How to tune your Guitar

[In an Effective Way]

Initially, the most frustrating thing about learning guitar is it feels so irritating when it seems impossible to play anything that sounds good.

A rhythmic sound of a guitar always motivates guitarists to play more. It is like an addiction to them. But sometimes, It is so frustrating when you are playing the guitar correctly but it does not sound good.

Basically, it happens when the guitar is not properly tuned. This situation is very common and it can happen in any situation. So you need to make sure your guitar is tuned already so you can play it well.

Playing is ok, but tuning a guitar is not anyone's cup of tea. It needs enough time and patience to do. Once you figure it out, it will be very easy to do at any time.

In this article, you are gonna know how to tune your guitar properly and make it playable.

Before stepping into the tutorial, note this column,

E string 5th fret = A

A string 5th fret = D

D string 5th fret = G

G string 4th fret = B

B string 5th fret = E

Tuning The Sixth String: When it comes to tuning a guitar, the main thing you need is a “Reference Pitch” from any other source you prefer. 

It is possible to tune a guitar without any reference pitch. It will sound fine in solo. If you try to play your guitar with any other instruments, you will face an out of tune condition and it can be annoying.

That is why we will suggest tuning with other sources. The source can be a piano, kalimba or any other guitar. Once you get the pitch, you will be able to tune it every time.

How to Tune with a Piano: Once you have the piano, you can tune your Low E with the same note of the piano.

If you see, every piano has two black keys together, then comes another white key, after that a three black key set comes, then another white key. You will see this one pattern is repeated on the whole keyboard.

The white key on the right side of the two black key sets is the ‘E’ note. Play that note and listen carefully. Now try to match the low ‘E’ string of your guitar to the ‘E’ note of that piano.

Tuning other Strings of a Guitar: Once you tune your low E string with the E note of the piano, we can be sure that the note A of the 5th fret is also a tune. Then we can play the 6th string and an A to check if it matches with the 6th string or not. If not, then something went wrong, it will be better to check again. If yes, then repeat this method on all the strings.

Steps to Tuning Your Guitar:

• Make sure your sixth string is in tune.

• Once you play the A of fifth fret and sixth string, tune your A of open fifth string until they both sound the same.

• Play the D of the fifth fret, and the fifth string, then tune your D of the open fourth string until they both sound the same.

• Once you play the G of fifth fret and the fourth string, tune your G of the open third string until both of them start to sound the same.

• Play the B of fourth fret and the third string, then tune your B of the open second string until they both start to sound the same.

• After that play the E of fifth fret and the second string, then tune your E of the open first string until their sound matches with each other.

• Then play the A of the fifth fret and the sixth string, then tune your A of the open fifth string until their sound becomes the same.

• Play the fifth fret and the fifth string, then tune your D of the open fourth string until they start to sound the same.

• Play the G of fifth fret and the fourth string, then tune your G of the open third string until they also sound the same.

• Now play the B of fourth fret and the third string, then tune your B of the open second string until they sound the same.

• Then play the E of the fifth fret and the second string, then tune your E of the open first string until they also start to sound the same.

Tuning tips to remember: For a beginner guitarist, it is very hard to tune a guitar by his/her own. Listening to those pitches carefully, and then tuning them accordingly is a skill that needs practice and concentration as well.

There are some people who have a very hard time to easily listen to two notes. They know both pitches do not sound the same but they do not know which pitch is higher and which pitch is lower. That is the main problem they face every time.

If you face the same problem as them, try this:

Play the first note and listen to it carefully. Try humming that note while the note is playing. You have to match the pitch with your voice. So keep trying until it matches with your voice. If it is done, play the second note and listen to it carefully. Then try to hum it like you hummed the first note and repeat the concept over again.

Now hum the first note again, but this time, without stopping, and then moving to the second note. Concentrate on the voice and observe, it is going down or up? If the second note is lower, the voice will go down and if the second note is higher, the voice will go up as usual. Now keep trying until they both start to sound the same.

It may look like an exercise, but this method will be very beneficial for you.

Once you learn to tune your guitar, you’re officially not a beginner anymore, you know something that many new guitarists don’t know.

Go ahead to your journey!