Voice types › Bass
Bass vocal range
The bass is the lowest common voice. Its strength is the bottom octave, from about E2 up to E3, where other voices thin out or disappear.
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Typical rangeFirst passaggioSecond passaggioC4 = middle C
A full, dark bottom octave. Many basses feel most at home between A2 and A3 and find the notes around middle C take careful work.
Test your range: are you a bass?Where the bass voice shifts
The passaggio is the stretch of notes where the voice changes how it works, from the heavier, speech-like setting of the low notes to the lighter setting of the high ones. For a bass, the first passaggio is around G3–A3 and the second passaggio around C4–D4. The notes between them are where most cracks, strain and out-of-tune notes happen, so that is where practice pays off the most.
These are averages from voice-teaching references. Your own passaggio can sit one to three semitones higher or lower.
Bass or baritone?
A baritone's comfortable notes sit about a fourth higher. If E2 and F2 sound full and steady for you, and singing around D4 feels like the top of your voice, you are probably a bass. If your low notes fade below A2 but E4 is still easy, you are probably a baritone.
Voice type is a description, not a limit. What matters for singing songs is the notes you can sing in tune and without strain, which is what the test measures.
Four exercises for a bass voice
About ten minutes in total. Notes are actual pitch, one octave below how tenor and bass parts are usually written.
- 1. Lip trill warm-upTrill your lips on a five-note scale up and back down (1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1). Start on C3 and move up one semitone each time, to F3. Keep it easy; the trill should not stop.
- 2. Bridge scale through the passaggioSing a five-note scale on "oo" or "ng", starting on F3. Move up a semitone each repetition until the top note is E4. As you pass C4–D4, let the sound get lighter instead of louder. If your voice cracks, go back two steps.
- 3. Messa di voceHold A3 for 6 seconds: start soft, swell, return to soft without the pitch moving. Repeat on C4. This trains steady pitch exactly where your voice shifts.
- 4. "Ng" sirenOn "ng" (as in "sing"), slide from A2 up to F4 and back, slowly, with no break in the sound. Three slides are enough.
The Rangely app builds this kind of session from your own measured range and passaggio, and shows each note against the target as you sing, accurate to the cent.
Common questions
What is the vocal range of a bass?
A typical bass sings from about E2 to E4, which is 82 to 330 Hz. Untrained singers often have a smaller usable range, and trained singers often sing a few notes beyond it.
Where is the bass passaggio?
The first passaggio is around G3–A3 and the second passaggio around C4–D4. Every voice is different by one to three semitones.
Am I a bass or a baritone?
A baritone's comfortable notes sit about a fourth higher. If E2 and F2 sound full and steady for you, and singing around D4 feels like the top of your voice, you are probably a bass. If your low notes fade below A2 but E4 is still easy, you are probably a baritone.
Can a bass extend their range?
Most basses add one to three semitones at the top with practice, usually by learning to sing through the second passaggio lightly rather than pushing chest voice. Stop if you feel pain or hoarseness.
Find your own range.
Sing your lowest and highest notes. Free, about a minute, your voice stays in your browser.