Tag: guitar tuning

How to Tune a Guitar

open string names for how to tune a guitarThis article will show you how to tune a guitar using our free online guitar tuner below. This online guitar tuner can be used in any browser, including those found on a mobile device.

Start by learning the note names for the guitar strings in standard tuning. From the lowest (thickest) to the highest (thinnest) string, the notes are E-A-D-G-B-E. The phrase “Even Average Dogs Get Bones Easily” might help you remember the correct order as you learn how to tune a guitar in this lesson.

Steps for How to Tune a Guitar

  1. Click on a note name button in the guitar tuner (above) to hear the reference pitch for that guitar string.
  2. Play the corresponding string on your guitar and listen carefully to hear whether it sounds higher or lower than the reference pitch.
  3. Adjust the pitch of the string higher or lower until the sound you hear matches the reference pitch from the tuner.

Electric and Nylon String Guitar Tuner ExamplesGuitar Tuning Tips:
It’s best to start with the pitch a bit lower and tune the string up to the reference pitch. This helps keep the string from getting caught in the nut and going out of tune as you play.

Make sure you know how to tune a guitar string higher or lower in pitch. To adjust the pitch of a string lower, simply turn the tuning key for that string towards yourself. Turn the tuning key away from yourself to raise the pitch.

These instructions assume that your strings are wound around the tuning pegs in the standard direction. The pictures to the left illustrate how the string should be wound for steel-string and nylon-string guitars. To learn more about how strings should be wound see the how to string a guitar videos.

Other Types of Guitar Tuners

You’ve learned how to tune your guitar with our reference online guitar tuner. Next, you might want to try one of the other types of guitar tuners. A digital guitar tuner is the most popular option, as they detect the pitch and show you visually to tune up or down to get in tune with a high degree of accuracy. Note that eMedia’s intermediate and beginning guitar lesson software includes a wonderful digital guitar tuner, metronome, chord dictionary and audio recorder. Those guitar tools are also available as a standalone product for Mac and Windows as the eMedia Guitar Toolkit ($4.95). When you need a portable digital guitar tuner, there are products like the PitchBoy mini tuner that can fit on a keyring.

How to Tune a Guitar
using the Relative Tuning Technique

The relative tuning technique requires that one string is already in tune. Then you tune all the other strings to that string. To do this you must use your ear to match pitches, just as when you learned how to tune a guitar with the reference pitches above. You must also know which fretted notes are the same notes as the open strings you’re trying to tune.

Alternate Guitar Tunings – Low, Drop D, Open G and Others

Guitar players often change the tuning of the guitar in order to get a particular sound or combination of notes in a chord. These tunings are called alternate guitar tunings. Sometimes this is simply changing all the open strings higher or lower by the same number of steps (low tuning), changing one string lower (as in drop D tuning) or tuning all the strings to an open guitar chord (as in open G).

How to Tune a Guitar with Relative Tuning

Tuning the guitar with relative tuning requires that you have one string (preferably the low E) that you know is tuned to the correct pitch. You can tune the string by using a reference pitch from our free online guitar tuner or by using a digital guitar tuner. Once you have that string tuned, you can use that string to tune all the other strings using the relative tuning technique described below.

How To Tune A Guitar with Relative TuningIn relative tuning, open strings are matched to fretted notes of the same pitch on other strings, as seen in the chart here and description below.

5th string played open = 6th string played with finger held behind the 5th fret.

4th string played open = 5th string played with finger held behind the 5th fret.

3rd string played open = 4th string played with finger held behind the 5th fret.

2nd string played open = 3rd string played with finger held behind the 4th fret.

1st string played open = 2nd string played with finger held behind the 5th fret.

Relative Tuning Process

  1. The relative tuning technique requires that you have already tuned your low E (the 6th, or thickest) string. You can use a reference tone such as a reference note tuner or a guitar that is already in tune.
  2. Play the low E string and turn the tuning key associated with that string to tighten/loosen the string until it matches the reference pitch.
    NOTE: If you’re having trouble matching the pitch, try loosening the string so you can hear it’s definitely a lot lower than your reference pitch, and then tighten the string until it’s in tune. You will hear the sound waver or “beat” slower and slower, the closer you get to being in tune. This wavering will stop when you are in tune.
  3. Fret the low E string at the fifth fret and play the string. You are hearing the note “A.” This becomes your next reference note.
  4. Play the A string (string 5) and adjust the corresponding tuning peg key until the sound you hear matches the reference pitch from the tuner
  5. Use the chart above to continue the process for each of the strings from lowest (thickest) to highest (thinnest).

Once you’re all tuned-up, try playing a few chords to make sure everything sounds right, and make adjustments as needed. Your ear will develop over time so that eventually you’ll be able to tune your guitar quickly.