“Can you tune my guitar please?”
One of the sad truths about the guitar is that it will require regular tuning - a nightmare for any non musically-experienced novice-player.
So lets fill you in so you have all you need to know musically if you are a little unsure by having a look at our guide to Note and Pitch
OK?
lets start…
Standard tuning
The most common tuning method is referred to as “standard tuning” and don’t worry, generally speaking (for a beginner) there is ONE right tuning. This is E,A,D,g,b,e (lowest to highest pitch, thickest string to thinnest string). The jumps are to the nearest note of that name, so not an octave and a bit or more.
How to tune
There are two methods of tuning used, having a reference pitch or having an electronic tuner.
- Tuning to a reference pitch
A reference pitch allows you to tune the guitar by comparing the pitch of your guitar to a pitch that is almost guaranteed to be what it should be, such as a note from another tuned instrument, a tuning fork, a pitch pipe.
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Example
Our guitar is 100% out of tune! Luckily we have a tuner, hurrah. The Qwick Tune Guitar Professor has an electronic pitch pipe function which rings out at the pitches of all 6 strings of the guitar. So after turning on the pitch pipe we select the Tone function and it will ring out at the Low E as default. Using this pitch we can mimic it with our 6th string (called the E string). When done we can now change the reference pitch to the next string (A) and repeat the procedure. You may only need to tune one string to the correct pitch and do the rest by tuning the remaining strings relative to that one. We will have a look at how to do this later in the blog.
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- Tuning with an electronic tuner
The electronic tuner is the beginner’s best friend; the electronic tuner can hear your guitar and will tell you if you are flat or sharp of your desired note. Two forms of input are microphone and cable so if you are using an acoustic or classical without a pre amp don’t fret.
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Example
Once again our guitar is completely out of tune, Qwik Tune Guitar Professor to the rescue! The Qwik Tune Guitar Professor also has the electronic tuner function. After turning the tuner on select the tune function, now play the 6th string, if the string is tuned to roughly the right pitch an E should appear on the screen with the needle (and LEDs) displaying how close to perfect E it is. Fine tune the string until the needle appears in the middle and the green LED stays. If the string is significantly out of tune the note on screen may not be E, if it IS out of tune it is more likely than not to be lower in pitch (i.e. D or C). In this case you must tighten the string until the note name becomes E, then it becomes a matter of fine tuning it - as before.
Caution!
If the note appearing is F or G for when tuning an E string be careful, you may be sharper than E. Don’t risk breaking a string - If unsure de-tune the string and start again, better safe than sorry.
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Hope this helps.
Good Luck - Rich’
