Of the notes they have in common, A is the highest. The intonation of low notes is more difficult than high ones. I don’t know how bass players tune an open E.
It’s not the highest of the notes in common on the double bass. (ETA: And why would “highest” make for a better choice, anyway? It’s II on violin, I on viola and cello, and III on the bass. That doesn’t make consistent sense for why A is the choice over G or D.)
I don’t think there’s a clear, simple answer. “It’s tradition” is the best answer I’ve found. Who knows how it started originally? I haven’t found a source, yet. Will look again when I have a moment, because I am curious.
Bass guitar players often use harmonics. 7000 = 0500. It’d probably work on a double bass too.
Harmonics work very well on a double bass, with its long strings. At least, open string harmonics do. Stopped string harmonics are not advisable most of the time because the required hand span would be way too large.
However, you still have to learn to hear the intonation of actual low notes, including the open strings on a bass, which like everything else requires training and practice. It’s no different than learning to play in tune on something like a contrabassoon or tuba. In my experience, classical double bass players do not tune to harmonics when tuning in the orchestra; they simply have learned to hear the pitch of low open strings precisely.
As for the “why A?” question, it might not be answerable. Lots of things in music are the way they are because someone did it that way a long time ago, and it caught on, but no one ever wrote down anything about it. There might not be an original source for the why and the where. Unfortunately there are a lot of issues in music like this.
Bass: G D A E ? I Thought standard tuning was E A D G. Or is this for bass guitar only?
The post in question leads off with “Reading top string (I) to bottom string (IV):” For a double bass or bass guitar, going from top to bottom, the strings are tuned G D A E. But most of us think of the strings from bottom (IV) to top (I), which would be E A D G.
I hate to mention this, but I can’t resist. Several years ago, the Wall Street Journal had an article about the bassoon. I remember it because of a quote. Somebody called the bassoon “the ill woodwind that nobody blows good.”
Since this is about musical instruments, let’s move it to Cafe Society.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
I’ve always heard that, without the “wood,” about the bagpipes. :: sorry for being that guy ::
When I’m tuning to another instrument (like the piano), I tune my G string first, and then use harmonics* to tune the other strings to my G string.
*Lightly touching a string at the 7th fret and plucking the string will produce a high harmonic; touching the next lower string at the 5th fret and plucking will produce the same harmonic. So once my G string is tuned (I’ll often tune the string using the 12th-fret harmonic, producing a G an octave higher than the open string, without stretching the string by pressing it down), I’ll play the G’s 7th fret harmonic and then the D string’s 5th fret harmonic, and adjust the D string until the harmonics match. And so on down to the E string. You’re correct - tuning those very low frequencies is more difficult. Using the higher harmonics makes it much easier.