leave clip-on tuner on while performing?

[CharleyJackson]

And during the show?
Between songs?

Under pressure, you learn how to tune well and tune fast!

Watch and listen to any pop, soul, blues, rock n' roll show from since the early 60's to about the mid-late 1980s. A full show without commercial cutaways, if at all possible. A stage band backing a vocalist is fine, or a rock trio, a blues quartet, all good. Watch those guys tune on the fly. And yes, between songs. Fast. Real musicians. Afterwards say, "...wow, that's how they did it?"

But it all starts with just doing it. Do I use a tuner? Of course! Time marches on.

But if I did not have the darned thing, no sweat I'm gonna be in tune before the next one is counted in.
Fact is (I know the old guys are going to agree with me, here) I tune much faster without using the tuner.
Is it as accurate? 99% of the time you bet. Can it be done while the drummer is banging his snare and adjusting his kick drum and the guitarist is experimenting with feedback (between songs)? Yep.

 

[kevin wells]

I played an outdoor gig November 14. The day temperature was 82, by the time we went on it was in the 30s. About an hour before our first song, I tuned both basses. Right before we launched into the first song I did a quick tuning check but no adjustments were needed. That was almost a 50° difference in temp changes during that night, and my guitar player and I experienced 0 problems
My questions are, why the need to constantly check your instruments tuning, and how do you use a clip on without picking up ambient sounds from the drums or guitars?

 

[BassGuyFL]

If people don't even notice if I change my shirt between sets they sure aren't gonna notice the clip on tuner...

 

[LBS-bass]

I played an outdoor gig November 14. The day temperature was 82, by the time we went on it was in the 30s. About an hour before our first song, I tuned both basses. Right before we launched into the first song I did a quick tuning check but no adjustments were needed. That was almost a 50° difference in temp changes during that night, and my guitar player and I experienced 0 problems
My questions are, why the need to constantly check your instruments tuning, and how do you use a clip on without picking up ambient sounds from the drums or guitars?

I don't think anyone's "constantly checking." The tuner is there in case you need it. If you play enough you discover that things can happen; people on stage can walk into your headstock or drunks can smack into your mic stand and send it into your headstock. Or you can bump into things. Those things are rare but they happen. Most of us would then tune up by ear and check it between songs to be sure.

And a clip on tuner picks up vibrations from your bass, it doesn't pick up the sounds of anything else around you; that's why it needs to be clipped on. There's no microphone in it. So they work just fine in a noisy environment.

 

[kevin wells]

Believe me, LBS-bass, I've been party to all of those things you mentioned, I've only been playing live gigs for at least 30 + years, lol. I can tell you 100 horror stories from what I call "Hell gigs".

 

[LBS-bass]

Believe me, LBS-bass, I've been party to all of those things you mentioned, I've only been playing live gigs for at least 30 + years, lol. I can tell you 100 horror stories from what I call "Hell gigs".

Same here . My workhorse bass back in the day had one of its tuning machines bent at a 90 degree angle from some stupid thing that happened which I can't even remember. It still worked, so I just left it like that.

 

[Deleted member 165050]

I played an outdoor gig November 14. The day temperature was 82, by the time we went on it was in the 30s. About an hour before our first song, I tuned both basses. Right before we launched into the first song I did a quick tuning check but no adjustments were needed. That was almost a 50° difference in temp changes during that night, and my guitar player and I experienced 0 problems
My questions are, why the need to constantly check your instruments tuning, and how do you use a clip on without picking up ambient sounds from the drums or guitars?

Clip-on tuners I use work on direct vibration, not on a microphone. I find that bringing a cold instrument into a warm venue means tuning shifts plus I've probably moved the tuning keys in the gig bag, and as people come in and temperature and humidity rises it can also affect tuning. That said all my instruments are pretty stable, I'm just paranoid about being out of tune!

 

[marchone]

I bought a D’Addario NS micro clip-on tuner but it's harder to read and not as accurate as a Polytune3 mini floor pedal.

 

[Yonni]

Pedal? Pedal! You were lucky! We used to have to tune to the sound of our neighbours cat and we thanked our lucky stars for it.

 

[clintrubber]

It was once fashionable to have a burning cigarette jammed under the strings on a headstock. Now clip-on tuners are "the thing".

I understood the female bass player for Khruangbin had a bit of share in The Return of the Ashtray, but then perhaps for the full-gig-usage of clip tuners as well

 

[Loring]

You guys should try listening to the music

playing well and in tune is the cost of admission for being a performer. If your bass can go out of tune from one song to the next - you got bigger problems.

