Tuning without a tuner

[Lfalex v1.1]

Just something that popped into my head yesterday when the need arose.

In the absence of any kind of tuner, how does one tune up?

 

I was using a Nux Mighty Plug (at work during lunch),  which,  you guessed it, doesn't have a tuner. 

It accepts a (music) signal streamed via Bluetooth to play along to. The bass guitar side comes from it being directly plugged into the bass itself.

 

I downloaded a sine wave generator app onto my phone, finding that it had precise settings for each note from C⁰ to A¹⁰ (16Hz to 22kHz!).  I simply selected the note that corresponds to the 12th fret harmonic for the desired pitch of the string and tuned by ear via headphones. (I was in BEADG)

 

Repeated the process at home and checked the results against a Korg DTR1000. Found it to be pretty accurate.

 

Pros-

"Free" if you have the right equipment to hand

 

Requires no more than Bluetooth audio to connect OR a 3.5mm stereo lead to physically connect to devices that allow connection of bass + device (usually via "aux in")

 

No need for phone interfaces or strange cables.

 

Trendier than pitch pipes and easier to use.

 

Cons-

Takes a bit longer to tune accurately.

 

Not quite as good a an actual tuner, but very close

 

 

 

 

 

 

And before anyone says clip-on tuner..

It's a headless bass! (And I don't own one!)

 

 

Hope this may be of use to someone out there at some point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 11, 2022 by Lfalex v1.1

[NancyJohnson]

Wasn't there some method of tuning a G via a 60 cycle mains hum?

[Nail Soup]

Many years ago I used to, in the absence of a tuner, tune to a known reference record.

That record was Blitzkreig Bop by the Ramones. It’s in the key of A…. an open string. There’s not much going on except the chord and root note bass, so nothing to confuse my poor musical brain.

But only as accurate as my turntable speed.

then tune the other strings from the A string.

Given my sense of pitch if probably sounded awful.

[Nail Soup]

4 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said:

Wasn't there some method of tuning a G via a 60 cycle mains hum?

Probably came from the same person who told us we could get by smoking banana skins 😃

Edited March 11, 2022 by Nail Soup

[Rich]

As a big motorsport fan in days of yore, the old F1 theme (that bit of F.Mac's "The Chain") is burned indelibly into my brain. Its first note is an A and I can make a pretty good stab at getting the correct pitch.

 

EDIT: have just tested my theory by humming at a tuner, I was only a few cents out. In the absence of any sort of tuning device, it'll do.

Edited March 11, 2022 by Rich

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

7 minutes ago, Rich said:

As a big motorsport fan in days of yore, the old F1 theme (that bit of F.Mac's "The Chain") is burned indelibly into my brain. Its first note is an A and I can make a pretty good stab at getting the correct pitch.

 

EDIT: have just tested my theory by humming at a tuner, I was only a few cents out. In the absence of any sort of tuning device, it'll do.

Same for me, just not the same song. There’s a bit in Supper’s Ready that is burned into my brain that ends on a D. Tune from there.

I’ll have a try later and see if I can still do it.

[Lfalex v1.1]

16 minutes ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

Same for me, just not the same song. There’s a bit in Supper’s Ready that is burned into my brain that ends on a D. Tune from there.

 

Exactly where in the ~25 minutes of "Supper's Ready"  is it?

Before or after "A Flower 🌼?"

 

😄

[Maude]

Download the Boss tuner app to your phone. 

Free, works a treat and looks just like a TU3. 

 

Tuner linky.

 

Top tip, reduce sensitivity in the settings to make it more stable. 

 

Edited March 11, 2022 by Maude
Adding linky poo.

[NJE]

I use the free fender tuner, for my acoustic and my bass when I don’t have my Korg.

[Rich]

1 hour ago, Lfalex v1.1 said:

 

Exactly where in the ~25 minutes of "Supper's Ready"  is it?

Before or after "A Flower 🌼?"

 

😄

Oh come on, it's obviously the bit just after it goes dum-de-dum-dum "la la something" de dum, as any fule kno.

[fretmeister]

I have a tuner app on my phone. Seems easier than a noise generator on the same device.

[BreadBin]

19 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

I have a tuner app on my phone. Seems easier than a noise generator on the same device.

