Now that I’ve gotten you started on reading free guitar tab music, in this article I’ll be talking about something of extreme importance: how to tune a guitar. In teaching my students
how to tune a guitar, some pick up on it straight away, others need a small time to know how it works and why, but everyone agrees, it makes no difference how well or how accurately you
might be playing the free guitar chord chart or how much you’ve been practicing the guitar song chords, if your instrument is out of tune, there is simply no way it’s going to sound excellent! Any
piece of free guitar tab music can sound fantastic as written, but only if the guitar playing it is in tune. Period.
“Fret” not, everyone (pun intended!) The art of how to tune a guitar is within simple reach, and by the end of this article, you’ll know exactly how to do it! Among the free guitar tab music
featured in these articles, you’ll find a sheet of tab showing exactly what notes to play to tune the guitar to itself, and following some simple instructions, you’ll be a perfectly-tuned pro in no time!
Let’s start with the “simple” way of how to tune a guitar. The method that you may already be familiar with is the electronic tuner. These are very common, and even are included free with
some guitar starter kits. These small, battery-operated gizmos can make tuning a complete breeze. You simply plug the electric guitar into the input, pluck one string at a time, and watch
the needle on the built-in screen. When the needle is in the middle of the scale, and the on-screen indicator says the right name of the string, that string is in tune. Simply pluck, watch, and adjust until each string is in tune. What happens if you don’t have an electronic tuner, though?
Or, what if you have an electronic tuner with batteries that have gone belly-up at the last minute? It’s always excellent to have a backup plot! Fortunately, when talking about how to tune a
guitar, there are several backup plans available.
The first step to tuning is to have a starting point. All of the strings are tuned to each other, but one of them has to be first! How do you know how to tune the first string? The answer,
once you’ve gotten some practice, and have gotten your ear trained, is you’ll just “know” what the pitch of the low “E” string should be. In the meantime, you can use a tuning fork or pitch pipe, both of which are available at most music stores.
Once the low “E” string has been matched to a reference pitch, from a tuning fork or pitch pipe, recorded note, online tone generator, or any other source (such as our online guitar tuner here: free guitar, the next step is to tune the
other strings to it. Using the neck diagram as a reference, you’ll notice that there are several places to find each note on the neck, in different octaves (more on octaves in another article) as well as notes that will be the same name and pitch. The first of these notes is the “A” note, located at the fifth fret of the low “E” string, which should be the same pitch as the open “A” string.
Play both notes together and compare the pitches- if the open “A” string is flat, or lower in pitch than the “A” note you’re playing on the “E” string, use the tuning key to tighten the string and bring it up to pitch. Conversely, if the “A” string is sharp (too high) loosen the string UNTIL IT’S TOO LOW, AND BRING IT UP TO PITCH! This is an vital step to keep in mind for tuning stability. The tuning will be less likely to slip if the string has been tuned “up” as opposed to having been tuned “down” to match the reference note! When comparing the reference note to the open string, keep in mind that severely out of tune notes are obvious- the closer they get to matching, the harder it will be to pick the “out of tune” one. Listen closely to two out of tune notes, and you’ll hear a slight vibration- a kind of gentle “pulsating” in the sound produced from the two notes. Check out our online guitar tuner at Guitar song chords
Going right up the neck, the next string to be tuned is “D.” The reference note for the “D” string is found at the fifth fret of the “A” string. Next in line is “G,” located at the fifth fret of the “D” string, followed by “B” which is at the FOURTH fret of the “G” string, and finally the high “E” note, found at the fifth fret of the “B” string. It is sometimes necessary to repeat the process 2 or 3 times before everything is in tune and ready to play. Two examples of this are when installing a new set of strings, and if your guitar is equipped with a tremolo bridge of any kind.
Tuning is of the utmost importance when playing any instrument, in any style. Proper tuning will (not “can”) make the difference between a song sounding solid and powerful, or like a complete disaster. The first habit to develop when learning guitar or any other instrument is to check its tuning, and to know when it’s time to check the tuning again. Until next time, keep it in
tune, and don’t let the strings get cold!
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