Feenix Music How to tune your guitar

Feenix Music

How to tune your guitar

It is extremely important to tune your guitar every time you pick it up to play it. Not only will it make your
playing sound a whole lot better, but the repetition will allow you to conquer tuning your guitar quickly.

Tuning the sixth string
In order to begin tuning the guitar, you'll need a "reference pitch" from another source. Once you've found a
source for this initial pitch (it could be a piano, a tuning fork, another guitar, a digital tuner, our guitar tuner or
any number of other options), you'll be able to tune the rest of your instrument by using that one note.

NOTE: Without a reference pitch, you can tune your guitar, and it will sound fine on it's own. When you try and
play with another instrument, however, you will probably sound out-of-tune. In order to interact with other
instruments, being in tune with yourself isn't enough. You'll need to make sure that your E note sounds the
same as theirs. Thus the need for a standard reference pitch.

Listen to this MP3 of a low E string in tune.

Tune your low E string to this note. Repeat the audio track as many times as you need to, in order to try and
match the note perfectly.

Tuning to a Piano

If you have access to a piano, you can alternately tune your low E to the same note on the piano.
Look at the black keys on the keyboard of the image above, and notice that there is a set of two black keys, then
an extra white key, then a set of three black keys, then a white key. This pattern is repeated for the length of the
keyboard. The white note directly to the right of the set of two black keys is the note E. Play that note, and tune
your low E string to it. Note that the E you play on the piano may not be in the same octave as the low E string on
your guitar. If the E you play on the piano sounds much higher, or lower than your low E string, try playing a
different E on the piano, until you find the one closer to your open sixth string.
Now that we have our sixth string in tune, we need to get our other five strings tuned to that note. Using just a
little bit of very basic music theory, we can see how we'll do that.

                         Fret Number -   O      1        2       3      4       5       6       7       8       9       10     11      12(Octave)
                         String Number
                            1---------------------
                            2-----------------
                            3-----------------
                            4-----------------
                            5-----------------
                            6-----------------

The names of the six open strings are E A D G B and E. Using the chromatic scale, we can count up the frets to
find specific notes (For example starting on the open E string, we can count up chromatically E,F,F#,G,G#,A
Please see picture above). Using this knowledge, we can count up the low E string (which is in tune), until we
reach the note A, on the fifth fret. Knowing this note is in tune, we can use it as a reference pitch, and tune the
open fifth string until it sounds the same as the sixth string, fifth fret.
Because this string is in tune, we can assume that this note, A, on the fifth fret, is also in tune. So, we can play
the open fifth string, also an A, and check to see if it sounds the same as the note on the sixth string. We'll use
this concept to tune the rest of the strings. Observe the graphics above and below, and follow these rules to
fully tune your guitar.

Steps to Tuning Your Guitar
1) Make sure your sixth string is in tune ( use reference pitch)
2) Play the sixth string, fifth fret (A), then tune your open fifth string (A) until it they sound the same.
3) Play the fifth string, fifth fret (D), then tune your open fourth string (D) until they sound the same.
4) Play the fourth string, fifth fret (G), then tune your open third string (G) until they sound the same.
5) Play the third string, fourth fret (B), then tune your open second string (B) until they sound the same.
6) Play the second string, fifth fret (E), then tune your open first string (E) until they sound the same.
7) After you've tuned your guitar, check it against Our guitar tuner, and fine tune it if necessary.

With patience and the skill that comes with repetition, you are well on your way to mastering basic guitar tuning.
Please be aware that this is the standard guitar tuning. There are many other tunings which we will discuss at
another time.