Does It Sound Good To You?

gnw · Site Admin Joined: 21 Jan 2005 Posts: 1619

by Will Landrum
http://www.guitarconsultant.com/

One of the things I remember when I was starting to play was
that I didn't sound as good as my friend's big brother. Not
because he was a better player, even though he was...we
were playing the same chords but mine sounded crummy! Why?
Because my guitar was not perfectly tuned!

I went home that day and REALLY worked on tuning my guitar.
To this day I use several different ways to tune. Once I
got it perfectly tuned, WOW! The chords came to life! This
is especially true when you're playing electric guitar
with distortion.

If you're not perfectly in tune, you're missing out on the
whole experience. When the notes of a chord are played
together, the result should be one full sound that stands
on it's own. This is what happens when you are in perfect
tune.

There are two tools you can use when tuning your guitar.
One is an electronic tuner, the other is your ear. Tuning
by ear is far more important because you must be able to
recognize different pitches in sound. This is essential
to being a musician. Ear training takes time. Don't get
discouraged because you can't tune by ear in a week. Your
brain needs to get familiar with the notes in music.

I want to share a few different ways to tune your guitar.

The first is the most standard. It entails matching the
notes on the adjacent strings as follows:

6th string, 5th fret and 5th string open

5th string, 5th fret and 4th string open

4th string, 5th fret and 3rd string open

3rd string, 4th fret and 2nd string open

2nd string, 5th fret and 1st string open

In this method, you are matching the notes exactly to get
the proper tuning. The notes are the same in pitch. If
you're off on one of the strings, the rest of them will be
out of tune also, so be careful.

Another way to tune is by octaves. An octave is the interval
between two notes with the same name. If you played the
C major scale: C D E F G A B C, the two C's are one octave
apart.

You can tune with octaves as follows:

6th string open and 5th string, 7th fret

5th string open and 4th string, 7th fret

4th string open and 3rd string, 7th fret

3rd string open and 2nd string, 8th fret

2nd string open and 1st string, 7th fret

By now you're probably wondering, "What about the tuning
of the 6th string?" Good point. When you tune the rest of
the strings from the 6th, it's called "Relative Tuning".
Although you may not be in tune with a piano, you WILL be
in tune with yourself and that's fine for practicing.

If you want to be in "Concert Pitch", you will either need
to tune from another instrument or from a pitch pipe. I
recommend that you get a pitch pipe. It's good for ear
training and it's easier to carry around than a piano! :^)

Yet another way that I will tune is by simply using chords.
Once you know how they are supposed to sound, they become
very handy in tuning. I prefer starting with E major, then
I play a G major and tweak it a little if necessary. Then
D major. All three are the open position chords at the top
of the neck.

I guarantee you'll be amazed at how great a perfectly tuned
guitar will sound! After all, there is really no other
alternative!

guitarhand2 · Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2005 10:43 pm Post subject:

For tuning I like the Boss Pedal Tuner. I made the lead and bassist get one too. When onstage there is a great comfort level knowing you can mute your instrument, visually see whether you are sharp or flat, get in tune before the next song, and no one heard it happening. When the whole band is in tune some wonderful harmonic relations occur.

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