Tuning the bass by ear...

[LowDownHawkeye]

Harmonics is the way to go. You can easily hear if the higher pitches are beating. You’ll have to tune your high string to a reliable source. After that, 7th fret harmonic on high string, 5th fret harmonic on next lower string. Adjust till you hear no beats. Move down one string, and repeat. Keep moving down in pairs till done.

It was interesting to me to find out that some people can’t hear the beats. I tried to teach this method years ago to my wife for tuning a guitar. I mistuned two strings so that the beats were obvious (to me) and she repeatedly said she could not hear what I was talking about. Note that she’s not tone deaf, had a sense of rhythm and generally likes music.

 

[glocke1]

I suck at it. I bet a lot of people who think they're good at it also suck at it.

It really is not that difficult. I learned early on to tune by ear. Not having perfect pitch, I need a reference pitch, and I usually ask for a G and than I am all set from there.

I think the ability to tune by ear is important, and is largely a technique that is lost among the rock n roll crowd.

Basically what you are doing is listening for the different waveforms to settle in against each other as you turn the tuning peg. Simply put, it is just great ear training.

On gigs I will always use a tuner, but at a rehearsal or jam session I'll tune by ear. I'll get looked at like I have two heads, but it's their ignorance and not mine that causes them to look at me like Im nuts.

 

[theduke1]

Also
I must say that since I started playing fretless 10 years ago my pitch recognition is much better, but I still use a tuner
Duke

 

[Gorn]

It really is not that difficult. I learned early on to tune by ear. Not having perfect pitch, I need a reference pitch, and I usually ask for a G and than I am all set from there.

I think the ability to tune by ear is important, and is largely a technique that is lost among the rock n roll crowd.

Basically what you are doing is listening for the different waveforms to settle in against each other as you turn the tuning peg. Simply put, it is just great ear training.

On gigs I will always use a tuner, but at a rehearsal or jam session I'll tune by ear. I'll get looked at like I have two heads, but it's their ignorance and not mine that causes them to look at me like Im nuts.

Are they looking at you that way because of their ignorance or because maybe you're out of tune?

 

[glocke1]

Are they looking at you that way because of their ignorance or because maybe you're out of tune?

I’m not out of tune. I don’t think they are used to seeing people tune by ear.

Jazz guys I play with? They all tune be ear.

 

[HolmeBass]

If you are bad at tuning by ear, then you should practice it every day. It's great ear training. When I was a kid, we didn't have tuners. By ear was the only way to tune. If I was practicing at home then I tuned to the A440 of my quartz metronome. When I was playing with my band I tuned to the keyboard or guitar.

Pro tip: The "harmonics method" is slightly inaccurate, due to our tuning system called "equal temperment." If you tune by harmonics starting from the lowest string, then your highest strings will be slightly out of tune (and vice versa). This tuning anomaly will be more pronounced if you have 5, 6, or more strings.

The most accurate way to tune by ear is to match your E string to a reference E, your A string to a reference A, your D string to a reference D, and your G string to a reference G.

The second most accurate way (assuming your bass is set up with good "intonation") is to tune your E to a reference E pitch. Then fret the E string at the 5th fret to make the note A. Match your open A string to this pitch. Then fret your A string at the 5th fret to make D, and tune your open D string to that. Finally, fret the D string at the 5th fret to make G, and tune your open G string to that pitch.

The harmonics method is the third choice for accuracy, but it is often our first choice in actual practice. It is easy to hear the "beats" if we are slightly out of tune. As we get closer to in tune, the beats get slower, and then when we are perfectly in tune, the beats stop. It's a really practical way of tuning by ear, especially in a noisy environment.

If I am playing with a guitarist who uses a capo or an "open" tuning (like DADGAD) then I always check my tuning by ear against theirs (even if my digital tuner says I am "in tune.")

I think to combat the error of the 7th fret/5th fret harmonic tuning it would be best to start in the middle of the bass, with the A string, as starting at either end would introduce more compounded error by the time you got to the other side of the bass.

I also find that just matching the 5th fret to the next higher open string can be difficult, but combining that with a second check of the 7th fret of the higher string to the lower open string, which should be a perfect octave (an interval not affected by temperament) allows you to buck the strings into tune more easily. When both of those checks sound good you are going to be pretty close.

When pressed I use all three. Start w/ harmonics to get in the ballpark, then finalize with the 5th fret vs open plus 7th fret vs open combo. I always try to get A as a reference and tune out from there.

And it is absolutely true that this is a practicable skill. In the old days when we always tuned by ear we got to pretty good at it. Electronic tuners have eliminated my practice, so I am not so good at it any more.

 

[Gorn]

I’m not out of tune. I don’t think they are used to seeing people tune by ear.

Jazz guys I play with? They all tune be ear.

Why do you only tune by ear at rehearsal?

 

[Gaolee]

Once upon a time, I could add and subtract without a calculator. Same with tuning all kinds of things. I do none of those now. I blame technology, not age.

 

[glocke1]

Why do you only tune by ear at rehearsal?

Because I can.

It’s a good exercise.

Sometimes I don’t have a tuner on me.

At gigs I don’t do it because I don’t want to waste time.

Not to sound like a jerk, but tuning by ear is an essential skill IMO. If you can’t tune by ear how are you able to tell if you or someone else is out of tune or in another key during a song?

