How to Tune an Electric Guitar by Ear

An out-of-tune electric guitar is bad news. You can play the right notes and chords, but the sound your instrument produces will be all wrong. There are many ways to tune an electric guitar. The easiest is with a digital tuner. What do you do if a digital tuner isn't available and your guitar needs tuning? You tune your guitar by ear. The benefit of being able to tune your guitar by ear and to itself is the ability to quickly tune in between songs or to fine-tune without having to use an outside source. You may not do well in the beginning, but the more you do it, the better trained your ear becomes. It won't be long before you can tune your electric guitar by ear without even thinking about it.

Things You'll Need

• Pitch Pipe (optional)

Instructions

How to Tune an Electric Guitar by Ear

1. Learn the open strings of your electric guitar and how they sound. The strings are E, B, G, D, A and E, starting with the first, or thinnest, string on the guitar.

2. Use the fifth string open as your reference point on the guitar. This is an A. Tune the A to a reference note. Use a pitch pipe or piano if you have one handy, and match the tone of your A string to the reference note. If you don't have a reference note handy to tune your A string to, estimate the tuning of the A string. Pluck it and listen. Judge by the tone of the note. You should be able to assess it fairly accurately if you've played a properly tuned guitar before.

3. Now tune the guitar to itself using the A note as a reference point. Start with the low E, which is the sixth string. Place a finger on the fifth fret on the low E and pluck it. This note should match the fifth string played open. Tighten the string to raise the pitch or loosen it to lower the pitch until the two notes come together. Listen closely, and you'll hear a vibration. This is the sound waves of the notes bouncing off one another when they are out of tune. The closer in tune they become, the slower the vibration gets. The vibration disappears entirely when the notes are the same.

4. Now place a finger on the fifth fret of the A string and match the fourth string D played open to the fretted fifth string note. Do this again by placing a finger on the fifth fret of the D string and tuning the third string played open to match. On the third string, place your finger on the fourth fret instead of the fifth, taking into account a half-step tuning difference. Play that note and match the second string note played open to it. Finish tuning by placing a finger on the fifth fret of the second string and tuning the first string to match the fifth fret note on the second. Your guitar is now in tune with itself. Run the pattern one more time to make sure you don't hear any vibration among the played notes. Make adjustments if you do.

5. You can also tune by harmonics. The method is basically the same, except you won't fret the strings. You produce a pure harmonic by lightly placing a finger on top of a string and lifting it as you pluck the string. Place one finger over the fret wire on the fifth fret of the lowest string, pluck the string, and lift your finger away quickly. You'll get a harmonic note. Immediately do the same on the seventh fret of the fifth string. Those two notes should match. If you hear the vibration, make adjustments with your tuning keys until they come together.
   Do this again on the fifth and fourth strings, and the fourth and third strings. Tune the second string to the third by placing a finger on the fourth fret of the third string and tuning the second string to match. Then tune the first string to the second using the harmonic method.

Tips & Warnings

• The low E and A strings go out of tune least of all, so if you have no tuning reference notes, use one of those strings as your reference point. Get familiar with one of the simple first position chords. G or A chords work well. Play those chords after you tune to ensure the chord sounds the way it should. This is a good way to check tuning. Training your ear to hear when the notes match takes a little time, but ear development gets better the more you practice. Tuning with harmonics takes practice, but you'll hear the vibrating difference in the notes more easily once you get used to doing it this way. You can always tune each string individually with a pitch pipe. Keep one handy.

Resources

• Guitar 4 U