Bass Tuner: Tune E A D G or B E A D G

Yes. It is free, needs no account or download, and works in any current browser on a phone, tablet or computer.

No. The sound is analysed live inside your browser and discarded straight away. Nothing is recorded, stored or uploaded.

On a clean, sustained note the reading is steady to about a cent, and a string counts as in tune within 5 cents. Low notes take a moment longer to settle than guitar strings: let the note ring, and use the 12th-fret harmonic if the open low B or E keeps wandering.

Choose 5-String: it expects B E A D G, low to high. A 4-string in standard tuning uses Bass. For drop D, a downtuned bass or a 6-string's high C, use Chromatic.

Yes. Plugged in, hold the phone close to the amp's speaker at a moderate volume. Unplugged, hold the phone's microphone near the strings over the pickups. The low B on a 5-string is the hardest note for a phone to hear, and its 12th-fret harmonic reads far more reliably.

Press Start Tuning and allow the microphone. Play one open string at a time with your fingers, firmly enough to ring, and let it sustain. The first instant of a pluck reads sharp, so read the needle once the note settles. Left of centre is flat, so tighten the string; right of centre is sharp, so loosen it. Tune up to each note: if you overshoot, drop below it and come back up so the tuning gear holds. Then check every string again, because the neck flexes a little as the tension changes.

A 4-string bass is tuned E A D G, an octave below the lowest four strings of a guitar: E1 (41.20 Hz), A1 (55.00 Hz), D2 (73.42 Hz), G2 (98.00 Hz). A 5-string adds a low B below the E: B0 (30.87 Hz), giving B E A D G. A 6-string adds a high C3 (130.81 Hz) on top: tune the other five in 5-String mode and the C in Chromatic. Each string is a perfect fourth above the one below it, so the same shapes work across the neck.

Drop D lowers only the E string a whole step to D1 (36.71 Hz), giving D A D G and a heavy open root for songs in D. Many rock and metal players tune every string down a half step (E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭) or a whole step (D G C F) to match a downtuned guitarist, and some 4-string players use B E A D to reach the low notes of a 5-string. Switch to Chromatic for these and tune each string to its new note. After a big drop, check for fret buzz: thicker strings or a setup may be needed.

The lowest notes are the hardest for any microphone. Phone and laptop microphones pick up little of a bass's deep fundamental, so a low E or B can arrive weak and the reading can wander. Three fixes: hold the phone close to the amp's speaker, or right over the pickups of an unplugged bass; turn off chorus, octave and distortion effects; and play the 12th-fret harmonic instead of the open string. That harmonic sounds exactly an octave above the open string, the tuner shows the same note name, and when the harmonic is in tune, so is the open string. The classic by-ear method also uses harmonics: the 5th-fret harmonic on one string matches the 7th-fret harmonic on the next higher string. It tunes in pure fourths, each about 2 cents narrower than the tuner's, and the error adds up across the strings, so finish with the tuner.

No. The free tools need no account and no download. They run in your browser, and nothing you play or drop in is uploaded.

Yes, in any current mobile browser. MIDI keyboards and pad controllers need Chrome, Edge or Opera, on a computer or an Android phone.

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