Time to learn to tune a guitar! So far, we have been tackling barre chords and how to play them in the past articles. I certainly hope that you as a guitar student have learned a lot by studying those articles and putting them into practice. Now that you know the basic barre chords and how to play them, it is time to add more knowledge to your guitar playing and to improve your technique more!
We will discuss here three easy ways that you can tune a guitar. Learning how to tune your own guitar is very important because an out-of-tune instrument will not produce good music. Now pay attention because this information is something you cannot afford to pass up on! You can’t always ask your guitar tutor or your more experienced friend to keep tuning your guitar, right?
Now before we even begin to discuss the different ways you can tune a guitar, you need to be familiar with the guitar strings and their names. The sixth string (that’s the one on the topmost part, the thickest string) is E (low E), the fifth is A, the fourth is D, the third is G, the second is B, and the first string is E (high E).
Tune A Guitar: Use an Electric/Digital Tuner
Using an electric tuner to tune a guitar is perhaps the easiest method for a beginner. An electric tuner is available from any guitar shop, both in your local area and online. An electric tuner looks like a small rectangular box with a series of lights on top of it. To use it, just turn it on and then turn your guitar’s strings, starting from the sixth. You will notice that when you pick the string, the light in the tuner will move. Keep turning the string and picking (don’t let the string ring too long). When you notice that the middle light in the tuner lights up, slow down already. Stop when the light in the middle stays put – this means that your string is already in tune. That right there is one easy way to tune a guitar.
Tune A Guitar: Use another instrument
This method used to tune a guitar usually works better if you are already a more experienced musician, or if you already have a solid foundation in music and know how to work other instruments aside from the guitar. You can use a piano or another guitar that is in tune. We mentioned beforehand that the strings of a guitar are EADGBE – to tune your instrument with the help of a piano, all you have to do is play these notes and then turn the corresponding guitar strings until they match the sound on the piano. For example, you are tuning the lower E: press the E note in the middle octave on the piano, and then turn your guitar strings until the sound of your guitar string matches the sound of the piano note. The most commonly used octave/pitch in the piano to tune a guitar is the middle one so that it is neither too high nor too low.
To use another guitar as a basis to tune a guitar involves the same principle – you play each guitar string individually, and then adjust your own strings until they sound the same.
Tune A Guitar: The 5th Fret Method
To tune a guitar using this method will take a bit of practice, and a very keen ear for sound. You need to train your ear to be sensitive to the differences in pitch for you to be able to use this method properly. Now to do this, you need to make sure first that your sixth string is in tune so that you can tune a guitar. If you’re not sure, tune it by using any of the methods we have already discussed. Once the sixth string is in tune, press down on the fifth fret and then pick the string. The sound that this creates will be the basis of tuning your fifth string, because pressing down on the fifth fret of the sixth string has the same sound of an open A string. Adjust the A string until it sounds the same as the E string above it when you press down on the fifth fret. Do the same procedure for the rest of the strings – press down on the fifth fret of the A string, and make sure this sound matches that of the open D string, press down on the fifth fret of the D string for tuning the G string, and so on.
These are just some of the ways you can tune a guitar. Once you progress in your music, you will find that there are more ways to tune a guitar, depending on the music you wish to create! But for now, keep studying these methods first – you will be to tune a guitar in no time!