How is Davie's meme bass tuned?

Gear
1

Hi BB,

I was wondering if anybody had an idea, or a good guess, as to how Davie’s 36 - string bass is tuned. For some reason (new user?) I can’t seem to be able to post links, maybe I need more badges but… come on, it’s a 36 string bass. First Google hit will be his video. You know what I’m talking about.

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MOD EDIT: Here’s the Davie link: (also bumped your trust level @JasonFil)

1 Like
2

Holy crap.
Talk about overkill.
And to think I had trouble with barre chords. :laughing:

3

I wouldn’t even call that a bass. That’s a different instrument to me. And I have zero interest in playing it, but that’s just me. :slight_smile:

I think I’ll always be stuck at four strings… but that’s my happy place

3 Likes
4

4 strings 4 eva :slight_smile:

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5

“Haha. That’s not a bass, it’s just a part ripped out of a Cembalo.” … my immediate response.

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6

It looks like four sets of 8 strings of the same size, I would assume they are tuned the same way a standard 8 string is tuned. Which I believe is in octaves, so from top to bottom, low E high E, low A high A, etc. Could be wrong though.

7

Hi!
I believe it’s tuned (from low to high):
F#, B, E, A, D, G, C, F, B
I’m just counting in 4ths from the F# below the Lowest A on the piano. I could be wrong, though.
Hope this helps!

8

Okay, okay, I surrender, I’ll bite since nobody else went full detail. :slight_smile:

Strings 1-36 as played in order at 1:08 -
B
E
A
D
G
C
F
Bb/A#
Eb/D#
:arrow_double_down:
D
G
C
D
G
B
D
G
B
:arrow_double_down:
C
F
Bb/A#
Eb/D#
Ab/G#
Db/C#
Gb/F#
B
E
:arrow_double_down:
B
E
A
D
G
C
F
Bb/A#
Eb/D#

So basically, the 1st and 4th necks are 100% redundant. :slight_smile:

Other points of interest -

  • the first 7 strings are standard tuning for a 7 string bass (like a standard 6 with an extra high string)… but then two more strings.
  • second group is more of an open G tuning (all the strings but the C are in a G major triad)
  • third group is standard 4ths tuning, just starting on a C
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9

Many thanks. Did you figure that out by Transcribe!? By ear? Background knowledge? All of the above?

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10

Hey @almost_jason, I just grabbed my bass to find the starting pitch, and did it mostly by ear - I’m very familiar with the sound of ascending 4ths so the first 9 strings were a piece of cake.

Basically every new set of 9, I’d check the starting pitch on the bass, and then do the rest by ear (and then check my work). If I was really a wizard, I could have got the interval from the 9th to the 10th string (the really high Eb down to the low D) by ear, but I cheated for those. :slight_smile:

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11

No idea what you just said, but it sounded cool. :rofl:

3 Likes