So you’ve got yourself a guitar and you’re trying to make sense out of the noise it’s making. You are pressing down on the right strings, but no matter what chords you play, it doesn’t sound right. Before you give up the guitar for good, take comfort in the possibility that your fingers might not be at fault. It might be that your guitar needs to be tuned. Knowing how to properly tune your guitar is crucial to a positive playing experience, and if you’re in doubt, here is a tutorial to help you out.
There are several different ways to tune your guitar. Let’s take a look at the various methods you can employ to make sure you are in tune.
Comparative Tuning
More simply phrased, comparative tuning means that you’ll adjust the guitar’s strings to be in tune with itself. If you’ve comparatively tuned your guitar, you have enabled each string to get along with its neighbor so that when you play a chord, it sounds how you want it to. If you don’t have an electronic tuner, this method is a fast way to get started.
In order to comparatively tune your guitar, you begin by playing the sixth string, or the low E, at the 5th fret. Then play the fifth string unfretted, or open. The two notes should sound the same. If they don’t, simply adjust the tension of the strings so that the pitch between the two matches one another. Here’s what it looks like in tablature format (for more on tablature, see my article entitled, “A Lesson In Guitar Tablature”):
e|———-|1
B|———-|2
G|———-|3
D|———-|4
A|——0—|5
E|–5——-|6
And here’s what the entire process should like. You’ll notice the only exception in the pattern is that the third string requires you to fret the fourth fret instead of the fifth:
e|——————————————0—–|1
B|———————————0—-5——–|2
G|————————0—-4—————–|3
D|—————0—-5————————–|4
A|——0—-5———————————–|5
E|–5———————————————|6
There are several drawbacks to comparative tuning. First of all, you need to consider the design of your guitar strings and neck. The strings on your guitar are designed to vibrate optimally at a certain tension. If the tension is too high, the strings can snap. In addition, tuning your strings to higher-than-recommended tensions can shorten your strings’ longevity and luster. On the other hand, if the tension is too low, the string’s vibrations will slow down, causing them to buzz against the fret board.
Right Shape, Wrong Sound
Another setback to comparative tuning is that although it allows you to play aesthetically by yourself, its limitations become apparent when you try to accompany someone else. When you try to play along with what you know to be an A minor, you may find that your guitar sounds vastly different someone else’s A minor. For this reason, comparative tuning is a lot like taking a hike and trying to find North, South, East, and West without using a compass. You can get a general idea, but when you start walking with someone else, it’s a good idea to have a reliable conception of due north. You need a compass. Which is where using an electronic tuner comes into play.
Tuning to Another Instrument
Another drawback of comparative tuning is that it can rely wholly on you, the user, to establish your starting point. Unless you’re one of the few with perfect pitch, you’ll still need a reference point for finding your low E, especially if you just bought new strings and you’re tuning your guitar for the first time. To refer again to the compass illustration, it’s important to have a general idea of where North is. In order to find your low E, you could find a song that you know begins in the key of E. For example, the song, “Golden Age” by Beck begins with the E chord (and is also written in E). Or you could use any of several online guitar tuners that provide the pitches for each of your six strings. Yet another suggestion is to tune to another instrument, whether it’s a piano, a pitch fork, or your buddy’s guitar.
Tuning, Tuning, and Re-Tuning: My Strings Don’t Get It!
Regardless of the method or tuner you use, if you are putting new strings on your guitar, you may find that once you have tightened and tuned the final string, a quick review with your tuner reveals that the first string you tuned is now flat. Don’t fret (enough with the puns already)! This is normal. With the addition of the other strings, the tension on the string you first attached is reduced, so need to tune and repeat if necessary. The strings themselves also have some stretching to do. To minimize your tuning sessions, you can stretch out each string as you attach it to your guitar. Once you secure each string and tune it to its proper pitch, give it a good bend around the 12th fret. If you can’t bend a note yet, just use your thumb to push it up and down by a fret or two. Doing so will give your strings the stretch they need and eliminate that superfluous re-tuning that might pop up a few days later. If you find that you have a string or two that just won’t stay in tune, you may want to check to see if your tuning knobs need to be re-tightened.
Harmonics
Yet another way to get in tune is through the use of harmonics. This technique is preferable to many because it enables you to let the model note, or the one you’re trying to match, ring out while you adjust the next string. If you’re unfamiliar with harmonics, check out my article titled, “How to Play Harmonics.” Note that all of the notes below are played using harmonics except for the “(0)” on the B string. Due to the fourth string being tuned a half step lower than all of its neighboring strings, you will need to match the pitch of the open B string to that of the harmonic on the 7th fret of the sixth string.
e|——————————————————–7—–|1st string
B|—————————————–(0)—–5———–|2
G|————————————————————–|3
D|———————-7——5——————————-|4
A|——–7—–5———————————————-|5
E|–5———————————7————————|6th string
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading and keep playing!
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