Sunday, March 1, 2009

Acoustic Guitar Tuning Done the Right Way

By Jay Tyler

You should be sure to do your acoustic guitar tuning each time you sit down to play, whether you are practicing or performing. Its pretty unpleasant to try to make beautiful music on an un-tuned guitar. Lots of guitar students think their inexperience is ruining the sound, not understanding the importance of doing their tuning regularly. You will be much more successful in your music making if you set aside that small amount of time it takes to tune your instrument properly.

The best way for acoustic guitar tuning is to use an electronic tuner. The electronic tuner has a built in microphone and as you strum on each string, the indicator will show you how close you are to the correct pitch, showing you whether you are flat or sharp. Then by turning the tuning key for each string and doing a bit of tweaking until the tuner shows that you are are now in tune.

Always remember to tune up. This means going from loose to tight until the string is in tune. If you go too tightly and then loosen the string slightly to put it in tune, this is referred to as tuning down. It is always best to loosen the string and then re-tighten it to put it into tune. Tuning up keeps the string in tune in a much better fashion and the results are more precise.

A reference pitch source is needed whether or not you want to use an electric tuner when learning how to tune your guitar. Some options as to other things you can use are a tuning fork, another in tune guitar, a piano, or an MP3 that you know is in tune. Your results will always be accurate if you use an electric tuner when acoustic guitar tuning. If you'd like to try it the old fashioned way, an electric tuner will be helpful if you'd like to check your results.

Start your acoustic guitar tuning with the sixth, or E string, using a reference pitch. Once you have the E string tuned, you can then tune the other five strings to that note. The reason for how and why this tuning method works is quite lengthy. If you want to know more you can go to your local music store and someone there should be able to explain it to you, but extensive musical knowledge isn't required in order to perform acoustic guitar tuning.

Here's how to do your acoustic guitar tuning:

(1) Once the low E string (sixth string) is in tune, play it on the fifth fret, and then pluck the open fifth string. Adjust the the tone of the fifth string as necessary until the two notes match. (2) Move up to the fifth string. Playing it on the fifth fret, tune the open forth string. (3) Similarly, adjust the tone of the third string while playing the fifth fret of the fourth string. (4) For the next note, play the third string on the fourth fret (not the fifth) and tune the second string. (5) Tune the open high E string, comparing it to the tone of the second string, fifth fret.

If you're just starting out with acoustic guitar tuning, you may want to ask someone at the music store when you purchased your guitar to show you how to do acoustic guitar tuning the proper way. Then just keep practicing until you're comfortable with the process. It takes time and practice to learn to do acoustic guitar tuning, especially by ear. For the novice, the simplest way to perform acoustic guitar tuning is with the use of an electronic tuner. You can find one for around $20 and you will definitely get your moneys worth. An electronic tuner that is made specifically for tuning guitars has the ability to recognize which string is being played.

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