How to Tune a Bass Guitar by Hand

Video Transcript

"Hi, it's Steve Bauman from Summer Haze Music in Murray, Utah. We're talking about the bass guitar, and one of the subjects is how to tune a bass guitar. For those of you just starting out on the bass, this'll give some tips on just how to get started now. Tuning the bass is something that takes a little bit of practice, so, I mean, don't...don't feel like you have to get it right the first time. It takes some practice and it's mostly with your ears, and hearing the different notes. The first step in tuning is knowing the names of the notes on the bass. It shouldn't be too hard to remember that the open notes are E, A, D, and G. So, on a....on a five string bass you also have a lower string here, which is a low B, and then on the sixth string you have a lower string and a higher string, and the higher string's a low...a high C. So, but we're just dealing with the four string right now, so E, A, D, G. Okay, so, the first thing is you need some way of getting an E. You need some way to...whether it's just going over and plucking on the piano, a guitar, a tuner, some way, even if you're just tuning by hand, you just need a way to get that E. If you don't have a way to match that pitch to a real E, then, you just have to tune it to whatever note that happens to be on. And you can tune the bass in relation to whatever this is, and you'll be able to play songs and things like that, but you just won't be able to play in a band setting and be in tune with the other members. So, basically, once you have that E in tune, then what you're going to do is you're going to come up to the fifth fret and fret the note on the E string. And that's an A, so it should be the same note as...as what this next open A is. So now we're tuning the open A. So, what you want to do is play both notes together, like this, so that you can hear the relation of the notes to each other. And it's good to just visualize in your mind one note here, and then where is the other note? Is it a higher pitch? Is it a lower pitch? Where is it? So, what I like to do...if you can't tell, if you...if you play the note and you're like "Well, okay, I...I know it's not right, but I can't tell if it's higher or lower', one thing that's a good tip to do is just play both notes and purposely bring the....the A string lower. Just bring it out of tune purposely, because now I know which direction I'm going. I don't have to guess. So now, one thing to do is, plam! Reach over with your right hand, and bring it up into pitch. This is just something when you're just starting that helps you to hear it, so that the note doesn't stop, and then you have to go and guess. This way you're hearing the note all the way up, and you visualize the first note, and you visualize yourself bringing the second note into pitch with it. So I go....and bring it in 'til it's a matching pitch. Another thing you'll hear....when it's out of tune you'll hear it wobbling, like, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah. When it's in tune, it won't wobble like that. You repeat those steps for the other two strings, as well. So now that you've got the E and the A in tune, now you'll tune the D. And, then, after that you'll tune the G. When you're letting these notes ring out in order to reach over with your right hand, you'll want to pluck them with your thumb. That way the notes aren't killed. If I play with my fingers like this, then when I played this second string I just deadened this string. So I want to just play with my thumb. That way both notes are ringing out. Reach over, tune it to pitch. Very simple. It's just tuned straight across like that, and there are other ways to tune. You can use harmonics, at some different frets around the neck of the guitar to bring it in tune, but this is by far the most popular and common way. Visit us at summerhazemusic.com."