After you successfully know and understand the parts of your guitar, you can continue on to holding your bass properly, tuning it up, and plucking a bit. That is exactly what this article will be covering.

So, you have your new or used bass: first things first – if it is in a package, take it out! Be careful not to scratch or drop it. If you have an amplifier, you will need to plug your bass into it. Your bass will have an output jack on it, somewhere near the knobs and bridge, maybe even on the side of your guitar. You will need a ¼ inch cable to plug your guitar into your amp, which your salesman should have provided for you. Now, turn on your amplifier and crank up the volume on your guitar and amp. You can play around with the other knobs to get a sound that you like, but for the most part any tone will be sufficient.

Now that you are hooked up and have some sound coming out of your amp, you are ready to embrace your guitar and tune it up. To hold your guitar on your leg, simply put the curved part of the guitar’s body on your right leg (if you are right handed) or on the left (if you are left handed). The knobs should be closest to the ground. If you are using a strap, you will wear it so that the strap goes under your right arm, over your left arm, and behind your neck. Depending on what bass you have purchased, the headstock may fall to the ground if you take your hands off, but most basses are built so that if you are not holding them, they will stay somewhat level with the ground. Now, on to the strings!

Each string, when plucked at an open position (meaning you are not adjusting the note by fretting), will play a different note. Whatever notes your strings play when they are plucked open is the tuning you will use. The picture shows a 5 string bass with the number of the string and the note labeling each string. If you have a 4 string bass, you will only have strings 1-4. The standard four string bass is tuned to E A D G, with E being the biggest string, closest to your chin (or B if you have a 5th string).



So, in order to tune your strings, you will have to turn the tuning pegs accordingly. One direction will make the string pitch go up, and the other direction will obviously go down. Which direction does what? It depends on who last strung your guitar; just pluck the string with your finger and turn the peg a quarter turn either direction to determine whether it goes up or down in pitch.

With that in mind, pick up an electric tuner. Using an electric tuner is highly recommend for your first month or two, at least until you can tell note from note with ease. Otherwise tuning will be very frustrating for you and may discourage your practice habits. There are two modes on electric tuners, manual and automatic. Manual mode will tell you which note you are closest to. Automatic mode lets you select which string you are tuning. Most tuners have a button to push so that you can select which string you are tuning; after you make your selection, you will then pluck the respective string on your guitar. Plugging your guitar directly into the tuner will significantly help with both accuracy and ease of use. After you pluck the note, the tuner will say that you are either sharp or flat. Sharp is shown as # and flat is shown as a lower case “b.”

Flat means you are below the correct pitch, while sharp is just the opposite. If your E string is flat or sharp, you will need to turn your tuning peg until it is at the correct pitch. Most tuners have a gauge that is easily read. You will need to tune each string individually and make sure that you are turning the correct tuning peg and plucking the correct string – otherwise bad things could happen! Once you have all of these concepts down, check out Lesson 3!