TUNING

Tuning your guitar is one of the most important things you can do for yourself while learning to play. I will go over several methods of tuning for you and ways to train your ears while you learn to tune. Once your ear is trained, you won't have to worry about whether or not the batteries work in your digital tuner.

As a beginner with guitar and perhaps music all together, I suggest that you go get yourself a digital tuner. It is fairly self explanatory. I had one of these as well as a pitch pipe. I liked the pipe because I don't have to buy batteries and it helps my ears train instead of relying on the digital tuner, or meter, to show flat or sharp.

Next, I'd like to discuss tuning with your guitar only. You may wish to tune your bottom E string for this. I call this 5th fret tuning. What you do is tune your bottom E (biggest) string with a tuner or pluck both E strings and listen to the “wa, wa's.” If the wa's are fast, you are sharp. If the wa's are slow, you are flat. If you don't have any wa wa's you are in tune. In succession from the top to the bottom, press the low E string in the 5th fret and then pluck your A string. Listen to the wa wa's and adjust your tuning pegs. Next, press A string in the 5th fret and pluck D string. Press D sting in 5th fret and pluck G string. Press G string in 4th fret and B in 5th fret (note: the switch in frets here). Press B string in 5th fret and pluck E string. This particular form of tuning is great for getting your ear ready to hear music.

Last, but definitely not least, is harmonic tuning. I would consider this a bit more advanced, but once you have your ear trained and have a good idea of how to touch the strings, this is an incredibly accurate method for tuning. It goes something like this: From the top to the bottom, lightly touch your E string at the fret line with your fretting hand, do not press the string, and pluck the string at the same time. You must release the touch with your fretting finger so that the note will continue to play. Play 5th fret E string and 7th fret A string, they should be the same pitch. Play 5th fret A and 7th fret D. Play 5th fret D and 7th fret G. Play 7th fret low E and pluck open B. Last, play 5th fret B and 7th fret E.

An important reminder: Be sure that you tune often. Don't just tune at the beginning of a session. Tune several times per session. This will help you hear intonality (when notes aren't in tune) and get your ears trained.