How to Tune a Guitar

How to use a Guitar Tuner

For accuracy when tuning it can be better to use an electronic tuner. An electronic tuner can be plugged into an electric guitar and most also have a built in microphone so they can tune by sound and can therefore also be used to tune acoustic guitars. Your guitar tuner will likely be set to 440Hz as its reference. On the tuner shown in the picture this is indicated at the top left of its display (if your guitar tuner has no indication of this then it will most likely be set to 440hz by default).

440Hz is known as “Concert pitch” which means what sound frequency is defined as being the note of "A" (that’s 440 Hertz for 440 sound waves per second). To be more specific it's the A above middle C or "A4", but for the purpose of tuning a Guitar the note of "A" is fine as most tuners will recognize all instances of the note of A, simply as "A". On many tuners (but not all) this can be adjusted; on the tuner in the picture this can be done with the “calib” buttons (short for “calibrate”). Some prefer to tune to 432Hz, I sometimes do, although often you will need to match the tuning of whatever accompaniment you are playing over, such as a backing track that is in 440Hz, while most modern music is indeed in 440Hz.

Pluck the string at a moderate volume so the tuner can pick up the sound. If you aren’t plugged into the tuner, you could rest the guitar on your lap with the tuner laid flat on the guitar so that the tuner can pick up the vibrations from the body of the instrument. I find this can also work for an un-amplified Electric guitar or Bass. This "non-plug" technique is similar to how the clip on guitar tuner works. The clip on tuner, usually attached to the guitar’s head, picks up the vibrations that resonate through the guitar from the strings being plucked. For example a Korg "Pitch-Clip" tuner, although if you prefer something that can adjust from 440Hz concert pitch you would need something more like an AW-LT100G.

When you pluck any string, the tuner’s display will show one of the following twelve letter note names from the musical alphabet. Notes such as A# (A sharp) and Bb (B flat) are actually different names for the same note (known as enharmonic equivalents), another example would be D# (D sharp) and Eb (E flat) .

Standard tuning for a guitar is when the open strings are tuned to the notes of E, A, D, G, B and E from the lowest sounding string (which is physically on top) to the highest sounding string (which is physically on the bottom), as shown on the fret-board picture below. "Open" means to pluck a string without using the fretboard. It is from the musical alphabet, we will need the guitar strings to be tuned to these specific notes.

Let’s start by tuning the low E string. If you pluck this string and the tuner display does not say “E” but instead says "D", then the string is too low and you will need to adjust the tuning peg of this string upward until your tuner says "E". On the other hand if your tuner says "F" then the string is too high and you will need to tune the string's tuning peg downward until your tuner says "E".

A chromatic guitar tuner detects all notes of the musical alphabet so the same applies to the aforementioned enharmonic equivalents; If your tuner says D# or Eb, then your low E string is a little too low and you will need to adjust the tuning peg of this string upward until your tuner says "E". If it says F or F#/Gb then it is too high and you will need adjust the tuning peg of this string downward to make it lower until it says “E”.

Now that we have the tuner correctly displaying "E" for our low E string, we need to make further, finer, adjustment to make sure we are exactly on the note of E. In the first picture below, although the display says “E” (on its top right), the dial is not in the centre and the red light is on for “b” (flat) to indicate the low E string is a little too low. We will need to make finer adjustment to the tuning peg to get the dial in the centre and the green light on to indicate the low E string is exactly in tune, as shown in the second picture.

As you adjust the peg, you will need to keep plucking the open string to keep it ringing so you can see the changes you are making on the guitar tuner’s display. Repeat the process for all strings until they are tuned to the notes E, A, D, G, B, E for standard tuning. Note: Other tunings can be used on the Guitar rather than the standard. Some examples would be D, A, D, G, A, D tuning or D, G, D, G, Bb, D tuning. If you are a beginner it will likely be a while before you come across these alternate tunings, never the less the same principals will apply to tuning the guitar.

How to Tune a Guitar by Ear

Not relying on an electronic tuner and tuning a guitar by ear can be less reliable if you don’t have good sound perception (a good ear) but it can make good practise to develop your ear. There are two ways of doing this. The first is to play the notes that you want to tune your guitar to on another device or instrument that is already in tune, such as pitch pipes. a piano or electronic keyboard. There are also various online tuners out there such as this one (if you want tunings other than standard E, A, D, G, B, E just type whichever tuning you want into the search box near the top of their webpage.

