Standard Tuning for Bass Guitar

Standard runs E1, A1, D2, G2, in playing order. The lowest-pitched string is E1 (41.20 Hz) and the highest is G2 (98.00 Hz), measured against A4 = 440 Hz. Those are the exact target frequencies the tuner on this page listens for.

Nothing to change — this is the reference tuning for Bass. If your instrument is already in tune, you're there.

The same pitches as a guitar’s bottom four strings, one octave lower, tuned in straight perfect fourths with no irregular interval. The consistency is why bass fingerings transpose cleanly across strings in a way guitar shapes do not.

E1 is 41.20 Hz at concert pitch (A4 = 440 Hz). That's the fundamental — the string also produces harmonics above it, which is why a tuner reading the wrong octave usually means it locked onto a harmonic rather than the fundamental. This is the lowest string in this bass tuning.

Four strings in unbroken perfect fourths, with none of the irregularity that the guitar's major third introduces. That regularity means any fingering shape is valid on any string pair without adjustment, which is why bass technique is taught positionally rather than through memorised chord grips. The pitches match a guitar's lowest four strings an octave down, so a guitarist's low-string knowledge transfers directly. Two frets on bass span the same interval as two frets on guitar, but the longer scale means the physical stretch is larger, which is the main adaptation for players moving across.