How to Tune a Guitar

Comments

• 100001431880047 Apr 05, 2012
  Something must be wrong with the placement of the frets on my guitar. I can perfectly tune each string with this method. But once I play chords on it it sounds off. For ex. the 1st string (low E) is 82.41 hz, and the second one should be 110 hz. But if I'm tuning it manually and press the first string on the fifth fret it's not 110 hz but 112 hz. Can this be fixed?
• pgfan92 Aug 02, 2008
  The only downside to this is most people don't have perfect ears and will say that two notes slightly off are in tune, what happens when each string is slightly out of tune with the adjacent string is that the strings on the outside will be out of tune, another thing is that the perfect intervals (4th, 5th, octave) can't be perfectly in tune if the third is in tune (which is what most music is based upon), the short version is that if you tune to perfect intervals, and tune them perfectly, you can only play in one key (for more information, look up tempered tuning and pythagorean tuning). I don't have a camera, so I can't make a video, but here's a better way to tune for people who don't have perfect ears and for people who want non-diatonic music to sound decent. This is using the tempered tuning method. 1. Tune the high E string to a tuner or piano. 2. Tune the B string to the high E string using the 5th fret. 3. Tune the G string to the third fret on the high E string using the 12th fret harmonic on the G string. 4. Tune the second fret on the D string to the high E string. 5. (option 1) Tune the 12th fret harmonic to the high E string as a perfect fifth (a perfect fifth starts out the star wars theme if you need reference, also, these exact notes start out the song chasing cars by snow patrol). Test the 2nd fret of the A string against the B string after tuning. 5. (option 2) If you have trouble doing the perfect fifth, then just tune the second fret to the B string. Do NOT use the 7th fret harmonic and tune to the high E string, 7th fret harmonics are for pythagorean tuning, which tunes an octave so that a note vibrates twice as fast an octave higher, which seriously limits the non-diatonic notes you can use. 6. Tune either the 5th fret harmonic or the 12th fret harmonic of the low E string to the high E string.
• pgfan92 Aug 02, 2008
  The only downside to this is most people don't have perfect ears and will say that two notes slightly off are in tune, what happens when each string is slightly out of tune with the adjacent string is that the strings on the outside will be out of tune, another thing is that the perfect intervals (4th, 5th, octave) can't be perfectly in tune if the third is in tune (which is what most music is based upon), the short version is that if you tune to perfect intervals, and tune them perfectly, you can only play in one key (for more information, look up tempered tuning and pythagorean tuning). I don't have a camera, so I can't make a video, but here's a better way to tune for people who don't have perfect ears and for people who want non-diatonic music to sound decent. This is using the tempered tuning method. 1. Tune the high E string to a tuner or piano. 2. Tune the B string to the high E string using the 5th fret. 3. Tune the G string to the third fret on the high E string using the 12th fret harmonic on the G string. 4. Tune the second fret on the D string to the high E string. 5. (option 1) Tune the 12th fret harmonic to the high E string as a perfect fifth (a perfect fifth starts out the star wars theme if you need reference, also, these exact notes start out the song chasing cars by snow patrol). Test the 2nd fret of the A string against the B string after tuning. 5. (option 2) If you have trouble doing the perfect fifth, then just tune the second fret to the B string. Do NOT use the 7th fret harmonic and tune to the high E string, 7th fret harmonics are for pythagorean tuning, which tunes an octave so that a note vibrates twice as fast an octave higher, which seriously limits the non-diatonic notes you can use. 6. Tune either the 5th fret harmonic or the 12th fret harmonic of the low E string to the high E string.