“Why isn’t he tuning his guitar? Doesn’t he realize it’s out of tune??? This thought has passed through my mind countless times when watching guitarists on stage. They continue on to the next song as if the guitar was not out of tune at all. But you can clearly hear that something is off! So, why do they continue to play?
I believe that this happens because guitarists aren’t properly taught what to listen for. Most are taught to tune at the fifth fret and get the pitches close and the guitar is supposed to be in tune. But, let me share with you an easier way to tune using open strings.
Tuning with this method makes for a faster and more accurate guitar tuning than the standard methods. Once you begin to do this you will develop a better ear and realize when your guitar is the slightest bit out of tune.
I wouldn’t say that I invented something new. I am sure other guitarists have used this method to great effect. I have never seen this concept taught however and it has changed the way I look at guitar tuning. This method of tuning is more how a piano tuner would approach tuning a guitar.
To learn it all you must know is what to listen for. When tuning a guitar, you are not always listening to pitch. At a certain point, pitch doesn’t matter, and you will listen to the slow waves or beats within the intervals…
What you will learn
-
- The standard method of guitar tuning
- Why the standard method is not always accurate
- Why you shouldn’t always listen to pitch when tuning
- How to listen to waves and beats instead of pitch.
- How to more accurately tune a unison
- Why you should tune in fourths instead of unisons
- Why I use this method instead of standard methods
- How to tune in fourths instead of unisons
- How to tune in octaves
- How to more accurately tune low E to drop D
- Why you shouldn’t use high E as a reference point when tuning from low D to E
The standard method of guitar tuning
Most guitar players are Familiar with the standard method of tuning the guitar at the fifth fret. But for those that are not I will go over it. Skip this section if you already know this.
The guitar should be tuned to the following notes from the lowest strings to the highest.
E
A
D
G
B
E
The guitar is tuned in “perfect forth” intervals accept for the B string which is tuned in a “major third.” The objective of tuning is to match each string in pitch to the previously tuned one.
Start by tuning your low E string to a reference pitch. This can either be another guitar, a keyboard or another E reference pitch.
If the only other available device is an electronic tuner, you may use that to tune only the low E string. Since the idea here is to develop our ear lets tune the rest of the guitar without it.
If you are not used to doing this be aware that it may take some time for your ear to develop the sensitivity of small pitch changes.
After the low E string is tuned place your finger on the fifth fret. This note at the fifth fret is an A and it is the note that you will match your next string to.
Make sure these pairs of strings are completely in tune before moving on. (See video for a better idea of what to listen for.)
After the A string is in tune, place your finger on the fifth fret and match D to the open D string.
Do the same thing on the D string matching the G note to the G string.
When you get to the G string, do not match the pitches at the fifth fret. Because of the way the guitar is tuned, move down to the forth fret and match the B note with the B string.
After tuning the B string use the fifth fret to tune the last E string.
Why the standard method of guitar tuning is not always accurate
The standard way of guitar tuning is not always very accurate. This is not to say that the method itself is to blame.
if done correctly your guitar will be well tuned, however this method is more prone to user error. This is because most people listen to pitch and end up tuning a pair of strings “close enough” instead of as good as they could be. With one pair of strings this may not make much of a difference but across the entire set of strings differences add up!
Why you shouldn’t always listen to pitch when tuning
Most guitarists are taught to listen to only pitches when tuning, trying to detect if a note is sharp or flat of its pure point. This is correct but only works until your pitches are almost in tune with each other.
When tuning two notes that sound the same, in order to get the most accurate results, you cannot really listen to pitch. Instead, you will listen to the waves between the two pitches.
How to listen to waves and beats instead of pitch.
Every musical interval on a fixed stringed instrument has what’s known as “beats” These beats occur naturally when trying to tune in equal temperament as all notes in equal temperament are not completely in tune.
To demonstrate what this sounds like tune you’re a string to the E string at the fifth fret. Now slightly detune the A string and you will notice a subtle chorus affect. If you continue to detune you will notice the chorus affect getting wider. Detune even more and you will finally detect the actual pitch going flat.
It is this subtle chorus affect that many guitarists do not pay attention to when tuning. This is what causes your guitar to be out of tune even after you think you have “tuned” it.
How to more accurately tune two notes that are the same
So now that we know why our guitar is still out of tune even after we have tried to tune it, let’s talk about how to ensure a very accurate tuning.
The word unison means “the same.” So when we tune a unison, we want the two strings to sound exactly the same with no beats or waves within the intervals. In other words, we want to hear no chorus affect when we play the two strings.
To ensure that the two strings that you are testing are completely in tune with one another, tune the strings until there is no difference at all between the two tones. No chorus affect within the tone. If you are not used to doing this in may take you a bit of time. But no matter how long it takes you stick with it as this will create a far better tuning for you and you are also developing your ear.
