Online bass tuner
Set for a four-string bass in standard tuning, E A D G from the thickest string. Turn on the microphone, pluck a string and turn the peg until the needle stops in the middle.
The sound is analysed on your device and dropped straight away. Nothing is recorded or uploaded.
Auto follows the string closest to what you play. Tap a string to tune only that one.
How to tune a bass
- Turn on the microphone. With an electric bass, play through an amp and hold the phone or laptop near its speaker, not near the strings: unplugged, they are too quiet for a microphone to hear the low notes well.
- Start with the thickest string, E1, at 41 Hz. Pluck it with a finger and let it ring for a second before you read the needle: a hard attack starts slightly sharp.
- Then A1 (55 Hz), D2 (73 Hz) and G2 (98 Hz). Left of centre is flat, so tighten the peg; right is sharp, so loosen it. Within 5 cents the dial turns green.
- On a five-string bass, tune the E, A, D and G strings here. The low B (B0, 31 Hz) is below what the tuner listens for and is not detected; the questions below say how to tune it.
Other tools
Questions
What notes is a bass tuned to?
Standard tuning for a four-string bass is E1 A1 D2 G2, from the thickest string to the thinnest: 41, 55, 73 and 98 Hz. That is an octave below the four lowest strings of a guitar. The tuner's reference is A = 440 Hz.
Can I tune a five-string bass with it?
Partly. The E, A, D and G strings tune as usual. The low B, at 31 Hz, is below the range the tuner listens to, so it is not detected and the dial does not move for it. Tune the other four first, then fret the B string at the fifth fret and turn its peg until that note matches the open E string by ear.
Why does the low E barely register on my phone?
A phone or laptop microphone picks up 41 Hz weakly, much more weakly than the overtones above it. The tuner reads the right note even when an overtone is louder than the note itself, but it still needs a clear, steady sound: play through an amp with the phone near the speaker, pluck one string at a time, mute the others and keep the room quiet.
How do I tune a bass to Drop D?
Lower the E string a whole tone, to D1 (37 Hz). The bass preset reads that as its E string two semitones flat, so switch to Chromatic, which shows D1 itself, and loosen the string until the needle stops in the middle. The A, D and G strings stay as they are.