Short Scale Tuning

[Rhythmfish]

I found a pink short scale for my daughters for Chistmas, but I've been unsuccessful in finding any info about tuning, or if there's any difference in fret positions on the shorter neck.

It's a 30" neck, and 20 full frets on the board. I've tuned it to A-D-G-C, and it seems to sound right, and play properly. Is that correct?

If so, my follow up question is are the fret positions different with the short scale? I'm looking to print up a reference for the girls, so is it simply a matter of the same notes as a full scale bass, just disregarding the top five frets?

Any clarification would be greatly appreciated!

 

GO BEARS!!!

[espowari]

I did a few google searches and found close to nothing on the specifics for tuning a short scale bass.

 

Tuning to anyting other than standard E A D G may be confusing for the beginner later on as he-she will have to modify from their original playing.

 

The bass you describe with a 30 inch neck and 20 frets sounds pretty normal to me. Only recently did I graduate to a full 24 fretted bass.

[basslinedesign]

I bought a short scale for my son a number of years ago, tuned it traditionally E-A-D-G, no problem. String tension will inherently be lower than the longer scale basses, but that may help the younger student since it will require less effort to depress strings to the fingerboard, and perhaps less initial soreness to the fingertips.

[Nicklab]

With some digging you should be able to find appropriate short scale strings for this instrument. Check out http://www.juststrings.com if you're having trouble finding them in a store. Otherwise, this instrument is still tuned the same way as a 34" scale length bass, E - A - D - G.

[jeremy c]

If you have it tuned ADGC, all the notes will be different than if you have it tuned EADG. That seems pretty obvious to me.

 

I would definitely tune it EADG for a beginner, especially since you want to teach them note names.

 

And teaching your daughters note names is a great way to start. Buy a song book of one of their favorite groups and show them the chord names written above the music. If they learn the names of notes, they will be able to play along with the records.