[funky G minor bass groove]
Before you play your bass,
you need to get it in tune.
And to do that you need to
know the musical alphabet.
So we're gonna go through that real quick,
and then we'll tune together.
So there are only 12 notes in music.
So that's great.
Once you play 12 notes,
one, two, three, four, five,
six, seven, eight, nine,
10, 11, 12, the 13th note,
as I ascend like that,
is gonna be the same note I started on
just at a higher pitch, okay,
but it's gonna be the same name.
So there's only 12 note
names to worry about.
And seven of those are just
the first seven letters
from the english alphabet
A, B, C, D, E, F, G,
and the remaining five
are going to be filled in
with what we call sharps and flats.
So to illustrate this I actually
like to use a piano keyboard.
It's a little clearer than the bass neck
because it differentiates
between white and black keys.
So the first thing I wanna tell you
about this piano keyboard is
that as you go to the right,
you're going to higher
pitched notes like this.
Hear how that pitch is getting higher?
That's what happens as
you move to the right,
and as you move to the left,
you're going to lower and lower pitches.
So hear that pitch is getting
to lower and lower frequency.
Okay, so going to the right is ascending.
Going to the left is descending.
You'll also notice that
as you go to the right,
you're going forwards through the alphabet
on those white keys.
You see it goes A, B, C, D, E,
F, G, as you go to the right,
and you go up in pitch.
And then it goes backwards
G, F, E, D, C, B, A,
as you go down in pitch.
So that's very important to remember.
Forwards in the alphabet is up in pitch.
Backwards through the
alphabet is down in pitch.
So notice that the white keys
all have plain letter names
like A, B, C, D, E, F, G,
and those black keys
have funky little names
like A#, Bb, C#, Db.
So what's going on there is
that little pound sign means sharp,
and it means to raise
that letter one note.
So A# means one note higher than A.
So here's A, A#.
I go up one note, which
is a fret on the bass.
I could also call that note Bb.
That little letter b
after the B there means
to lower the B one note.
So here's my B.
Take it down one note.
Now it's a Bb.
So whether I go A# or Bb,
I'm ending up on the same note.
So all those black keys can
have a couple different names
depending on context.
This all matters for tuning
because if you're trying
to tune your G string,
and your tuner display is saying F,
you need to know that F is
a lower note than G, right?
So I need to go forwards
through the alphabet
which goes up in pitch to get to G.
So I need to go through F to F# up to G
to get where I want to go.
Or say that I'm trying
to tune my A string,
and the tuner's reading Bb.
I know that B's forwards
in the alphabet from A,
so I need to go backwards in the alphabet
which means I need to go down in pitch
to get from Bb to A.
The last thing I want you to notice
about this piano keyboard
is that there are two spots
where there's no black key
in between the white keys.
See what I'm talking about?
So between B and C, and between E and F,
there is no black key.
So if I'm going straight up
through the musical alphabet,
not skipping any keys,
I go A, A#, B, C, right,
no B#, C#, D, D#, E, straight to F
'cause there's no black
key there, F#, G, G#,
and then I'm back to A, okay.
So B to C and E to F,
there's no black key there.
It's important to remember.
So the quick wrap up on
the musical alphabet.
There are 12 notes.
We use seven letters, A, B, C, D, E, F, G,
plus sharps and flats to name those notes.
There's no sharp or flat between B and C,
and between E and F.
And going forwards
through the alphabet means
we're going higher in pitch.
Backwards through the alphabet means
we're going lower in pitch.
And we'll review all this
as we get into tuning.
All right, it's time to
get your bass in tune,
and there are three
basic options for tuning.
One is to use a plug-in tuner.
This is my favorite thing to do.
This is just an old Korg
that I have laying around.
I don't particularly recommend
it over anything else.
What you do with a plug-in tuner
is you actually plug in an
instrument cable to your bass
and then plug the other
end into the tuner.
Make sure your volume knob is up, right,
otherwise it won't work.
And then it shows you what's
happening on the tuner display.
Second option is to use a clip-on tuner,
which you actually clip
onto your headstock
and it reads the vibration
of the wood down there,
so you don't even have to plug it in.
So a lot of people like that option.
I prefer the plugins because
they're a little more accurate,
especially for the low strings,
but the clip-ons do work okay.
And that's actually what I'm going
to show you how to tune with today.
Last option is to use
some kind of tuning app
either on a computer or a mobile device.
I do keep a tuner app on my mobile device,
but I don't rely on it
as much as the plug-in
or the clip-on methods
because the apps rely
on a microphone to hear your bass
because most people don't
have a way to plug their bass
into their computer or
their mobile device.
So they're not as accurate
as plugging in directly
or clipping on directly.
So that's the order in
which I recommend these.
Plug-in is the best.
