditions, every month or two my basses tend to go a tad sharp, particularly D and G strings. With severe temperature changes, tuning will be more frequent.

 

[DwaynieAD]

my cort p bass stayed in tune for like 14 years...

 

[rockscott]

I recently acquired a cij mustang that will not stay in tune for 20 minutes of playing! If i cant get to the bottom of this issue i will sell it!

 

[IdealWay]

My '99 Modulus Genesis requires the least attention of any bass I've ever owned. Stays in tune for months regardless of temperature, humidity, transport, use, etc. Love it!

 

[static0verdrive]

As long as the humidity doesn't swing too much either way, mine are usually fine unless I've changed the strings in the last week.

 

[buldog5151bass]

Most stay in tune pretty well. I always joke that my '75 P gets tuned once every six month, whether it needs it or not.

 

[Chinchano]

Most times it is depending on the weather and if the tuners got moved a bit taking the bass out of my gig bag.

 

[pappabass]

Huh? Back and forth from gigs and no retuning? On several different basses? I have never heard such a thing. Granted, I've mainly lived in Chicago and San Diego which are prone to temperature changes, but seriously, is this a joke? Do you live, drive and gig in a humidor? I see one person is from Florida, I guess I can understand that, but even still, what about air-conditioning? What about stage lights? I'm really scratching my head here. I have a degree in music, have owned several boutique and production basses, my teacher had a G&L and a Tobias, the absolute first thing we did every lesson was tune. The first thing I do any time I pick up my bass or guitar is tune. Yes there are occasions when they don't need to be tuned, but that is pretty few and far between. Are you saying you check it every single time and it's always dead on? If this is for real, you are very very lucky. If you're playing a modulus, sure. An MIM Jazz bass and a Squier Jag? ***? Are you sure you don't just have the overlay on the LCD of your tuner from the store packaging?

Sure I check tune at every practice and gig. I may not have a degree in music but I have been playing horns, keys, banjo, guitar, bass since I was 12 & my instructors were strict on tuning. When I check my bass, it is slightly out of tune if any. there is an occasion it may be a little more. The MIM jazz I owned was the best. Sometimes I would take it out of the case, check with tuner & it be 100% on. Yes, the tuner was turned on. Hate to say this, but the Squier was the 2nd best on staying in tune. I live in South Alabama, close to the beach.
" have the overlay on the LCD of your tuner" gee, I never thought about checking that,

 

[dgrizzly]

Tunings for guitarists.

 

[Lowness]

Not really - I mostly player fender and they are always in tune.

 

[Nev375]

Graphite neck here in Missouri with wild temperature and humidity changes. As long as the temperature is around 70-72 degrees the bass is perfectly in tune. If I take it outside into a 20 degree difference then the tuning changes, bring it back inside and it returns to in-tune.

Humidity has zero effect. So I might have to retune if I'm playing an outdoor gig in the summer or winter. Anyone who claims better performance than that is full of it because the metal in the string core expands and contracts with temperature.

The only tuner that has a slight problem is the hipshot drop D tuner on my E string. If I fiddle with it, I might have to retune because the drop-tuning screw was not cut with the precision I would like and it wobbles a bit.

 

[len13]

Is my bass Always in tune? No, that's why I tune it. Tuning up is a part of life.

 

[Nickweissmusic]

going from p.1 to p.5...did anyone mention equal temperament yet? your bass will always be slightly out of tune from a just tuning due to the compromise of equal temperament tuning. now whether you can hear that or not...i can hear it depending on particular notes in a particular key. i hear that my bass is slightly out of tune a bit, and then go to check the tuning and it is right on. takes a bit of getting used to...from wikipedia: 'Unfretted string ensembles, which can adjust the tuning of all notes except for Invalid Link Removed, and vocal groups, who have no mechanical tuning limitations, sometimes use a tuning much closer to just intonation for acoustic reasons.'

Sounds like you might have a touch of the perfect pitch. I can honestly say I've never been put off by any minor tuning inaccuracies due to equal temperament. In fact, I remember back in music school being able to tell when baroque and earlier music was played in just intonation, because that sounded a little out of tune to me. In any case, I've only ever used two tuning methods, every time I pick an instrument up, and I've never noticed myself, or been accused of being out of tune.

It seems like you've done more thinking on this than I have, maybe you or somebody else can answer a question I've thought of about one of the ways I tune, which I still use when practicing alone or with some instrument that can't tune, piano, organ, harp, etc. Back in jazz school, my teacher would have me tune my G to the piano in the room, then tune string by string by harmonics. Fifth seventh and 12th fret harmonics on electric, fifth and seventh on upright with a bow. We were meticulous to the point where absolutely no beats or wavering would exist, but after you do it a while, it only takes a minute or less. Is that just intonation? I know the fretboard is laid out in equal temperament, but if I use that method, are my open strings a tiny bit off by the time I get down to the B?

In a loud environment, I use a good quality tuner pedal or TC electronics clip on tuner which has a strobe setting. I don't use snarks or other inexpensive clip ons as I can tell those are too mushy for "perfect tuning," but please guys and girls, if a snark is the only thing you can afford or have available, USE IT, and don't settle for less than perfect, those get you close enough to sound good. If you're in a band that only plays in a couple keys and doesn't have any keyboards or anything, I suppose tuning by ear could be feasible, but over the years I have seen many bands that simply aren't going anywhere because they don't play in tune. Every once in a while it's charming ("sea of love" byCat Power, "Lower the Heavens" by the Donkeys, who I'm seeing tonight by the way, yippee!). But usually it's bush league should-stay-in-the-garage band. Not being a d***, just being honest. TUNE EVERY TIME, WHETHER YOU NEED IT OR NOT