Tuning. This is a continuation of the the mini-series I’m writing on beginner guitar. Tuning a guitar is one of the hardest, while most essential things for a beginning guitarist to do. Hopefully this lesson will help demystify the process.
Tuning the guitar with an electric tuner:
An electric tuner can come in handy to quickly tune an instrument without a whole lot of extra thought. However, using an electric tuner is not always the most accurate way of tuning, and can be confusing if you do not already know how to tune acoustically (by ear).
Tuning using an electronic tuner is very simple. You just turn it on, plug in your guitar (if it has a port for chords, otherwise just use the built in microphone) and strike an open string. The tuner will then detect if the string is flat (below the correct pitch) or sharp (above the correct pitch.) If you are flat, you will want to tighten the string to raise the pitch. If you are sharp, you will want to loosen the string to lower the pitch.
However, electronic tuners do not always know which note you wish your string to sound as. So memorizing the string names is crucial, and as a guitarist, it is one of those things that you just plain NEED to know. They are as follows from the lowest sounding string to the highest:
E A D G B E
Tuning the guitar by ear:
Tuning a guitar acoustically (by ear) is probably the best way to be 100% sure that you are in tune. When you tune a guitar by ear what you are actually trying to do is match the wavelength of note A with that of note B. Because you are tuning by comparison you will need to have already tuned at least one string to the correct pitch before moving on to tune the rest of the instrument to itself.
What should you listen for?
When two strings are in tune with each other they should sound as one. It will be a smooth, clear sound, and will just plain sound “good.” When two strings are not in tune with each other their wavelengths will be out of sync, causing them to create a “wavy” effect.
Having said this let’s take a look at how this is done.
If you’re having trouble reading this diagram, fear not, as we will cover it in the next article on reading guitar TAB and you can come back to it after you have read that.
To tune:
- Tune one of the strings to the correct pitch (I like to start with the low E) with either an electric tuner, piano, pitch pipe, or a washing machine that hums a perfect E.
- Now, with the low E string in tune, fret the string at the fifth fret.
- Now pick the low E string while simultaneously picking the open A string. Make sure that both are ringing at the same time and you have not accidentally muted anything.
- Make any necessary adjustments until the two notes sound in perfect unison.
- Repeat process of fretting at the 5th fret and playing the open string imediately above it for the following string sets: A & D; D & G;
- When you get to the G & B string set you need to play the G at the fourth fret instead of the 5th.
- Then when you go to tune the highest string set B & E you can go back to the 5th fret on the B string and open E string.
If this is confusing then please read the article on reading TAB and then just use the diagram, as it will make things much easier on you.
Additional tuning ideas:
Tuning in octaves:
Tuning by Harmonics:
You should try your best to avoid tuning by harmonics. The modern guitar has to be tuned to equal temperament. Harmonics produce mathematically pure intervals, which actually sound better in their own right, but unfortunately are incompatible with the guitar’s fret spacing.
Now that we are in tune, let’s start playing!
Beginner Guitar pt 1: Guitar Anatomy
Beginner Guitar pt 2: Thinking Like a Guitarist
Beginner Guitar pt 4: Chord Diagrams
Beginner Guitar pt 5: Reading Tab (still to come)
more articles by Tyler Oakleaf
- Notes of Fretboard Diagram
- Like our lessons? Take a poster!
- The Big Picture
- Chord Soloing & Chordal Embelishment 1
- Good Things…
- “Making It” In Music
- Practice Progression