 

[logdrum]

I do have the piano tuning wrench, felts and wedges and once in a while tune some off notes, learnt how from a piano tuner although he comes in once in a while to do the real thing. So I am not bad at relative tuning. If I have access to 60 cycle hum, that's a slightly sharp Bb and I can fake "perfect pitch" from that. From memory I am usually flat. But yeah relative tuning, I still can do it. Do not know how long it will last. I have a tuning fork that I use more than the digital tuner

 

[sedan_dad]

Growing up I discovered that the dial tone on a phone is VERY close to an "A". We would just go with that.

 

[gln1955]

Back in the day, I'd use an A 440 pitchfork to tune the A string on my guitars, then use harmonics from there. Everyone should learn how to do that.

Then always use a tuner, because it's faster, more accurate and less irritating to others.

 

[rollie 55]

Back in the day, I'd use an A 440 pitchfork to tune the A string on my guitars, then use harmonics from there. Everyone should learn how to do that.

Then always use a tuner, because it's faster, more accurate and less irritating to others.

why bother tuning

 

[Mushroo]

One thing I've noticed tuning both bass and guitar is that if you tune to harmonics chromatically, your instrument will be just a little sharp on fretted notes because when you fret a note you are stretching the string a little. The light touch on a string employed to evoke a harmonic obviously does not stretch the string. Not sure if this particular phenomenon actually matters all that much under fire, but it's something that's there.

So there's actually a much simpler explanation: Your bass is slightly out of tune when you tune using harmonics, because the harmonics themselves are slightly out of tune.

If your bass has good "set up" (particularly the "setting intonation" process) then your fretted notes should not be sharp!

 

[LBS-bass]

Growing up I discovered that the dial tone on a phone is VERY close to an "A". We would just go with that.

Truth! Kids today: Dial tone?

 

[StatesideRambler]

It can be difficult to tune by ear for some people. Personally my question to you on that would be why are you worried about a dead skill? Buy a tuner, problem solved.

A ”dead skill”? Without question, the use of a tuner on stage or when recording is essential. But as a musician, if tuning by ear (with a reference tone, yes) is hard for you I’d think you’d want to build your musical skills by improving that ability. It’s not only for tuning up that we train our ears. To be able to recognize and correct a problem, such as someone in the band being off pitch during a song, is valuable.

Rehearsal story: The song had a long solo keyboard intro and when the band came in it was a trainwreck. Cut! Cut! Check guitar tuning. Do it again. Same thing happened. What th...!! It took awhile but it seems that the keyboardist had found a feature on his new toy he hadn’t read about and when he started playing, his whole keyboard was six or eight cents off. We’d all assumed that the keyboard was always on pitch. That would’ve been a nasty gotcha had it happened in the opening tune of a gig.

 

[Ekulati]

To be able to recognize and correct a problem, such as someone in the band being off pitch during a song, is valuable

Exactly.

And now, this is gonna sound harsh, but needs to be said: all you guys and gals here on TB who, to your credit, freely admit that you can't tune your instrument without the aid of an electronic gizmo: do you consider yourselves Musicians? What kind of"bands" are you in? What kind of "shows"do you play?

Very sorry but the idea of a musician who can't tune their instrument by ear if necessary is unfathomable to me.

 

[-Asdfgh-]

Hey all,
I've played both the bass and guitar for several years. One of the things I really have a horrible time with is tuning the bass by ear properly. I didn't usually have a problem tuning the guitar by ear, probably because of the higher frequencies, but with the bass, I always need a tuner--like always.

Am I just losing my hearing or is this normal? Does anyone else have problems identifying the notes of the lower strings when tuning? It seems a bit counterproductive in playing bass if I can't hear what I'm doing.

Do you mean entirely from scratch by ear, or just top up tuning? I find it harder to tune with bright strings acoustically as all I can hear are overtones and my brain can't work out where the fundamental is.

Mostly, though, I find using my fingers works much better than using my ear. Easier to grip with fingers.

 

[Ric5]

Hey all,
I've played both the bass and guitar for several years. One of the things I really have a horrible time with is tuning the bass by ear properly. I didn't usually have a problem tuning the guitar by ear, probably because of the higher frequencies, but with the bass, I always need a tuner--like always.

Am I just losing my hearing or is this normal? Does anyone else have problems identifying the notes of the lower strings when tuning? It seems a bit counterproductive in playing bass if I can't hear what I'm doing.

In the 60s and 70s tuning by ear is all we had …

But we knew about harmonics

 

[-Asdfgh-]

Last night I was adjusting a new nut. I thought would see if I could guess the G string. Listened to it closely, tuned it to where is sounded right. Tuned the rest of the bass. Turns out I was 12 cents sharp.

OP, is this what you’re talking about?

I have, more than once, tuned up a bass with new strings to what I thought was pitch, and then checked and been correct. A couple of weeks ago I did that with a guitar and had tuned it exactly a whole tone flat, to within a couple of cents, but that may be because I mostly tune guitars to DADGAD and I was, unusually, tuning a new guitar to standard EADGBE, and I tuned the E(D) first. Maybe, I am not sure.

I can't do it every time, especially if I am trying to tune acoustically with new bass strings as I can't find the pitch. But my pitch is not perfect as I can't tune to pitch every time, even with less new strings. I can pretty much get detuning an E to a D and back again right 4 times out of 5 though. But that's not enough to really rely on it . The inconsistency bugs the heck out of me. Goodness knows what goes on inside my head.