Tuning your guitar is a very basic aspect of guitar playing, because if you don’t have your guitar tuned correctly, you’ll just end up playing different notes and the song will just sound wrong!  Many people who I have taught how to play acoustic guitar think this is a boring step, but it isn’t.  In fact, soon enough you’ll learn how annoying is to play with an out-of-tune guitar!

In this article, you will learn how to tune your guitar using the standard tuning:

E-A-B-G-B-E

This is the most common tuning you will find on different music styles, but there are others (we’ll talk about them in another article), each type of tuning brings a its own share of “flavor” to your music and can also help reaching lower notes and get cool sounds. For example, tuning the fatter string (E) lower like in a Drop D tuning (D-A-B-G-B-E), will get you a much heavier sound.

Ok, let’s get down to business.

Fool-Proof Method Of Tuning Your Guitar

The fool-proof method for tuning your guitar is listening to a recording of each note you intend to tune and then adjusting the tuning pegs until you match the sound of each string.

I was surprised when I saw people who couldn’t easily “get” the sound even with the help of a recorder. But don’t worry if you can’t do it easily, this happens because you have not developed the ear for music, so sit relaxed, listen each note and notice if the sound is higher or lower. As you gain more practice you’ll be able to tune your guitar faster.  Here I recorded a standard tuned guitar so you can begin right away.

Tuning Your Guitar “Manually”

If you don’t have a recording available, then you’ll need to tune your guitar “by hand”, this is done by getting the sound from another string, it is also called “tuning with intervals”.

To start tuning your guitar this way, you’ll need a “reference note”, especially at first when you aren’t able to easily remember the sound of the E string. You can get a tuning fork that sounds an “E” on most guitar stores online and offline.  Using the fork, you’ll need to match the sound on the sixth string, so turn the pegs until you get the sound.

Next, you will hold the fifth fret of the sixth string: this will give you the note A, as it should sound on the fifth string. Repeat again on the A and D to tune the fourth and third strings. Now, to tune the second string you will need to hold the fourth fret of the third string as this is B. Finally hold the fifth fret of the second string to tune the first string, E.

If you got lost in this explanation, you can see this video that shows you how it is done.

Other Aids for Tuning Your Guitar

There are other aids that can help you tune your guitar. You don’t need them all, in fact most of the tuning I’ve made has been done using only the two methods above. But, try and use what feels best for you.

• Electronic Guitar Tuners. These gadgets can give you the sound of each string and even detect if the strings sound higher, lower or on pitch. You can find different sizes, but the small ones are easier to carry. This method will require to spend some extra money ($15-$200+).
• Songs. Yes! Songs are pretty useful when it comes to tuning your guitar with nothing to help you. Personally, I use “Nothing Else Matters” by Metallica, since it starts with an intro using open strings on E-G-B-E. You see why it is extremely important that you develop good ear for music!
• Pitch Pipes. Like tuning forks, they give you a note as a reference; you can find pipes for each of the six strings.

Well that’s it for tuning your guitar.  At first this might seem complicated, but over time it will become very easy, and it’ll let you adjust your guitar by ear, letting you decide what sounds right and what needs adjustment.  Feel free to leave your questions below if you didn’t understand something.

Tags: drop d tuning, how to play acoustic guitar, how to tune your guitar, tune guitar, tuning your guitar