Oct 19 2008
How To Tune Your Guitar
In standard tuning your strings will be tuned to the as follows, notes low-to-high: E A D G B E. There are other tunings, but don’t mess with them unless you know what you are doing. Most guitar music is in standard tuning.
Tuners
Guitar tuners come in all sorts of models and prices. Some guitars even have a built in tuner like my acoustic/electric Oscar Schmidt. “Thunder” bought his tuner for around 20$
If you don’t have a tuner that’s OK because you can use online tuners like this one.
How To Use A Tuner
Loosen the tuning pegs on your guitar. Then tighten one peg at a time trying to match the the pitch of each string as closely as you can. The indicator will turn green on your tuner when you have the right pitch.
Once you have tuned all six strings, go back and check them again. Sometimes you’ll have to make some minor adjustments. Remember practice makes perfect and you’ll do it faster with practice.
Tuning Without A Tuner
This method is not the best solution. Especially if playing with others but it can be quite useful for the times you don’t have a tuner or Internet connection at hand. This method will tune the guitar with itself.
Ideally, you should have the 1st string (thickest) tuned to E. Get a tuning fork, they are small, durable and cheap.
Play the E note at the 5th fret on string 2 then play the open E, string 1 and tune so they sound the same.
Now play B at the 4th fret on string 3 and compare it with an open B, string 2. (Tune the fretted B)
Play G 5th fret on string 4 and compare that to an open G, string 3. (Tune the fretted G)
Tune D 5th fret on string 5 and compare it to open D, string 4. (Tune the fretted D)
Tune A 5th fret on string 6 to an open A, string 5.
This method is recommended only as your last resources. It can be difficult to hear if a note is too high or too low.
This will let you play any where any time, it’s worth practicing for the aspiring rock star.
Tuning Fork
Check this video on how to tune your guitar by ear, to see what I am talking about.
