Standard Tuning on 5-String Bass: Notes, Chords and How to Use It

If you've just picked up a 5-string bass, or you're thinking about moving over from a 4-string, this is the tuning you'll meet first. Standard tuning on a 5-string bass is simply the familiar 4-string setup with one extra low string added on top. That one string opens up deeper notes, more comfortable fingerings and a weight in the low end that a lot of bassists come to love. Here's how it works, how to get your bass into it, and what to play once you're there.

The Open Strings and How They Relate

From the top string (the thickest one, nearest your chin) down to the bottom string (the thinnest, nearest the floor), the open strings are:

• String 5: B
• String 4: E
• String 3: A
• String 2: D
• String 1: G

If you've played a 4-string, strings 4 to 1 will look familiar: E, A, D, G. The new arrival is the low B on top.

The distance between every pair of neighbouring strings is the same: a perfect 4th. An interval is just the distance between two notes, and a half step is the distance of one fret. A perfect 4th is five half steps, so five frets. That's why the note at the 5th fret of any string matches the open note of the next string down. This evenness is the big secret of this tuning, and we'll come back to it.

Getting Into Standard Tuning, Step by Step

Since this is the standard tuning, you're not converting from anything. You're just making sure every string sits where it should. A clip-on or app tuner is the easiest route, but it's worth learning to tune by ear too, because it trains your listening.

1. Start with one reference note. Tune your E string (string 4) to a tuner, a keyboard or another instrument.
2. Tune the A string. Press the 5th fret of the E string and play it alongside the open A string. Adjust the A until the two notes blend into one steady sound.
3. Tune the D string. Do the same: 5th fret of the A string against the open D.
4. Tune the G string. 5th fret of the D string against the open G.
5. Tune the low B. This time work upward. Press the 5th fret of the B string and compare it with your open E string. Tune the B until that fretted note matches the open E.

What to listen for: when two notes are slightly off, you'll hear a slow wobble or "beating" in the sound. As you get closer, the wobble slows down. When it disappears, you're in tune. On the low B, that wobble can be hard to hear because the note is so deep, so try playing the harmonic over the 12th fret, or simply lean on your tuner until your ear catches up.

What Changes and Why Players Use It

The obvious change is range. That low B gives you five extra notes below the open E of a 4-string bass. For songs in low keys, or for doubling a keyboard's left hand, that's gold.

But many experienced players will tell you the real advantage is position. With an extra string above, you can stay in one area of the neck and reach more notes without sliding your hand up and down. Lines that would force a big shift on a 4-string often sit neatly under your fingers on a 5.

Players use it for:

• Heavier riffs: the low B adds real weight, which is why the 5-string is so common in heavy rock and metal.
• Deep, supportive bass lines: gospel, R&B and modern pop players often lean on the low notes to fill out the bottom of a band.
• Open-string drones: a drone is a note you let ring underneath while other things move. The open B and open E are great for this in songs built around those notes.

What Happens When You Strum the Open Strings

Brush your thumb across all five open strings: B, E, A, D, G. You won't hear a happy major chord or a sad minor one. Because each string is a 4th above the last, you get a stack of 4ths, which sounds open, a bit ambiguous and, down this low, quite murky.

That's not a flaw. Bass isn't really built for strummed chords in the low register; notes that close together and that deep tend to blur. This tuning is designed for single lines and two-note shapes, which is exactly what bass mostly does.

One practical tip: with an extra string, there's more to keep quiet. Rest your plucking thumb on the B string when you're playing higher strings, and let your fretting fingers lightly touch strings you're not using. Clean muting is half the art of a good 5-string sound.

How Scale and Chord Shapes Shift

Here's the lovely part. Because every string is a perfect 4th apart, every shape works the same on every string. Unlike guitar, there's no odd string that bends your patterns out of shape.

• Root and fifth: play a note, then go one string down and two frets up. That's the classic bass power move, and it works from any string, including the low B.
• Octave: from your root, go two strings down and two frets up. Same note, higher.
• Scale patterns: any scale shape you've learned starting on the E string can be moved straight onto the B string. Same fingering, just five half steps lower.

So nothing you know from 4-string is wasted. You've simply gained a new string on top that behaves exactly like the others.

A First Thing to Try

Start on the open B. Play it four times, steady and even, then play the root-fifth-octave shape from it: open B, then one string down and two frets up, then two strings down and two frets up. Now take that exact shape and move it to the open E, then to the open A. Listen to how the low B version feels deeper and wider than the others, and focus on keeping the unused strings silent. Five minutes a day of this, slow and clean, and that fifth string will stop feeling like a stranger and start feeling like home.

More on the instrument itself: the 5-String Bass guide.