Disadvantages of traditional tuning methods.
Tuning unisons to one another has been used for hundreds of years and is the traditional method of tuning the guitar. While this method produces a guitar that is well tuned, it does have some disadvantages.
Its main disadvantage is in the time it takes to produce a good tuning.
Why you should tune in fourths instead of unisons
So far, we have discussed how to tune unisons or two notes that are exactly the same. But let’s change things up and learn to tune using fourths instead of the unisons.
The reason for tuning the guitar using the intervals of a forth is because it is easy to tell when the interval is pure with no beats. Unlike with unisons, you can tell if the note is flat or sharp before you tune it. So no more guessing!
You can tune every string using a forth interval except the open B string. However, there are “test notes” that you can use to tell if that string is in tune.
The other reason to use this method for tuning is because it is a massive time saver over traditional methods.
Learning to tune in fourths instead of unisons
The first thing to learn when tuning in fourths is what pure fourth, fifth and octave intervals are supposed to sound like. The reason you want to know this is so that you can have some “test notes” to verify that everything is in tune. You will see how this works as we go along.
To start tuning in fourths make sure your E string is in tune. You can do this with any means you can think of. Use a tuner, tune it to a keyboard, find an E pitch on Youtube, or your friends newly acquired guitar that you are jealous of.
Now we will tune the open A string to our open E string.
Tune the strings until you do not hear a wave between the two notes. If you have trouble doing this start by lowering the A string until it is flat. Gradually bring it up until you can tell that it is getting close to pitch.
Just like with tuning unisons, change from listening to the pitch of the note to listening to the waves and beats. As you near the pure point of the interval you will hear the beats and waves start to slow. You will know that you are in tune when you hear them stop.
If you hear them slowing down and then getting faster again this means you over shot and need to flatten it slightly. With time you will be able to hear if you are sharp or flat before you even tune a note.
At this point your first two strings should be in tune with each other. We can use the fifth interval to confirm this by putting your finger on the second fret of the A string.
Both the fourth and fifth interval should sound pure with no waves.
Testing the fourth and fifth against one another will let you know if either one of the intervals are wrong.
Continue tuning the guitar in this way until you get to the B string. Tuning open D to open A and G to open D and using the fifth interval to confirm on the second fret of any string.
Tuning the B and E string
Since the open G and open B string wouldn’t be a forth or a fifth interval we have to tune the B string differently. Although if you want to have some fun try playing both strings open… and take a second… to listen… do you hear anything strange when you play that interval?
You should hear a fast beating between the two notes. Once you hear it you can’t unhear it. It will be in every… single… third interval you play!
It is impossible to tune the interval of a third pure on a standard guitar because of the way our western equal temperament system is designed. But that’s another rabbit trail for another day.
There are a few ways you can tune the B string. One would be to put your finger on the B string first fret. This would create a fourth interval between your open G string and you can tune as normal. This is the easiest way.
Another method that I use though is to play the B string third fret and compare it against the open D string as an octave. Just like with every fourth and fifth interval you want the octave to sound pure. This can take a bit of practice but again remember we are developing our ear to hear very subtle changes.
After your B is in tune you can tune the high E as a pure fourth.
And hey, you are finally in tune! That wasn’t so bad was it? If you have made it this far hopefully you have watched the video where I can demonstrate what I am talking about.
Testing your tuning using chords
So, lets test your tuning by playing a G chord. But don’t just strum every string at once. Play them one right after another to see if any strings poke out. If not, you should have a well-tuned guitar.
How to more accurately tune low E to drop D
I have stood in front of many guitar players and watched them tune the low E string down to drop D countless times. I would say the percentage of players that get it right are 50 percent or less. Most of the time the open D string is used as a test note to tune down to open D and this is exactly what you should use.
Again though many players are not told how to hear if an interval is pure. So, close enough is as good as it gets.
Just like with all of our other intervals you want them to be pure with no waves or beats. It’s easier to flatten the low E string below pitch and bring it back up rather than bring it down.
Why you shouldn’t use high E as a reference when tuning from low D to E
Most people when tuning up from drop D back to E will use the high E string as a pitch reference. I wouldn’t recommend doing it that way as the high E string is two octaves apart from the low E.
This is to far of a span to really hear what’s going on between the octaves. The best way to make sure that your low E is in tune is to test it against the A string as a forth interval, or against the E on the D string second fret. Testing it in this area allows you to better hear if you still have waves in the interval.
Final thoughts
Give this new system a try for a while and see how you like it. Once you get it down and learn to hear what a fourth, fifth and octave is supposed to sound like you can tune your guitar very quickly and will notice when you are the slightest bit out of tune.
This system is great for tuning in standard but is amazing for tuning your guitar to any alternate tuning you can think of.
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