Relative Tuning

Relative tuning, which is mostly used for standard tuning, is to tune the guitar strings by referring to each other, so for this to work you will need to start with at least one string in tune already as a reference to work from, typically we start with the low E string.

The diagram shows how the strings relate to each other. When you play the 5th fret of most of the strings, it should give the same note as the next string up when it is played open. For example, providing that the low E string is in tune, we can play its 5th fret to give us the note of A, then we can tune the open A string so it sounds the same. Once the A string is in tune, its 5th fret can then be used to tune the D string.

You can work your way up through the strings like this tuning them in the same way. The only exception to this method is the B string. Rather than being tuned to the 5th fret of the G string it needs to be tuned to the 4th fret of the G string, this tuning actually makes “barre chords” possible. Understanding the different tuning of the B string can also play a later role in comprehending the layout of the fret-board and how scale or chord shapes appear on it.

Other things to note

Bass Guitar

A Bass Guitar may not seem as likely to go out of tune as all the strings are more sturdy and nickel wound, but the human ear is less tuned in to lower frequencies so it’s worth checking the tuning of your Bass. Standard tuning for a Bass is low E, A, D and G. To tune a Bass a standard guitar tuner can be used, preferably one with a "Bass" setting. Interesting fact: Humans are more tuned into mid-range frequencies (600Hz – 1.5Kz) which is one reason why the Bass usually plays single note lines rather than chords. Too many chords on a Bass might be perceived as the notes blending into each other and sound muddy.

Inertia

If you play the low E string reasonably hard and look at your tuner, you may notice the dial goes slightly sharp then settles. This is because of inertia, a physical body’s resistance to change of direction; in this case the string's initial resistance to the change of direction when plucked, which causes it to tighten slightly and make it go temporarily sharp. The more mass an object has (i.e. the thicker the string) the more inertia it has, so Bass guitar strings can be affected in this way. It can also apply to a lesser extent to the electric and acoustic guitar’s thicker strings. This is a subtlety that is not so easy to detect with the human ear which is one argument for using an electronic tuner. A tactic that can reduce inertia while tuning is to pluck the string closer to the guitar's bridge, another is to use Harmonics.

Harmonics & Intonation

The 12th fret of each string should give the same note as the open string, but at a higher octave. Harmonics are not as affected by string inertia. To play a harmonic, touch the string lightly with a fingertip directly above the fret (not behind the fret as you usually would when playing a note), then pluck the string with the other hand. If you can get the harmonic to sound you can then take your finger away from the string and it will continue to ring. This can take some practise at first. It can help to imagine you are touching a small insect with a finger of your fret-board hand without harming the insect at all, that is the only pressure you need.

Harmonics on the 12th fret can also be useful for judging your guitar’s intonation as the 12th fret should be the halfway point of the string between where it is held by the bridge at the bottom of the guitar, and the nut on the guitar’s head. If an open string is in tune yet the harmonic on the 12th fret sounds noticeably different then your intonation might be out.

Tuning a Nylon String Guitar

Because nylon strings are a bit more flexible and stretchy than metallic strings, a guitar that has only recently been strung with this type of string (such as a classical guitar) can have an issue with the string slipping very slightly as it settles into where it has been tied around at either end, be that up at the guitar's head or at the opposite end where it is attached to the bridge. For this reason when tuning a newly nylon strung guitar I will often start by taking the string from wherever it is and deliberately adjusting the tuning peg to get the string to somewhere that is a little lower than where it should be. Then as far as getting the string in tune, I will concentrate specifically on doing this on the way up, turning the tuning peg upward so I am tightening the string, making it less likely to slip compared to lowering it. Newly strung nylon strings will tend to go a little flat for the first couple of days, needing more tuning until they finally tighten, particularly the smoother G, B and high E strings.

Varying Temperatures

If hot your guitar may go a little flat, if cold it may go a little sharp. It is best to keep your guitar at room temperature, which can help avoid any issues that can be incurred over time from exposure to varying temperatures.