How To Tune Your Guitar
Each string on your guitar has a letter name that it must be tuned to. They are as follows:
This is a quick guide about how to tune your guitar. To start you will need a tuner. The one on this page shows the strings and as you pass over them they will ring out. Try to match the note. This will take practice and patience, but doing it every day before you sit down to play will help your ear improve quickly. Be sure to continually pick the string you are tuning every few seconds. Not too quickly, but frequently enough that you can clearly hear it rigging out at a good volume. Turn the tuning peg for that string in small increments. Listen to the notes closely. The closer you get to being in tune you will begin to hear a wobble wave like sound that is slowing down. This is the sound waves of 2 different notes. It is a subtle sound to listen for. When you get in tune the wobble will stop.
If you have a tuner it will tell you the name of the closest note and wether you are sharp or flat. This is usually indicated by a flashing light on either side of the note name or it will have a needle gauge like a speedometer on the dashboard of a car. If it’s left of the note it is flat. If it is right it is sharp. Tuners are convenient and quick. I suggest still listening for the note even while using the tuner.
Tuning the guitar to itself
Another method is to tune the guitar to itself. See the diagram below. First you have to have a starting point. I have always used the A (5th)string. This is because I started out using a 440 tuning fork. But lets keep it easy and start with the low E (6th)string. Tune that to the correct pitch using a tuner.
Next you will fret the 6th string behind the 5th fret. Pluck that string and the next string(A). You will then tune the A string to the pitch of the 6th string fretted at the 5th fret. Do this for the next 3 strings. To tune the B (2nd)string you will fret behind the 4th fret on the G (3rd) string and tune it to that. Then for the high E (1st)string you will fret the 5th fret of the B string and tune to that. This will also help you remember the names of the those frets. These are not the only methods, but the most common and easiest to do.
