How to Tune A Bass Guitar

Simple Plan. Greenday. Sound farmilliar? Sure, you may be on your way to stardom but you're gonna drop pretty quickly playing the E String as a B Note. Tuning a Bass is simple.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• A Bass Guitar
• A Piano, Or Something Else In Tune
• A Tiny Little Bit Of Practice

1. Play, or get someone else to play, an E on a piano or other instrument which you are sure is in tune. Then play the bottom, the thickest string. If it sounds exactly the same as the piano, skip Steps 2 & 3.
2. It's time for some tunin'! Your bass is outta tune and you need ta' get it back on track. A budding musician must have a good ear. I've met blind pianists and guitarists, and some are really good, BUT IF YOU'RE DEAF, GO HOME, THIS ISN'T FOR YOU! If your bass sounds slightly lower than the piano, twist the corresponding peg up the top. Tighten the string to make the note higher, and loosen it to make it lower.
3. Another way is to listen carefully. If your bass is out of tune, you will hear a wup-wup-wup sound when you play the string and hold the note, like a helicopter. The faster the wup, the more outta tune you are. Twist the peg. If the wup-wup-wup gets faster, STOP! Your twisting it the wrong direction. Eventually the wup-wup-wup will slow down, but it will speed up if you twist too far and pass the note. When the wup-wup-wup is gone you have tuned it.
4. So, your E String is in tune. Play the 5th fret and hold the note. Now, at the same time, play an open A String, the next string down. Do the same thing as in steps 2 & 3 to tune the A String.
5. Hit the 5th fret twice more, to tune the D and G Strings.

Tips & Warnings

• If you can't bother doing this every now and then, buy a tuner, or, even better, an electric one.