How to Tune the Guitar by Ear
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 ต.ค. 2024
- How do you tune a guitar by ear? Let me give you a hint: Don't use the 5th-fret method. Oh, and avoid those 7th-fret harmonics.
As you are learning how to tune by ear, it can still be useful to have a clip-on tuner to use for reference. My favorite clip-on tuner is this D'Addario: amzn.to/3acgvCx
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I learned to play by ear and found that my guitars tune better when I tune them by playing a chord rather than other methods. Harmonic and open string tuning drives me crazy because when the wave forms match it's not indicative of being in tune, inevitably the first two strings are sightly out of tune, thus driving me nuts. People will say the intonation is off but I've found this to be the case with every guitar I play. If I'm playing with a band I'll ask the keyboardist for an A and tune from there using two chords: G and D. If I'm using a tuner I'll tune the A string to that and tune the rest by ear with those chords. I'm sure my method would seem rubbish to many others but it's worked for me through the years.
Now that I've seen this video I'm going to try using this method. Thank you!
Thanks for sharing your experience. Tuning using chords can sound more in tune for those chords. But it may not make other chords more in tune. Thanks for your willingness to try this approach. Let me know what you think!
Cool trick! Thanks man
I used your trick for tuning my mandolin only by ear. pretty cool.
This is VERY helpful! Thank you!
Brian Berlin I’m glad you find it helpful!
thanks dear friend,this is amazing
Very nice explanation! As someone who typically goes the fifth fret or electronic route, this was really helpful! Now I just have to memorize those pairings. ;)
Awesome, thanks!
Hi, what if i know what c note on the 5th string sounds like, can i tune on the basis of that?
If you are asking if you could compare a C on one string with Cs on all other strings, yes, that would be possible.
@@SeanBeavers1 Sorry, I meant 5th string, 3rd fret
@@doonguitarlessons You could compare that C with Cs on all strings, though that would require octaves as well as unisons. If you pick a higher note like the A on the 5th fret on the first string, you can find it in unison on all strings, when including harmonics.
Pro!
Thanks for watching!
If you enjoy this video, you may also enjoy How to Improve on Classical Guitar: th-cam.com/video/lyy-w6gVCXA/w-d-xo.html
12 to 7 is the best and 12 to 12 with harmonic joe Walsh actually taught me that lol
Joseph Anderson When tuning with harmonics, it is best to avoid the seventh fret.
@@SeanBeavers1 why avoid them? Because in 90's i use to saw a man tune harmonic 5 7 fret, then the sound he got is very superb even the KAPOK, KAPOK is the most cheap guitar back then only $25-35 dollar. But he made that kapok sound just like $5000 guitar. When i play slap it sound just like SNARE DRUM. Every songs did i play i heard seems the original version and i'm very excited.
@@SeanBeavers1 so, why avoid?
@@mohddalibinzali1165 Some people manage to get the guitar in tune using 7th fret harmonics. But they are not the most reliable way to tune because the 7th fret harmonic and the fretted notes are not in the same tuning system. Tuning a fretless instrument would not have the same problem because you could play in the tuning system of the harmonics. But the frets are designed around equal temperament, while harmonics are not.
@@SeanBeavers1 That is the best explanation I have ever heard about tuning. I think most people (myself included) don't register the fact that the frets are set to equal temperament. I also thought of that as a piano issue, never realized the guitar is also designed like that. Thanks!
Of course, you still have to have something with you, to make sure the A string is in tune to start with.
It is preferable to have a reference pitch to which to tune the A string. If that is not available, you can just tune the A string as you see fit and tune the others to it. I remember reading an early treatise on tuning the lute that said you should tune the high string as high as possible without breaking it and then tune the other strings to that one. It occurred to me that there is only sure way to know if you have tuned a string as high as possible without breaking...
Best to use E. Use an E tuning fork
@Work with All Your Heart
I can't see any reason why the A string is more 'stable' than the low E or any other string, after new strings have settled down. In the end it doesn't matter i just think Tuning the E first is easier. You can tune the 2 open E strings and the E on the fourth string 2nd fret first and you have 3 strings in tune
Khasab I didn’t mean to reply from my Work with All Your Heart account before. Oops. Let me step back to the big picture. I am advocating in this video for reference string tuning over other methods. Any of the six strings could work as a reference string as long as you compare each other string to it to avoid compounding of error. And as long as you don’t use 7th fret harmonics for tuning. Ultimately, I think tuning the E first and using that as the reference string to tune all other strings is fine. After I learned about reference string tuning, I used the 1st string E as my reference for many years. I switched to the A string for two reasons: 1) I read that tuning the bass strings before trebles is better because the treble strings can be slightly knocked out of tune when you adjust the heavier bass strings after tuning the trebles. I am not sure how perceptible that is, but I decided that I wanted to avoid that possibility. So when I say the 1st string is less stable, that’s what I mean. 2) I decided not to use the 6th string E because I play a lot of pieces in drop D. Going back and forth between E and D for that string means that the 6th string does not work well as a reference string for me. So when I say the 6th string is less stable, that’s what I mean.
Therefore, I use 5th string A as my reference.
Am I overthinking this? Maybe. Am I more consistently in tune than some famous classical guitarists who don’t use reference string tuning. I think I can honestly say yes.
@@SeanBeavers1 ;) I wondered about that account name.. Anyway Yes I agree. We are in agreement. I happen to go for the E strings first but as I said ultimately it makes no difference if you start on E or A.
I know the reference string method , it's recommended by many good guitarists. Basically I use the same with a slight variation. I use the method proposed by the *guild of American Luthiers* .
here drkevguitar.com/2012/04/04/tuning-data-sheet-45/
(scroll down to *procedure* )
It's a pity people do not seem to have the correct information about tuning. There is a video on You Tube of a very well informed guitar teacher who is recommending tuning using harmonics on the 5th and 7th frets... I was quite surprised to see it.
Out of interest, have you seen Douglas Neidt's page on tuning. It's a great well-explained essay on tuning. He also suggests the best method is the same as yours; *Reference string tuning* .
Here's the URL if you want to read it. He looks at other methods and discusses Equal temperament V Just intonation etc it's a very good piece.
douglasniedt.com/techtiphowtotuneyourguitar.html
What a shame one has to wait until 8:00 before we get to the method you recommend and then you go a little too quick for beginners to keep up.
Sad but true...some guys can play beethoven and almost all top 40 songs by fingerstyles but sadly, they still cant tune their guitar perfectly.
Agreed! Tuning is important!
Interesting but presented like that, this is not a lesson for beginner. Which is a bit strange since you need first to tune your guitar when you begin.
Thanks for your comment. It is a good point that this video requires some previous knowledge of the guitar. I will add to my list of possible future topics a video for beginners on tuning.
Thats so true. It is funny how when we start learning we want to go very fast into chords and solos, but as our ear becomes sharper, we want to tune it better being this the first thing we should actually have done from the beginning. I have been playing the guitar (with ups and downs during the years) for almost 10 years now, and I realized not so long ago that I never was actually on tune (I was trusting blindly the electronic tuner).
The interferences between strings can be very annoying and actually make the process of developing the ear way more difficult.The earlier you get yourself used to hear you in tune, the best, otherwise you might keep carrying vices for years like sadly happened to me. Videos like this one, focusing on how to tune the guitar with herself are very important.
When you played chords at the end you were not in tune.
That’s why I said if anything is off, I check again with reference string tuning. And then I checked again.