Same, the Boss one works fine 👍

[ambient]

If you’re only playing by yourself, just tune the strings to one another. Harmonics works best, 5th fret of one string to the 7th fret of the next string.

[ezbass]

2 hours ago, Nail Soup said:

Many years ago I used to, in the absence of a tuner, tune to a known reference record.

That record was Blitzkreig Bop by the Ramones. It’s in the key of A…. an open string. There’s not much going on except the chord and root note bass, so nothing to confuse my poor musical brain.

But only as accurate as my turntable speed.

then tune the other strings from the A string.

Given my sense of pitch if probably sounded awful.

This was the tuning method de jour back before electronic tuners became widely available. It was either that or the awfulness that are/were pitchpipes. 

[Cato]

I downloaded the free Fender tuner app a while back.

 

It works well on amplified instruments but it's not great at picking up the E string on an unamplified bass which is a PITA because I got it mainly to tune the fretless I tend to noodle on unamplified.

Edited March 11, 2022 by Cato

[Doctor J]

Think of the intro to Enter Sandman, hear it in your head, that's in E, tune the E string to that and use 5th and 7th fret harmonics for the rest.

[Ricky 4000]

1 hour ago, ezbass said:

the awfulness that are/were pitchpipes. 

 

Those, and trying to play along with certain records that were out of tune for one reason or another.

 

Yes, I'm looking at you, UB40 - Signing Off...

[ambient]

3 hours ago, Nail Soup said:

Many years ago I used to, in the absence of a tuner, tune to a known reference record.

That record was Blitzkreig Bop by the Ramones. It’s in the key of A…. an open string. There’s not much going on except the chord and root note bass, so nothing to confuse my poor musical brain.

But only as accurate as my turntable speed.

then tune the other strings from the A string.

Given my sense of pitch if probably sounded awful.

Assuming they were properly in tune too.

 

There’s a Stones song I had to learn a few years ago. I can’t remember now whether they were sharp or flat, they certainly weren’t at concert pitch.

[SumOne]

Boss tuner app is good. Or if I have to then 'another one bites the dust' goes to the open E. 

[Lfalex v1.1]

I raised a question a while ago about recordings using non-standard pitch. @BigRedX came up with one of the most satisfactory explanations;

 

Recordings (particularly analogue ones) were often sped up or slowed down for pacing reasons (the song sounded too slow) or for timing reasons (to fit on given side of an LP, for example), leading to the off- sounding tuning. 

Played live,  it's all back to normal. 

 

Good example- Hammer to Fall (Queen) in its original form. Its back at standard pitch in live versions. 

[skankdelvar]

3 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

Wasn't there some method of tuning a G via a 60 cycle mains hum?

 

I used to think maybe one could use a landline dial tone but the UK tone "combines two 350 Hz and 450 Hz tones instead, creating a 100Hz beat frequency".  None of these tones are bang-on musical notes which makes it damn near useless.

 

The French landline dial tone is 440hz or A4 but you'd have to go France to use it so that's damn near useless as well.

[neepheid]

4 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

Wasn't there some method of tuning a G via a 60 cycle mains hum?

 

Let us know how your tuner-less US tour goes

[Woodinblack]

5 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

Wasn't there some method of tuning a G via a 60 cycle mains hum?

 

60Hz is half way between A# and B, but you would have to be in the states for that to be relevant.

Over here, our 50Hz is close to G but not exact.

 

Apart from a free tuning app on the phone, you only need one other person (preferably not the drummer) to give you a note and that is it sorted isn't it? I have tuners, but if I am upstairs, i just play an A on the piano and go from there.

[dclaassen]

Guess I’m not that stubborn. I get out the tuner, check my tuning, and go….takes about 40 seconds. If I want to feel good about it, I’ll use the harmonics method.

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

6 hours ago, Lfalex v1.1 said:

 

Exactly where in the ~25 minutes of "Supper's Ready"  is it?

Before or after "A Flower 🌼?"

 

😄

 

5 hours ago, Rich said:

Oh come on, it's obviously the bit just after it goes dum-de-dum-dum "la la something" de dum, as any fule kno.

It's actually the section before 'a flower' which is in D, but I always remember the vocal line 'bang, bang, bang - bang, bang, bang' returns to the D.

The other one is the opening E bass note of Tom Sawyer. I reckon I could tune to that pretty well by ear.