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Tuning Your BassHow To Tune Your BassThere are three ways to tune your bass. Using an electronic tuner, using the 5th fret note or using harmonics. Using a TunerThe first thing is to get yourself an electronic tuner. There are lots of them out there. You can pay around $20 to $50 for a standard tuner or you can get a Chromatic tuner for around $100. The major difference is whether or not it is a chromatic tuner or not. The less expensive tuners are typically not chromatic so you have to use a different switch setting for each string. For instance it has an "E" setting, "A" setting, "D" setting, and so forth. These are okay if you are on a strict budget, however, the extra $$ to get a chromatic one are worth it. Check the classified ads for your local music store or news paper. The major advantage with chromatic tuners is that they are hands free. You can hit a note or string and it will show you what note you are playing and if it is sharp or flat. Excellent for practicing on a fret less bass. Works great for tuning down to E Flat. Some tuners have only LED readouts. Try to get one with a VU meter, the one with the needle. This is important for setting the intonation. Once you are plugged in and ready to tune, start from your "E" string by hitting the open note or if you know how to play harmonics, you can use the 12th fret harmonics. Starting from a flat setting, tune up to the note until the tuner indicates you are in tune. Make sure you don't tune down to the note. If the note is sharp, loosen the string to make the pitch go lower and tune up to the note. If you tune down to the note, typically the string will go out of tune almost right away. Repeat for each string. If you are tuning a fretless bass by using the 12th fret harmonics, be sure to also finger the 12th fret position while the bass is amplified. Check with your ears to make sure that the harmonic is being played in the correct place by making sure the harmonic and fingered pitches are the same. This is not a problem with fretted basses because you play the harmonics directly above the 12th fret. Using the 5th Fret NoteThe second way to tune your bass is to use the 5th and 7th fretted notes. Start by getting a reference pitch by using a tuning fork, recorded song, keyboard player, or your guitar player. Use the "A" string or the "E" string as the first string to tune. These two strings seem to be easier to hear for most people and you can typically find an "A" or an "E" in a song so that you can tune to it. If you don't tune to a song or other instrument, usually you will tune to an "A 440" tuning fork. What you do is play the reference note first, (e.g., tuning fork, guitar player's "A" string). Then hit your open "A" string. If the note on the bass sounds sharp, higher pitch than the reference note, then use the tuning head to reduce the tension on the string and then you will hear the note go lower. When the note is lower than the reference note, hit the reference note again then your "A" string again. Always hit the string you are trying to tune after the reference note is sounded. Now listen very closely for a wave in the sound. It kind of sounds like "wah-wah-wah-wah". As you tune the string up, the waves should sound slower and slower until it goes away. When the two notes are in tune, you will not hear any waves. If you go too far you will start to hear the waves get faster and faster and that means you went too sharp. Reduce the tension of the string again and tune up to the reference note. NEVER tune down to a note. If you tune down to the note, you will go out of tune in a very short time if not right away. If you just put new strings on, you will need to stretch them by fretting the string at the 5th or 7th frets and pull the string up around the bass pickup and wiggle the string. Tune the string again and stretch it again. Repeat as needed until the string stays in tune. Don't be afraid to be aggressive with how you pull and wiggle the string to stretch it out. Unless you pull REAL hard, you wont break the string. When you have your first string in tune, in this example we will use the "A" string as the first string that is tuned, fret the "E" string at the fifth fret. Play an open "A" string then play the "E" string fretted at the fifth fret. If the "E" string is flat tune up to the open "A" string as described earlier. To tune the "D" string, fret the "A" string at the fifth fret and tune the open "D" string the same way you did the "E" string. To tune the "G" string, fret the "D" string at the fifth fret. When you think you have all the strings in tune, repeat all the steps to make sure none of the strings got "whacked" out of tune. Using Harmonics To TuneStart by tuning the "A" string by playing the 12th fret harmonic and matching it to a reference note as described above. See below to find out how to play a harmonic. Once you have the "A" string in tune, play the harmonic on the seventh fret of the "A" string and match it to the harmonic played on the fifth fret of the "E" string. Then play the fifth fret harmonic on the "A" string and match it to the harmonic at the seventh fret of the "D" string. Play the harmonic on the fifth fret of the "D" string and match it to the harmonic at the seventh fret of the "G" string. How To Set The Intonation On Your BassWhy do you need to set the intonation? The reason you need to set the intonation on your bass is so that the open string notes and the fretted notes from fret number 1 to 22 or so are in tune up and down the neck. What you are really doing is making the whole neck real close to being in tune instead of having one area in tune and another area out of tune. If not, you will play an "A" note at the fifth fret of the "E" string and you will be in tune. Then you play the "A" note at the 17th fret and you are now out of tune. Setting your intonation will fix this problem.
Setting the intonation requires a tuner with a VU meter. Ones with only LEDs will not work well. Start by playing the harmonic on the "E" string at the 12th fret. Then fret the note at the 12th fret. Make sure you don't press too hard and try to use the same pressure that you normally use to play that note. If you press too hard or softer than you normally do, you will not set your intonation accurately. This is also a good reason for doing it yourself as compared to having your local repair guy do it for you. The needle should go to the exact place that it did when you played the harmonic. If the needle is before then you need to move the saddle on the bridge closer to the nut. In other words your fretted note is flat and you need to shorten the length of the string to sharpen it. If the needle moves past where it was for the harmonic note, then you need to move the saddle away from the nut or lengthen the string. Repeat these steps until the fretted note is in the same place as the harmonic note. Repeat for each string. If you have a bridge that is a single piece and it doesn't allow you to adjust the saddle for each string, you may have to accept some compromises like, "Well I mostly play strings 4, 5, and 6", so get those as close as possible and let strings 1, 2, and 3 be more out of intonation. The saddle by the way is the piece on the bridge that the string runs across.
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