How to Tune My Flamenco Guitar

Video Transcript

"Hello my name is James Manuele. I'm a guitarist and instructor here at Clark College in Vancouver, Washington and I'm here to discuss how to tune the flamenco guitar. Tuning the flamenco guitar is no different than any other nylon stringed guitar. There are a few ways to approach tuning the guitar. You can use a piano that will give you pitches on all six strings. You can use an electronic tuner that will also give you pitches on all six strings and some of them also have gages or needles indicating the 440 pitch or 400 hertz which is concert pitch. I will be demonstrating how to use a tuning fork. This tuning fork either, you can get it either for the fifth string to tune one string in pitch then relate to relative tuning. This tuning fork will be 440 and I will get the fifth string of the guitar in pitch. You will hold the tuning fork by the base of it. Never hold the tuning fork on the fork, it needs to vibrate loosely on the bottom of the tuning fork. You would gently hit it on your knee, put it on the bridge base, thus giving you the pitch of the fifth string of the guitar. You will try to get this fifth string as close as possible to that pitch. If you are not sure you can detune the string, go up to the pitch. Once you have that pitch in tune the fifth string is in tune the next step is to continue tuning the guitar with what we call relative tuning. What you need to do is press on, since you had the fifth string in tune you want to press on the sixth string on the fifth fret giving you the A note, matching it to the open A string which you just tuned. Now if the fifth string, excuse me if the sixth string is a little out of tune you would hear a vibration of the two pitches clashing, as you can hear. You slowly want to tune up to the pitch, don't try to tune down to the pitch. It is easier to tighten the string up and get close to that A. As you continue to go to the A, the open A string notice the frequency is getting slower, striking both strings slowly matching both pitches. As you tune the sixth string now we want to tune the fourth string. We need to press on the fifth string on the fifth fret which is a D note. The fifth string is in tune. We want to tune the fifth string, excuse me, we want to tune the fourth string to the fifth string. If you're not sure detune. As you can tell it's out of tune and the frequencies are clashing, slowly tune up to the pitch, striking each string slowly to hear the difference. Striking the open fourth string first which is the string you are tuning, getting those pitches perfectly in tune, next string we want to tune the third string. Press on the fourth string, fifth fret giving you a G note so now the fourth string is in tune, we want to tune the third string to the fourth string. Again that is in tune, what if it wasn't? There are some frequencies. Slowly tune up to the pitch. Now we are tuning a nylon string to a metal string. The tambers are a little different but the pitch is still a G in tune. As we continue down we want to tune the second string to the third string. Since the guitar is tuned in the interval of a fourth between the fifth and sixth, sixth and fifth, fifth and fourth, fourth and third but between the second and third is tuned to a third therefore, we need to go down to the fourth string and press, not the fifth string because the interval is smaller. So therefore, we need to press on the third string on the fourth fret giving us a B, tuning it to the open, excuse, me tuning the open B on the second string to the B note on the third string pressing on the fourth fret, hearing the frequency clashing. That's in tune. The last string, let's move back up to the fifth fret wanting to tune the first string to the second string pressing on the second string, fifth fret giving us an E, since we just tuned the second string. Now you want to tune the first string matching that E that we are pressing on the fifth fret, tuning the first string of the guitar. The treble strings sometimes are easier to hear since they're a higher frequency. Relative tuning is because even if you are not in tune to 440 perfect pitch you can still tune the guitar to itself if you are playing solo. The guitar will always be in tune. Of course if you are playing with somebody else then both of you need to be tuned at 440 or whatever pitch you so desire."