Tuning a bass

  • Thread starter Thread starter Michael Jones
  • Start date Start date
Purge said:
What's all this talk about "tuning"? I didn't know that was necessary for a bass. Isn't it just a bunch of low shit that nobody pays attention to anyway?:D
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Now THAT will ge those 100 pages! Epic! :D :D
 
Bassman Brad said:
Then, of course, there's the "piccolo bass" which is ALSO used for solos. But I don't know how they are tuned.

Brad
(edit for spelling)
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An octave up.
 
notbradsohner said:
I just opened this thread for the first time, and I just want to point out something. The original question was "how do I tune a standard bass" now you guys are getting all scientific.I find that hilarious!
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Brad, you must have missed the post where someone suggested another 100 page thread..
 
Actually, if my post count gets anywhere near what it did in the 100 page thread in the cave.... :eek:
That could kill me...
 
ez_willis, I think it was in post #91.

Open up the Chapman Stick page, click on "Instruments and tunings" at the top left of the page, then "Stick Tunings" on the left near the bottom of the next page, then click on an instrument/string combination in the right hand column. This will bring up a page of tunings and you can then go on to another with, yeah, I counted them again: elebendy-seven gazillion. That's where I found the tuning I posted a little earlier.
 
lbanks said:
An octave up.
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THanks, Ibanks. I always wondered about that. :)

Do you know if anybody actually makes those things, besides Alembic and a few custom luthiers?

Brad
 
Bassman Brad said:
THanks, Ibanks. I always wondered about that. :)

Do you know if anybody actually makes those things, besides Alembic and a few custom luthiers?

Brad
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Until you mentioned it, I didn't even know they existed.... :o
 
Rokket said:
Until you mentioned it, I didn't even know they existed.... :o
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It was kind of a Stanley Clarke thing. I'm not absolutely sure that they were ever a standard catalog item. Alembic was building a few of them, but they might have been strictly special order items. A few custom builders will still build one by request.

Brad
 
Bassman Brad said:
It was kind of a Stanley Clarke thing. I'm not absolutely sure that they were ever a standard catalog item. Alembic was building a few of them, but they might have been strictly special order items. A few custom builders will still build one by request.

Brad
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I love Stanley Clarke. If I could play like that.... I am more a rhythm guy. I can solo, but it's not my thing...
 
lpdeluxe said:
yeah, I counted them again: elebendy-seven gazillion.
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I'll take your word for it, man. I guess I just can't count that high. Fortunately, one of the benefits of being a bass player is that nobody holds it against you if you're a little math-challenged. ;)

Now, I AM familiar with the term "gazillion." It was just the "elebendy-seven" part that threw me off.

Brad
 
notbradsohner said:
I just opened this thread for the first time, and I just want to point out something. The original question was "how do I tune a standard bass" now you guys are getting all scientific.
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I know!
Isn't that great! That's one of the reasons I like this board so much.
Ask a "stupid" question, get it answered a hundred ways, and you get to learn so much from one post.
Yep.

I gotta stay outta the cave for a while....
 
Michael Jones said:
I know!
Isn't that great! That's one of the reasons I like this board so much.
Ask a "stupid" question, get it answered a hundred ways, and you get to learn so much from one post.
Yep.

I gotta stay outta the cave for a while....
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I haven't really been in there in days! I forgot how much there was to do outside.... ;)
 
I was kind of kidding when I suggested it would be fun to reach a hundred pages.

On the subject of tuning a bass.

But.....:D This is hugely entertaining.

Back to topic - how do I check the intonation on my fretless? (you know, the fretless I posted a redundant pic of to try to get an extra 1/50th of a page). The old harmonic / fretted 12th note doesn't really work, does it? It's all very well playing a fretless by ear, but when you are in front of 10,000 screaming people with elebendy-seventy gazillion watts coming through the foldback alone (like, I was, see earlier mentioned pic) that's not gonna help a lot - you gotta know that lining up with the old dots on the fingerboard is gonna work.

(PS I was lying about the 10,000 people and the elebendy stuff)

(PPS Actually - how do you check the intonation on a fretless - I haven't got a clue)
 
Garry Sharp said:
I was kind of kidding when I suggested it would be fun to reach a hundred pages.

On the subject of tuning a bass.

But.....:D This is hugely entertaining.

Back to topic - how do I check the intonation on my fretless? (you know, the fretless I posted a redundant pic of to try to get an extra 1/50th of a page). The old harmonic / fretted 12th note doesn't really work, does it? It's all very well playing a fretless by ear, but when you are in front of 10,000 screaming people with elebendy-seventy gazillion watts coming through the foldback alone (like, I was, see earlier mentioned pic) that's not gonna help a lot - you gotta know that lining up with the old dots on the fingerboard is gonna work.

(PS I was lying about the 10,000 people and the elebendy stuff)

(PPS Actually - how do you check the intonation on a fretless - I haven't got a clue)
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:confused: I have never messed with the settings on a fretless. When I tried to play one, I found out just how not that great I am! :o I found that I need the frets. The one I played had inlays, but who looks at their neck?
 
Intonation on a fretless

Isn't that an oxymoron? And, if it IS right, how do you prove it?
 
lpdeluxe said:
Isn't that an oxymoron? And, if it IS right, how do you prove it?
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:eek:













And that folks, is why I just stay at home now....
 
Garry Sharp said:
Back to topic - how do I check the intonation on my fretless?
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I've played around with a few fretless basses, but I don't actually own one (yet). But I think I can answer this. I'd say that when people stop holding their hands over their ears when you play, then your intonation's correct.

Brad
 
Yes, and to find the relative minor you just drop three semitones, if I remember correctly.
 
Bassman Brad said:
I've played around with a few fretless basses, but I don't actually own one (yet). But I think I can answer this. I'd say that when people stop holding their hands over their ears when you play, then your intonation's correct.

Brad
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No, that's when you know your harmony singing is OK. Like somebody said, who cares about tuning on that low end stuff that nobody listens to anyway? :)
 
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