The correct guitar structure, as you know, absolutely in all cases determines the high-quality sound of the performed composition. A lot of methods can be used for this. At the same time, with the development of modern computer technologies, it is worth paying special attention to solving the issue of how to set up a guitar using a computer, tuner, mobile gadget such as a smartphone or tablet, or “by ear” using a tuning fork.
General Guitar Concepts
This section will cover the proper tuning of 6 and 12-string guitars. For those who do not know, it is especially worth noting the fact that the main notes in both cases are practically the same. The only difference is that in the case of a 12-string instrument , 6 pairs of strings are used. In this case, the first (upper) three pairs of notes are built in unison, and the remaining four pairs (lower) - using an octave, when one of the strings in a pair sounds exactly an octave lower, compared to the main tone.
Actually, you can configure both types of tools in several ways. Perhaps it is here that you can find a universal solution to how to tune your guitar using a computer, although this method has not received a particularly strong distribution. It is good, say, for home use.
At concerts, professional guitarists most often use the tuning of the instrument using a special device called a tuner, or “by ear”. Naturally, the first method is more convenient, since all this can be done in silence. In this case, you can even notice deviations in the guitar system by tenths of a percent. You understand that the human hearing, as a rule, is not capable of perceiving such dissonances. The maximum you can count on is an audible quarter-tone deviation. This is where understanding how to tune a guitar using a tuner comes in handy . But more on that later.
As for tuning the guitar “by ear”, this technique implies that moment that a person should have, if not absolute perception, then a very subtle hearing that can perceive deviations in the sound of strings in unison (if tuning is used according to frets) or sound purity intervals between two adjacent strings. To do this, you really need to have a well-developed hearing, able to catch not only the difference in sound, but also all the dissonance vibrations and vibration that are created if two strings sound even with a minimal difference.
As already clear, for this it is necessary to develop and improve their abilities. With the tuning using the definition of musical intervals of triads and chords, sounding at the same time plucking two or more strings, good knowledge of solfeggio will not hurt. It is believed that in music education it is one of the most basic, not counting the ability to play the instrument itself.
All this methodology is also suitable for tuning the guitar using computer systems and special software products. This, so to speak, is the basics.
How to tune a 6-string guitar
Now you can go directly to the setup. How to tune a 6-string guitar? The main sequence from the first to the sixth string includes the mi of the second octave, the si of the first octave, the salt of the first octave, the d of the first octave, for the small octave and the mi of the small octave. Note, compared with piano musical notation, here the system is increased by one octave. So, for example, the mi of the second octave on the guitar corresponds to the note of the mi of the first octave on the piano.
Now about tuning "by ear" by frets. First, hold the second string to V fret. The sound should be in unison with the first open string (i.e. the same). Such a sequence of actions is performed for all other pairs of strings except for a pair of the second and third, where the tuning is performed using the fourth fret.
How to tune a 12-string guitar
Tuning a 12-string guitar to the main strings using frets is done exactly the same. But, as mentioned above, the four lower pairs have an octave difference between them. On frets, you can use the same rules, but to clamp not the main, but additional strings.
On the other hand, solving the problem of how to tune a 12-string guitar, you can also use natural flagolets (as for a 6-string instrument), but for a novice musician this method is quite complicated.
Using a tuner to tune a guitar
Tuning your guitar with the tuner is easy in this situation. For acoustic instruments, in most cases, overhead or microphone tuners are used that respond to string vibrations.
For electric guitars, you can use special tuners with linear inputs or the same virtual ones.
Only in this case, the instrument is included in the connector of the tuner itself or the soundcard of the PC. By the way, understanding the question of how to tune a guitar using a computer will come in handy here.
Computer programs for tuning the guitar
As for the use of software of this kind, for the most part, such applications are virtual tuners or guitar processors that have tuning tools in their arsenal. In principle, the solution to the problem of how to tune a guitar using a computer is fundamentally no different from tuning using a tuner.
For proper tuning, you can use the simplest applications such as Guitar Tuner, in which after extracting the sound (when you select a specific string in the field on the right), the percentage of deviation, expressed in decibels, appears on the screen. After that, we simply adjust each string to full compliance with the original frequency, and then press the Play button. The tone of each tuned string will be played here.
Among applications of this type, you can find quite a lot of free software products designed for different operating systems, computers or mobile gadgets.
In Strum Acoustic GS or in the popular Guitar Rig app, the algorithm is the same. You must select the tuner tab for tuning, and then compare the sound of the strings with the original frequency embedded in the program itself. For example, for the first octave it has a frequency of 440 Hz.
In this case, the first program is an emulator of an acoustic guitar, and the second is a full-fledged guitar processor. When the deviation arrow shows the value of zero (either in graphical execution, or in percent, or in decibels), you can congratulate yourself - the setting is made in the most correct way. This should be done for each of the six or twelve strings, taking into account the specifics of the instrument itself.
In any case, both applications can work with both acoustics and electrics. Again, they can be designed for acoustic analysis of the incoming signal from the microphone or directly when the guitar is plugged into the sound card jack or into the headphone jack on a mobile gadget using a special adapter. As you can see, the question of how to tune a guitar using a computer is not particularly difficult.