How To Tune Up Your Guitar Correctly

Here is a fretboard diagram which shows all the notes on the fretboard. If you play the strings 'open' (that is, without holding down a fret) you'll get the notes on the left hand side, which is at the nut.

First, you'll need to know what an E sounds like so you can tune the thickest string to E.

(Not many people know what an 'E' sounds like without hearing a reference note. If they are able to do this, it is called 'perfect pitch' or 'absolute pitch'. They'll be able to hear a car horn or school bell and tell you what pitch it is. Many classical composers are known to have had it - such as Mozart who famously attained it at the age of 3, and Beethoven is also thought to have possessed it because of his skill in composing even after becoming completely deaf. But still, many very experienced musicians aren't able to use it. Some purport it is something you are born with, others that you can be trained to have it. It is said that only about 3% of the population possess it, and in any case it is a very sought-after musical skill.)

The simplest way to tune a guitar is by using equivalent notes. First, tune your E string with a reference note.

A Youtube video is at the end of this lens that you can with the notes played for you to tune along with:

Make the low E string sound just like that note by plucking and listening. Then hold down the E string at the 5th fret to produce an A note. First tune the A string lower than the A note you are playing on the E string, then tune up to it. (You should always tune UP to the note, because there's a fundamental problem with the mechanical tuning pegs that makes them leave slack if you tune down to a note. This will cause the note to go out of tune eventually).

As the notes become closer together, play them both at the SAME TIME and if they are still NOT in tune, you should hear a distinctive 'beat'. It sounds uncomfortable and you'll be able to tell that the notes are off.

The beating comes from how the sound waves interact. If one string is say, 110 Hz (sound wave frequency of 110 cycles per second - an A note in standard tuning) and you're tuning the A string which is still improperly tuned at 106 Hz - you will hear a beat of 4 Hz (or 4 beats per second). Try it and you'll see what I mean.

Play the strings together and tune the A string very slowly at this point, until the beating finally stops, then stop tuning. The notes should be in tune.

Test it quick with this trick - hold down the E string at the 5th fret A note, then pluck it and don't touch any other string. The A string should vibrate without you touching it. Seriously! The string 'resonates' at the same pitch because it absorbs the sound energy and is able to vibrate at that frequency. This is the same principle that can break glass when intense enough sound at the correct frequency is applied. Glass will resonate with the sound, then shatter when its structure can't handle the vibration.

Anyway - you now have a correctly tuned A string. Simply repeat this for the D string by holding the A string at the 5th fret, and so on. Use the fretboard diagram to figure out where the notes you need to tune to are. So hold the D string at the 5th for the G string, the G at the 4th to tune the B string, and the B at the 5th for the e string.

A more complicated but more accurate way to tune is by using 'harmonics'.

First of all, you'll have to learn to play harmonics on your guitar. There are only a few places on an acoustic guitar where you can play a harmonic and have it sound loudly. These are at all the strings on the 12th, 7th, 5th, 4th frets (4th fret may be very hard to play).

Normally when strings play there are no points on the string which appear stationary, except at the bridge or the nut or a fret. This is called the 'fundamental' harmonic.

But if you hold your finger lightly over the 12th fret (directly over the metal fret that the string would normally be held over) and play the string, you'll create what is known as a 'node'. The string will appear still at that point and vibrate on either side of your finger and it will ring like a bell. Practice this till you get it right and can play this harmonic consistently.

As I said, you'll be able to play these harmonics on all strings at the 4th, 5th, 7th and 12th fret.

The way you use this to tune is that the harmonic on the 5th fret on the E string will sound exactly like the harmonic on the 7th fret for the A, and so on up till the G. To tune the B string, you'll need to use the 4th fret harmonic on the G, which sounds exactly like the 5th fret harmonic on the B. Then tune the e string with the 5th fret harmonic on the B and the 7th fret harmonic on the e.

Then just remember to tune up from a lower pitch, and with practice you'll be able to get it really quickly.

And remember you can use a few of the methods listed here to tune up your guitar - you don't have to use one exclusively.

If you want to learn more, see this youtube video about more online guitar lessons you can take to make sure you get better at guitar very fast.