Mobile Tuner.

[DreadAlert]

Hey guys.

I'm a little bit confused.
On my Android Phone I've downloaded the App named: gStrings.
Which tunes your stringed instrument whatever it may be.

I've been looking at it, listening etc and I can't seem to make sense of how to use it to tune a bass.
No matter what I do i'm staying with these across the top: c - c# - d - d# - e - f - f# - g - g# - a - a# - b

I've tried listening to E A D G, but the D sounds deeper than the A sound so I'm guessing thats not right.

Anyone got any ideas?
Thanks
DreadAlert

[BottomEndian]

[quote name='DreadAlert' post='880293' date='Jun 28 2010, 08:39 PM']I'm a little bit confused.
On my Android Phone I've downloaded the App named: gStrings.
Which tunes your stringed instrument whatever it may be.

I've been looking at it, listening etc and I can't seem to make sense of how to use it to tune a bass.
No matter what I do i'm staying with these across the top: c - c# - d - d# - e - f - f# - g - g# - a - a# - b

I've tried listening to E A D G, but the D sounds deeper than the A sound so I'm guessing thats not right.

Anyone got any ideas?[/quote]
I've got gStrings, so hopefully I can offer a little bit of help. (It's a bloody great tuner, BTW, in case anyone else with an Android phone stumbles this way. Way quicker to track than my little pocket Korg one... although obviously not a patch on the Sonic Research Turbo Tuner. ) Your best bet is to use it as a chromatic tuner and not to bother listening to the pitches.

IIRC, you're a complete beginner, so I'll go über-basic here. Simply open it up, press "Tune auto" at the bottom of the screen and play one of your open strings. As long as your bass is loud enough (stick yer phone next to yer amp ), it should pick up whatever note you're playing. The note name (letter) that lights up orange in the top row of letters is the one that's closest to the pitch your phone's hearing. With a bit of luck, that'll be E for your E string (and so on for the others). If the needle's pointing to the left of centre, you're flat, so you need to bring the pitch up. Tighten the string with the tuning peg and play it again. Similarly, if the needle's right of centre, you're sharp and you need to lower the pitch. Loosen the string and play it again*. You're aiming to have the needle pointing straight up, with the appropriate letter lit up orange above it.

Your only real issue might occur if a string is flat or sharp enough to drift into the realms of the next semitone either way. If you play the E string but it says D# in the row of letters, you've just got to tighten that string until you get into the E region. Just recognise that as you go from lower pitches to higher pitches, you move along that sequence of letters: c - c# - d - d# - e - f - f# - g - g# - a - a# - b (it then cycles back round to C after the B, but hopefully that won't be of any consequence for you with a 4-string bass -- you shouldn't have any of the strings near a B or C).

Hope that helps.

[size=1]* In an ideal world (and this can become habit quickly enough), it's best to tune [b]UP[/b] to a note. It helps prevent the tuning gear slipping flat. So if you play a note and you're sharp, loosen it off until you're slightly flat and then tune up.[/size]

[DreadAlert]

Thanks alot man, great explanation.