How To Tune A Guitar
About Tuning
The first thing you should whenever you pick up the guitar
to play or practice is get it in tune. The sound of an
out of tune guitar ranks up there with the sound of fingernails
scratching on a chalkboard. It can be very discouraging
to play an out of tune guitar, because nothing you play
will sound right. In fact some beginners quit playing
at all because of this very reason.
Tuning your guitar is something you get better at with
practice. It takes time to develop your ears to the point
that you are able to fine-tune your instrument. Once you
have developed your "hearing power" you may
hear subtle differences in pitch that you haven't heard
before.
Always tune up. This means that you increase the tension
of the string until it reaches the desired tone. If you
go too far loosen the string tension and tune up again.
This is much more accurate than tuning down and increases
the chances of the string staying in tune.
To tune your guitar you'll need a reference pitch from
another guitar, a piano, a tuning fork, or an electronic
tuner. You can get a decent tuner at any music store for
under $20. I suggest you get one if you don't already
have one.
Standard Tuning
In standard tuning your strings will be tuned to the
following notes low-to-high: E A D G B E. There are other
tunings, but don't bother messing with them unless you
know what you are doing. Over 95% of all guitar music
is in standard tuning or a dropped down version of it.
Some guitar players tune all the strings down one half
step.
Use the audio clips to get your guitar in tune to standard
tuning. Match the pitch of each string as closely as you
can. It's all right if it takes you awhile. You'll get
better with practice. One you have tuned all six strings,
go back and check them again. Sometimes you'll have to
make some minor adjustments. Remember to tune up to the
correct pitch and not down