Clip-on is second best.
Tuning apps make a great stand in
until you have a real tuner.
You can tune your bass
without a tuner using your ear
and some kind of reference pitch.
You can even tune with harmonics,
but I really don't recommend doing that
if you're a beginner.
It's a lot harder if you
don't have a developed ear
and the chances of you
tuning your bass incorrectly
are much higher than
if you just use a tuner
which is gonna straight up
tell you what's going on.
So that's what we're gonna do.
Okay, let's get this thing in tune.
I'm gonna start with the G
string which is right here.
So I'm gonna follow that,
make sure that you're
turning the right tuning knob
as you tune that really helps.
So I'm gonna play my G and as you can see
this perfectly in tune.
I'm right in the middle,
and I get a nice green dot to celebrate.
If I make my string too low,
you can see I go off to the left.
Bring it up there I am, if I
bring it too far to the right,
then I get off into the
red and I kept going.
Now I'm all the way up to an Ab,
and that's a higher note
because it's forward
in the alphabet, right
we loop around A, B, C, D, D, F, G, A,
at Ab is the next note same as G#.
But tuners really usually
only use one option
for the sharp and flat notes.
Okay, so as you can see, all
I have to do to get it in tune
or make it out of tune if
I really wanted to do that,
is to turn this knob,
and that adjusts what the tuner is seeing,
and there I am.
So once you're in this range,
those few dots in there,
you're really close and you
don't need to turn very far.
So I've got my G string tune.
Let's go to the D string now.
And you can see, again,
this is why I recommend the
plugins over the clip-ons,
I'm sometimes getting an A for a second,
even though I know that
this is a D string.
So sometimes I'll use the 12th
fret harmonic to avoid that.
But don't worry about that,
if you don't know what that means.
So I'm plucking nice and
firmly when I use the clip-on
to make sure I get a good reading.
And you can see I'm in tune there.
Let's try a couple different scenarios.
Let's say I didn't know
how my bass was tuned.
I know this is supposed
to be the D string, right
third string away from my face,
it goes down to this tuner.
Oh, wow, I'm all the way on a B.
Well, let's see, think
about the musical alphabet,
B, C, D, so D is two letters up,
which means you need to
go to a higher pitch.
So I'm gonna turn this whatever
direction raises the pitch
you can hear it's going up.
Okay, so now I'm on a C.
My C is in tune but that's
not the note I want,
so doesn't matter, so keep going.
Nope, it's not a G.
See, it's misreading this string.
I'm not sure what it thinks
it's doing, so keep going.
Now I'm on a Db, so Db is a lower D.
I want a plain D, so I need to keep going.
I'm going a little extra
slow just for demonstration.
So now I got my Db in tune,
which is still not what I want.
So I'll keep going.
Now I'm on the right note and
I just need to get in tune.
So now that I'm here, make
a very small adjustment.
And now I've got a D in tune.
Which is not an A you
bloody clip on tuner.
Okay, so my G's in tune, my D's in tune,
now I'm gonna go to my actual A string,
which is also in tune.
Let's say that it was too high.
Okay, let's say, let's see
what can we get into here?
Alright, so we got it on a on
a B that's a little bit flat,
which is not the same as a Bb.
So let's say I didn't know that
I just made this too sharp.
I know that there's an A lower
than a B in musical alphabet
but I could also cycle around
forwards in the alphabet.
Going up in pitch right,
B, C, D let's see.
Do I know the alphabet?
B C, D, E, F, G, A, B.
Right, I could go forwards in
the alphabet and get to an A,
or I could go backwards in
the alphabet to get to an A.
So it's usually gonna be the
one that's closer, right.
So going down to A would be a lot closer,
than going up to A from B.
But even if I'm not sure,
I always want to err on the
side of going down in pitch.
Because a loose string is fine,
you'll just get a floppy string.
If you go too high, you can
actually break a string.
Which is a pain in the butt.
So I'm gonna say, well, I'm not sure.
I'm new to bass, I'm not
sure if I should go up
to A or down to A.
So I'm just gonna guess.
I'm gonna go really low.
So I know that that string
shouldn't be that low,
that's all floppy, right?
And then I'm gonna go up from there.
So now where do I find myself.
Alright, so now I'm on an F
and I want to go up to an A.
So I go way too low, and then
I'm sure that I want to creep
up to the actual pitch I want, which is A.
Alright, so always err on the
side of loosening your string,
because it's a lot safer then
oven tightening your string.
So now I've got my A.
I'm gonna play my E, little bit sharp,
so just loosen it a tiny, tiny bit.
Come on, these clip-ons
don't always like the low E.
It's another reason I prefer the plugins.
You can see it's a little bit finicky.
Come on, there we go.
There's my E.
There's my A.
There's my D.
There's my G, in tune.
