Ear Training for Double Bassists
The double bass is the one member of the bowed string family that tunes in 4ths and sounds an octave below what is written. Whether you sit at the back of an orchestra or walk lines on a jazz gig, ear training is what lets you hear the harmony from underneath and put the right note under it, in tune, every time.
Start training with the double bass soundA sampled double bass plays every question. Free, and no login needed.
Written pitch, sounding pitch, and the bass clef
The double bass is a transposing instrument, but the friendly kind: your part is written in bass clef an octave above where it sounds, to keep it off the ledger lines. The app handles this the way your ears already do. It plays the real sounding pitch and you answer in written pitch on a bass clef staff, exactly as you would read a part. The written range is E2, the open E string, up to B4, which sounds E1 to B3.
Easy and Medium on the double bass use the octave from written C3 to C4, since the C4 to C5 octave other instruments use sits above the top of the bass range. Easy limits that octave to the C major scale; Medium opens up all the chromatic notes in it. Hard uses everything from open E to B4, and Custom lets you slide the range down to a single string or up into thumb position.
Four strings a perfect 4th apart
E, A, D, G. Unlike the rest of the string section, you tune in 4ths, and that changes the geometry of the fingerboard and the intervals your hand knows without thinking. The same finger on two adjacent strings is a perfect 4th, not a 5th. A perfect 5th is the next string up and a whole step higher. An octave is two strings over and a whole step higher. Those three shapes are your anchors, and the perfect 4th is the one your ear should be quickest at. The interval trainer will show you fast whether it is, because 4ths and 5ths are the pair beginners most often confuse, and on the bass the difference is a fingering you use a hundred times a night.
You probably already tune by harmonics, matching the harmonic a 4th up the lower string against the harmonic a 5th up the higher string and listening for the beats to stop. That is interval hearing under another name. The trainer takes the same skill and runs it across every interval, ascending and descending.
Fretless, long, and low: intonation on the bass
Three things make bass intonation hard. The string length is long, so a small error in hand position is a big error in pitch. Shifts are everywhere, because a single position covers so little of the fingerboard. And the register is low, where the ear is less precise about pitch: a slightly flat bass note reads as muddy rather than as wrong, so the feedback you get from your own sound is blurrier than a violinist's.
The fix for all three is a clearer target in the head. Run the note recognition trainer with the double bass selected, so you are training recognition in your actual register rather than on a piano an octave or two higher. Sing each note back an octave up, where your voice can match it, before you answer on the staff. A bassist who can hear the arrival note before the shift lands it far more often than one who is measuring distance with the arm.
Walking bass: root movement and chord quality
On a jazz gig you outline the changes: roots on the downbeat, chord tones in between, approach notes leading into the next bar. Two hearing skills make that possible. The first is root movement. A ii-V-I moves by 4ths, and most tunes are chains of 4ths, 5ths and steps, so a bassist who hears those three motions can follow a tune the first time through. The second is chord quality: the 3rd and 7th you choose on beats two and four are only right if you heard whether the chord was dominant, minor or major.
Because the double bass can sound more than one string at once, the app treats it as polyphonic and offers chord mode with the bass sound. Each question is a triad or seventh chord, voiced in any inversion, and you have to find all of its notes. As a bassist, find the root first, then listen for the 3rd and the 7th, since those two notes tell you the quality. The listening method is in how to recognize chords by ear, and once you can do it in the trainer, lift a chorus of a walking line off a record using the steps in how to transcribe music by ear.
Orchestral section playing
An orchestral bass section has eight players trying to produce one pitch an octave below the cellos, often on long notes and pedal points while the harmony changes above. That asks for two things from your ear. You have to match the principal and the cellos exactly, which is single note matching under pressure. And on a pedal you have to hear the chords change over your note and know when the pedal has become a dissonance that resolves later, so you can shape it. Practise descending intervals as seriously as ascending ones. Bass lines fall at least as often as they rise, and the interval trainer plays both directions.
A 10-minute daily routine for double bassists
- 2 minutes: single notes. Note recognition with the double bass selected. Sing each note an octave up, then place it on the bass clef.
- 4 minutes: intervals. One scored game of interval mode. For every answer, say the fingering across the strings, and pay extra attention to the descending ones.
- 3 minutes: chords. Chord mode, bass sound selected. Root first, then the 3rd and 7th.
- 1 minute: the daily challenge. One shared puzzle a day. Keep the streak going.
Once a week, take one chorus of a walking line, or the bass part of an orchestral passage, from a recording by ear, and play it along with the record. Beginners should read how to train your ear first for the order that works.
Frequently asked questions
Does the app account for the double bass sounding an octave lower?
Yes. It plays the real sounding pitch and you answer in written pitch on a bass clef staff: written E2 to B4, sounding E1 to B3, exactly like reading your part.
Why is the perfect 4th so important for double bassists?
Because it is your tuning interval. The same finger on two adjacent strings is a 4th, so the shape is under your hand all day. The rest of the bowed strings tune in 5ths.
Is chord mode available on double bass?
Yes. The bass counts as polyphonic, so chord mode is offered with the bass sound. A triad or seventh chord plays and you find every note, which is the hearing a walking line depends on.
Which difficulty should a bassist start on?
Easy, which uses the written C3 to C4 major scale on the double bass. Then Medium for the chromatic notes in that octave, then Hard for the full E2 to B4.
Related instruments: the rest of the string family, tuned in 5ths except for your electric cousin: violin, viola, cello, guitar and bass guitar. The tuba page covers the other instrument that holds down the bottom of the orchestra.