If you are an aspiring guitar player, then you are unlikely to be able to tune your guitar by ear. To do this, you need to have a lot of experience and skill, so most beginners use simpler methods, such as tuning a guitar through a tuner.
However, professionals also use similar devices when it is necessary to quickly and silently tune a musical instrument at a concert. Read
how to tune your guitar with the tuner in our article today.
Device characteristic
This element is a separate device or a program installed on a laptop or smartphone. In principle, there are no significant differences between these tuners - the principle of their operation is the same, and the only differences are only in the method of indication. For work, you can take the simplest and cheapest tool on which there is a display with an arrow and a scale. Thanks to this tuner, you will maximally fine-tune your guitar with a minimum of effort.
How to tune the guitar according to the tuner?
First of all, you should start with the first string, clamping it on the 5th fret, which should correspond to the note "A". Sometimes beginners make mistakes by starting to tighten the string of a musical instrument, looking at the tuner monitor. However, it must be remembered that the guitar will not always be tuned if the device displays the letter “E” upon impact. The string can then sound in a completely different octave.
How to configure the guitar using the tuner correctly, without making such errors? Everything is very simple - when tightening the strings it is enough to use a tool such as a tuning fork. Then you can definitely set the notes of the musical instrument correctly. Although you can tune your guitar using the tuner without this device.
A few words about tuning forks
At the moment, there are several types of these tools - in the form of a whistle or a plug. Experts recommend the use of electronic tuning forks that issue the note “Mi” (the sound of an open first string). You can also use the online tuner, which can play the sounds of all open strings.
It should be noted that the tuning fork allows you to compare and publish only one note - “La” of the first octave. The frequency of reproduced sound is 440 Hz. The tuner determines the frequency of oscillation of both the note and the sound that corresponds to it.
How to further tune the guitar through the tuner? After you have tuned the “A” note, using the same tuner you need to “tune” this string. Make sure that when you hit the first open string, the arrow is in the middle of the “0” scale. The display will show the letter “E”.
How to tune a six-string guitar? Exposing the remaining elements
When the first string is tuned, act similarly with all the others (adjust to it). To do this, the 2nd string is clamped on the 5th fret. Here it is necessary to make it sound the same note as the first open one, that is, in unison. Then a tuner is taken and the rest of the strings are “tuned” according to the same rules. Thus, when hitting the 2nd non-clamped part, the display arrow will show the letter “B”.
After tuning the upper strings (the first two), proceed to the third. It should be clamped on the 4th fret, pulling up the notes to the sound, as on the second open. After that, the string is precisely tuned according to the tuner. Unlike all previous cases, the letter “G” should be displayed here on the device’s display.
How to tune your guitar using the tuner next? In the next stage IV, the element is clamped again on the 5th fret. Here, the tension to the note should be adjusted as you did on the previous open string. On the tuner, the sound open must correspond to the letter “D”. The next string is also clamped to the fifth fret and adjusts to the fourth open. The tuner display should show the letter “A”. And finally, the last sixth string is tuned to the previous one so that the symbol “E” is displayed on the scale. That’s probably all. At first, this process may seem complicated, but over time, novice guitarists get used to this task and treat it with inspiration.
What you need to remember based on this?
First of all, you need to learn to understand the standard structure of a six-string guitar. It includes several notes:
- Mi. It belongs to the thinnest, first string. When tuned correctly, the display should show the letter “E”.
- "C". This note belongs to the second string. On the screen of the device it is indicated as "H".
- "Salt". This note (respectively, the third) on the tuner should be set to the value "G".
- "Re." Here everything is similar - on the device it is exposed under the letter "D".
- “La” - under “A”.
- The last note “Mi” (the sixth string on the guitar) is tuned by the tuner to the value “E”.
Knowing how to tune the guitar according to the tuner is half the trouble - a real guitarist should know how to correctly correct all the defects that have arisen. When exposing a musical instrument and its strings, it is important to remember the errors that beginners can happen at any time. How to prevent this? Unfortunately, even a professional cannot avoid errors, so the only way out of the situation is to check the accuracy of tuning the strings of a musical instrument. Ideally, the first and sixth strings not pinned should sound in sync with the third, pinned on the 3rd fret.
Alternative methods
There are also other ways. For example, to check the correct tuning of the guitar, you can try another option - hold the first string on the 5th fret and compare its sound with the note “A”. The sound in this case should merge, that is, reproduced in unison. If the melodies are very different from each other, try to hold the first string in the 4th or 6th fret and compare again. If the sound of a clamped string on the fourth fret is similar to “A”, then the element is set too high and needs to be weakened. If this happened on the sixth, then here the part must, on the contrary, be twisted. Thus, by varying the tension of the strings, you will achieve the most synchronous sound of the guitar on all notes.
Also, one of the signs of fine tuning is the oscillation of the first string when the second is clamped on the 5th fret (the sound is extracted).
Knowing all these rules, you will definitely know how to tune your guitar using the tuner.