The perfect guide for approaches you can take to tune your guitar so that you and your instrument sound as amazing as possible.
Welcome to the ultimate guide on tuning guitars. For any guitarist, one of the most important skills to learn is how to properly tune your instrument. String instruments can easily loose their tune due to numerous reasons such as changes in temperature, humidity, environment and regular playing. No matter how great of a guitar player you are, if your guitar is out of tune, it’s not going to sound very good. An out of tune guitar can wreck a practice session, ruin a gig or just make you sound not as awesome as you should.
This article will explain several approaches that can be used to solve this everyday problem of tuning for guitarists so that you and your guitar sound as amazing as possible.
Guitar Tuning Basics
Tuning a guitar involves adjusting the tension in the 6 strings by turning the tuning pegs of your guitar.
Tip #1 - You should always tune your guitar before every session to ensure that all the strings have the perfect pitch. This way your ears will also get used to what each string should sound like and you’ll be sure to sound awesome too!
Standard guitar tuning, starting from the thickest, lowest-pitched string (the 6th string) at the top of neck is: E – A – D – G – B – E. The high E string—the thinnest, highest-pitched string at the bottom of the neck—is known as the 1st string and all others follow suit.
Tip #2 - Using a mnemonic is a great way to remember the string names: E-very A-pple D-oes G-ood B-eing E-aten E-lephants A-nd D-onkeys G-row B-ig E-ars You can chose from the two I have provided above, or make up your own (the sillier the better!)
Using a Chromatic Tuner
The chromatic tuner is the most versatile tool to tune your guitar. A tuner reads and interprets the frequency of vibrations from your guitar and displays the notes that it reads, meaning that this is probably the easiest and most accurate way to tune your guitar. You simply put the device near your acoustic guitar, or connect it using a cable to your electric guitar and pluck the string on you are trying to tune. The tuner shows you three things - The string it thinks you are trying to play (it is usually right); An oscillating needle that demonstrates how far you are from the note, whether you are higher or lower than the required note. Next, you must turn the tuning pegs until the needle on your tuner is dead center on the appropriate note for the string.
Tip #3 - In my experience, I have found that tuning up to your desired note works better than tuning down. This is because when tuning up you are tightening your string as opposed to loosening it - leading to lower odds of the string slipping out of tune.
A chromatic tuner is an extremely useful tool for a guitarist, and there are several great options available in the market. I recommend Juarez’s GT-13 Chromatic tuner, an accurate and cost-effective tool for all your tuning needs. This can also be used to tune an electric guitar, semi-acoustic guitar, classical guitar, violin, and ukulele. The GT-13 is also included in the JRZ38C acoustic guitar kit for free.
Tuning Apps
Everyone has a smartphone these days, and whether you use an iPhone or an android, there are plenty of great apps available that can help you tune your guitar. To use these tuning apps, you simply need to choose the instrument and tuning key that you require, and place your smartphone near your guitar. Then you can start to pluck each string individually and turn the tuning pegs according to the pitch readings on the screen. The apps can generally show you how many points the string’s pitch is off by, making it easy to effectively and accurately tune your guitar. Once the tuner is displaying the correct note name for the string you’re on, you can fine-tune the note by slowly turning the tuning key until the tuning needle on your screen is in the middle.
Tip #4 - Once you’ve finished tuning the strings, go through them again. Since acoustic guitars are made of wood, changing the tension on the strings can change the overall tension in the neck of the guitar, impacting the tune of all strings.
Some of my favorite guitar tuning apps are:
1). GuitarTuna - available on both Android and iOS, this app provides a brilliant user interface and guitar tuning experience, easy to use and completely free!
2). gStrings - This app has a big and easy to read display, and allows you to adjust microphone sensitivity to prevent interference from background noise. Available for free on both Android and iOS.
3). Pano Tuner - This app has the needle with the fastest response time and offers customizable display settings, allowing you to pick between regular notes or ‘do re mi’. Available for free on iOS.
It should be noted that tuning apps use the microphone on your smartphone to pick up the sounds from the string, meaning that it could pick up other background noises and affect the accuracy of the tuning.
The old fashioned way
With this method you can never go wrong and its completely free! All you need is your guitar, and your ears.
It is also a good practice to do this method of tuning as you learn how each string should sound when in tune.
Tip #5 - If the string is off tune by more than one note, don’t turn the tuning key too fast as this can cause the string to break - the string takes time to adjust to the new tension, especially when you are changing its tune significantly.
The Low E String: For this tuning method, the E string must already be in tune. You can use a piano, another guitar, or an online tuner to find the reference pitch to tune to.
The A String: Start off by going to the fifth fret of the low E string, which is an A note. Since your fifth string is an open A string, it should sound exactly like the note on the fifth fret of the E string.
The D String: Next we need to tune the D string, so we’ll go to the fifth fret of the A string which is a D note. Once again, the open D (4th) string should sound just like the D note on the A string.
The G String: To tune the G (3rd) string, I follow the same method using the fifth fret of the D string.
The B String: Tuning the B (2d) string is a little different. We need to use the fourth fret instead of the fifth fret because that’s where the B note is, so we must match the open B string to the fourth fret of the G string.
The High E String: Tuning the high E string gets back on track though, so you use the fifth fret of the B string to tune this last string.
Double Check the Tuning: Once you have the guitar tuned by ear, go through the strings again to tune just like you would if you were using an electronic tuner. This allows you to fine-tune and double-check that the strings are where they should be.
Final Tricks to Help Your Licks
Some more tricks to ensure your guitar stays in healthy shape and tune, and to ensure that all your licks and melodies sound fantastic:
-Keep your guitar out of hot/cold places
-Loosen the strings before storage or transport
-Avoid impacts, big or small
-Replace your guitar strings every 6-8 weeks if used regularly
Now that you have read this article, you should be ready to tune your guitars, and awaken the rockstar within you! Happy Jamming!
