Playing Your Upright Bass in Tune

Playing with good intonation is something that we upright bassist always need to focus on. Here are somethings I have found helpful when practicing.

Reference Notes

Using reference notes is the traditional way to check your intonation. The idea is to check a note to a note you know is correct on the bass. Those notes could be open strings or harmonics. This is where being able to hear an interval is important. For instance, If the note you are playing is C#, you could reference it to the open A.

Play Along

Playing along with recordings or with people playing instruments that have fixed notes, such as a guitar or piano, is a great way to hear the correct pitch of the notes you are playing. It is best if you can play along at a speed that you can manage. If the pace is too fast, you will not be catching the mistakes. Be sure you are playing slow enough to get the feedback you need to know if you are on pitch or not. The benefit here is that you can get the sound in your head then make it happen on the instrument. 

MIDI

This is similar to play along but, instead of using a recording or playing with another instrument, I use software. I have written out several exercises in notation software. I have different scales, patterns, and arpeggios that I use. I play along with these exercises as they play though my speakers. This not only allows me to verify my intonation. It allows me to change the speed to work on my timing.

Drones

Using a drone, a sustained pitch, is useful to help verify your intonation while playing. The idea is to reference the note you are playing to the drone note. This helps your ear to hear different intervals. To spice it up, you can use different drone notes. You could use the root of the key for the piece you are playing. For example, G in the key of G. You could use the third (B in the key of G) or the forth (C in the key of G) and so on. Drones work great when practicing scales too.

Using a Tuner

One of the tricks with using a tuner is to not become dependent on it. When I work with a tuner, I make sure I am very deliberate in my approach to ensure my ears are getting better and not my eyes at watching the tuner. My basic approach is to play slowly, 60 BPM for instance, and focus on hearing the intervals between the notes. To make sure I am hearing everything clearly, I might pretend that every note is a quarter note. I will do the same thing with scales and arpeggios. This really helps me understand what I should be listening for as I play.

With music I am more comfortable with, I will use the turner to spot check my intonation. To do this, I will play the piece at regular speed then randomly hold a note to check the intonation with a tuner.

One more thing with a tuner. Depending on the tuner, you can drive yourself crazy trying to get the tuner to capture a perfect note. When using the tuner for this type of practice, I am less concerned with the notes being perfect. A little bit off is acceptable to me so that I can get through the practice.