How to Tune Your Guitar

Before you begin to learn the guitar, whether you are playing an acoustic or an electric, you need to learn how to tune your guitar. Don’t depend on someone else to do this for you. Guitars come out of tune often and need to be retuned.

New guitars get “out of tune” especially often, because the strings stretch when they’re put under tension. When the string stretches, it goes flat. Learn right away to tune your guitar, so you aren’t always playing an out of tune guitar.

The standard tuning for a six string guitar is E A D G B E. This means that the lowest-sounding (that is, the thickest) string on the guitar is tuned to E, when open. This lowest string is called the sixth string and is the top string, when a right-handed person holds a guitar in playing position. The fifth string is tuned to A, the fourth to D, the third to G, the second to B, and the first string is again tuned to E. Notice that there are two E strings because the lowest and highest strings on the guitar are both tuned to E in the standard tuning.

Traditional Method

To begin tuning, find an external source to get the pitch of the note E. This can be a piano, pitch pipe, tuning fork, online source or another guitar. Do a Google search on “tuning guitar online” and find a number of online resources to play a tuning note. This resource should allow you to tune accurately.

If you are using a tuning fork, look for one that sounds an E, which is your first and sixth string. Also, find one that sounds an A, your fifth string. Tuning forks are slightly harder for young players to use, so keep this in mind, if you’re new to playing the guitar.

When you have your external source, start with the sixth string. On the piano, this is the second E below middle C.

Play the E note from your external source and tighten (or loosen) the tuning peg on the sixth string, until the note on the guitar matches the note from the external source. Tighten the peg to make the note higher in pitch, if needed. When the pitches match, the sixth string is in tune.
To tune the fifth string, the A string, place one finger of your left hand on the sixth string, just behind the fifth fret. Play the note. This is the note A played on the sixth string. Tune the open fifth string to that note.
To tune the fourth string, the D string, place a finger of your left hand on the fifth string, just behind the fifth fret. Play the note. This is the note D played on the fifth string. Tune the open fourth string to that note.
To tune the third string, the G string, place a finger of your left hand on the fourth string, just behind the fifth fret and play the note. This is the note G played on the fourth string. Tune the open third string to that note.
To tune the second string, the B string, place a finger of your left hand on the third string, just behind the fourth fret. Play the note. This is the note B played on the third string. Tune the open second string to that note. Notice that you are using the fourth fret of the third string to tune the second string, not the fifth fret as before.
To tune the first string, the high E string, place a finger of your left hand on the second string, just behind the fifth fret and play the note. This in the note E played on the open second string. Tune the first string to that note.

You should tune your guitar each time you play it. This may be difficult for you at first, but you’ll soon find yourself becoming proficient. Being conscious of tuning makes you a better musician.

Cheating

How to Tune a Guitar

Well, it’s not really cheating, but it is a simpler method of tuning, although less accurate. Suppose you have a new guitar, but you have no external source to use to tune it right now. Or imagine you just want to start playing.

What’s the easiest way to tune your guitar?

Tune the guitar against itself. Go through all of the steps stated above to tune the guitar, without using an external source for the low E note. That is, guess at the low E note. As they say, “eyeball” it.

When you tune against the notes of the guitar, your guitar will be internally consistent – “in tune” with itself – and should sound fine. According to the standards of pitch, the guitar might be slightly out of tune, though.

This works fine, if you are playing the guitar solo. If you’re trying to play with other instruments, however, you’ll sound out-of-tune. At this point, retune to the other players.

Electronic Tuners

Electronic tuners are easy to use and save all of the trouble of trying to determine whether a note is in tune or not. A simple tuner can be purchased for under $50, often for well under this price. The tuner tells you which note you’re playing on a particular string, so you can easily adjust your guitar, until it is in tune.

Tuners are useful in noisy areas, since they can be plugged in directly to electric guitars or acoustic guitars, with pickups to tune the frequency of each string. A tuner takes the guesswork out of guitar tuning, while it allows the beginning player to develop a good sense of pitch, by playing on a properly tuned instrument.

Alternate Tunings

Although many players use the standard E A D G B E tuning all of their lives, other tunings are available for specialized purposes, such as giving added depth to some chords. Alternate tuning can make up for a broken string.

Alternate tuning involves tuning some or all of the strings to different pitches. As you become more experienced on the guitar, you may wish to explore alternate tunings from time to time. For now, I suggest you stick with the basics of how to tune your guitar.

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This entry was posted on Friday, March 5th, 2010 at 5:28 pm and is filed under Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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