How To Tune The Guitar

Guitar Tuners are easy to use. Some even play the pitches of each string, like the Qwiktune guitar tuner pictured to the right.. Most tuners simple tell you when the string is in tune by watching the needle. When it’s in the middle, that means the string is tuned. Using guitar tuners is the easiest way to tune your guitar.

My favorite guitar tuner is the Intellitouch tuner. What I love about this tuner is that you can tune your guitar accurately in a very noisy room. It literally clamps to the headstock of your guitar and senses the pitches by the vibration of the instrument.

Another nice feature is that is a chromatic tuner. That means it can sense any note, not just the regular six strings of the guitar. This means it will work on any instrument with a headstock. You can use it to tune a violin, a banjo, bass, etc. Plus, if you want to use alternate tuning for your guitar, it’s quite easy to tune with this tuner.

How To Tune A Guitar To A Piano

How To Tune A Guitar To Itself

You can get the first pitch with a tuning fork, or pitch pipe, or simple tune your guitar to itself.

1. Tune The 5th string by plucking the note on the 6th string 5th fret and then matching that with the 5th string open.
2. Tune the 4th string by plucking the note on the 5th string 5th fret and then matching that to the 4th string open.
3. Tune the 3rd string by plucking the note on the 4th string 5th fret and then matching that with the 3rd string open.
4. Tune the 2nd string by plucking the noteon the 3rd string 4th fret and then matching that with the 2nd string open.
5. Tune the 1st string by plucking the note on the 2nd string 5th fret and then matching that with the 1st string open.

This diagram shows where on the fretboard you hold down the place to tune the open string. For example, there is a ‘5’ on the 6th string, 5th fret to show it is the same pitch as the Fifth string open.

As you can see, you hold down the 5th fret of the string above the one you are tuning, except for the relationship between the 2nd and 3rd strings. You hold down the 4th fret of the 3rd string to get the sound of the 2nd string open.