 

[Lagado]

I played an outdoor gig November 14. The day temperature was 82, by the time we went on it was in the 30s. About an hour before our first song, I tuned both basses. Right before we launched into the first song I did a quick tuning check but no adjustments were needed. That was almost a 50° difference in temp changes during that night, and my guitar player and I experienced 0 problems
My questions are, why the need to constantly check your instruments tuning, and how do you use a clip on without picking up ambient sounds from the drums or guitars?

By the time you tuned them, they would have had enough time to adjust to temp. Try playing with a dry ice machine pointed at the stage, you'll need to tune a lot, you can't beat the physics of expansion and contraction. After the first set I find the increased temp usually puts the bass a little flat.

I don't use clip on tuners for gigs, I like to plug into something.

 

[Lagado]

I'd use one if they designed it to look like a parrot. A lovely parrot on the headstock.

 

[JRA]

Clip on tuners, pedal board tuners, what's wrong with your ears?

My questions are, why the need to constantly check your instruments tuning

i think some of you are assuming that if a cat has a tuner clipped onto their headstock (or at their feet, etc.) that they're not using their ears. i played professionally, full time, for decades before there was such a thing as a "clip-on tuner" and did fine. as a fretless-only player: i have to use my ears! duh!

but, as is the custom here: some of you break this down into a binary, zero-sum, black/white conclusion --- because someone does things differently than yourselves --- while many of you pose as experts on a subject that is hardly important in the grand scheme. the big tickle, for me, is that most of you who are 'opposed' are judging the others because of "looks" ("it looks bad")...and some of you couldn't play your way into a free burger with fries, by your own admission! --- what do you care if a real musician uses a clip-on tuner?

trying to "look the part" is not the same as actually 'playing the right parts'!

 

[SB300]

If tuning machines are attached on the head for the purpose of keeping your bass in tune, how does a clip-on tuner differ? Back in the day we would tune to each other ending up who knows where, but at least we didn't clash. Then we'd use a pitch pipe to get close, Tried a tuning fork which we would put on the drummers forehead and have him open his mouth. That worked pretty good.

 

[growlypants]

We just tweaked to the keyboard guy. Clip-ons were a joke.

 

[LBS-bass]

playing well and in tune is the cost of admission for being a performer. If your bass can go out of tune from one song to the next - you got bigger problems.

I guess you missed my point, then. My point was that your ears are maybe a wee bit more important that your eyes when you are talking about music. But it's clearly most important here to pick at inconsequential nonsense rather than to just enjoy a musical performance.

Hope that's clear now

 

[CB3UK]

I don't care. If it works for the bassist then more power to him. I'm more worried about listening to the music the band is playing than judging them on inconsequential stuff like this.

 

[LBS-bass]

i think some of you are assuming that if a cat has a tuner clipped onto their headstock (or at their feet, etc.) that they're not using their ears. i played professionally, full time, for decades before there was such a thing as a "clip-on tuner" and did fine. as a fretless-only player: i have to use my ears! duh!

but, as is the custom here: some of you break this down into a binary, zero-sum, black/white conclusion --- because someone does things differently than yourselves --- while many of you pose as experts on a subject that is hardly important in the grand scheme. the big tickle, for me, is that most of you who are 'opposed' are judging the others because of "looks" ("it looks bad")...and some of you couldn't play your way into a free burger with fries, by your own admission! --- what do you care if a real musician uses a clip-on tuner?

trying to "look the part" is not the same as actually 'playing the right parts'!

The funny thing here is that those of us who played in the days before electronic tuners were appreciative of these devices because of their utility. Of course people had the skills to tune by ear, but these things made it much quicker and easier and therefore less disruptive to a performance when it had to be done.

I've seen countless performers do a quick retune on stage by ear. There are problems with it. The better your ear, the bigger the problems because -- drumroll -- ain't no such thing as perfectly in tune. I got so sick of guitarists fiddling with the tuning between their B and E strings that I marched out as soon as they were released and bought one of those early Korg guitar tuners. And even with the relatively good compromise these tuners give you, half the freaking guitarists out there will still spend stupid, futile minutes wanking between the B and E stings because they think they can perfect something that can't be perfected.

People who didn't come up during a time of need have little appreciation for the tools that were developed to address that need.

 

[Loring]

I guess you missed my point, then. My point was that your ears are maybe a wee bit more important that your eyes when you are talking about music. But it's clearly most important here to pick at inconsequential nonsense rather than to just enjoy a musical performance.

Hope that's clear now

I guess you’re missing the point - good music being in tune is the cost of entry. Everything else is chaf.

From there it’s about showmanship- if you need a clip on to stay in tune fine all the power to you. If it looks better (for your style of music) to use a tuner pedal - great, that’s what you should do. If it doesn’t matter - then it doesn’t matter. I think there are clip one that are discrete and accurate and are fine then there are others that are just ugly and tacky and that might suit your band image or not....

personally I liked the parrot idea earlier in the thread...