Tuning a Bass Guitar – Part 1 The Basics

You have brought your shiny new bass guitar home and the first thing you should learn is how to tune it. Even if it was tuned perfectly before you left the music store, chances are it will be out of tune slightly by the time you get it home. Tuning will be affected by many things such as temperature, humidity and the chances are that sliding it in and out of the case or gig bag will disturb one or more of the tuning pegs.

Correct tuning is vital otherwise everything you try to play will sound awful and you will become discouraged quickly. Tuning a bass guitar is not difficult, but does require following a few simple steps. There are several tuning methods that can be used, but before discussing them, let us discuss the basics.

On a 4-string bass guitar the strings from thickest to thinnest are tuned to the notes E-A-D-G. Before tuning up hold your bass guitar locate the tuning peg that corresponds to the E string. Pluck the E string and turn the tuner approximately 1/4 turn in either direction while listening to the sound. Did the pitch of the string increase or decrease? Make a mental note which direction you will need to turn the tuner when tuning. If all of the tuning pegs are on the same side of the headstock, the direction the tuners need to be turned will be identical for all strings. However, if your bass guitar has tuning pegs located on both sides of the headstock, repeat the experiment with one of the tuning pegs on the other side of the headstock.

Regardless of the tuning method you are using to tune your instrument, if the bass note is too low turn the tuner slowly to increase the pitch until it is correct. Conversely, if the bass note is too high, turn the tuner to decrease the string pitch until the note is slightly too low, then turn the tuner in the opposite direction until the pitch is correct. Always tune up to the note rather than down as this method is more accurate and will help your bass guitar stay in tune longer.

The next post will discuss the different methods that can be used for tuning a bass guitar and the pros and cons of each method.

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