5-string bass tuning

B0 · E1 · A1 · D2 · G2

A five-string bass is a four-string with a low B added underneath: B0 E1 A1 D2 G2, nothing else moved. The fifth string buys a fourth of extra range downward — and, just as much, it buys position playing: notes you used to reach by sliding up and down the neck sit across it instead, so the left hand can stay in one place through a line that would otherwise mean three shifts. That is why session players carry one even when a song never goes below E.

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Strings

4 strings move from standard

  • 5B0▼5
  • 4E1▼5
  • 3A1▼5
  • 2D2▼5
  • 1G2

Last few seconds

Harmonics

How far each overtone sits above its ideal position. A stiff, wound string rises to the right.

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What to aim at

Matches what it hears to the nearest string of the tuning.

The strings

From the thickest: B0, E1, A1, D2, G2. The B is usually a .125 to .135 gauge, and it is the string that separates instruments — on a 34-inch scale it can feel loose and indistinct, which is why many five-strings are built at 35 inches for the extra tension. It is also the note that separates tuners: B0 is 30.87 Hz, a waveform over 1,500 samples long at 48 kHz, and a tuner with a short analysis window will read the octave above and look perfectly confident while being exactly wrong. This one sizes its window from the lowest note the selected instrument can reach, so the B is measured rather than guessed at.

Other tunings for it

BEAD — a five-string set with the G left off, strung on a four-string — gives the low range without a fifth string, and it is in the selector. Soloists sometimes string a five high instead, E1 A1 D2 G2 C3, trading the low B for a high C. And six-string basses simply do both: B0 E1 A1 D2 G2 C3, the five-string low end with the high C on top, also in the selector.

Other tunings

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