It's a fact that if we tune so the E chord sounds perfect, the G chord does not and so on. That's why digital tuners are a good idea for most situations. It's because equal temperament (what tuners use) is based on dividing octaves into 12 equal steps, whereas our ears prefer the higher pitched strings to coincide with the harmonic overtones of the lower strings. And natural harmonics and overtones are close to but not exactly the same as, notes tuned to the nearest semitone.
It's that bloody B-string, which has to be somewhat sharp in relation to the 4 lower strings in order to modulate key. You can mitigate the open-G going sharp from fretting at fret1 with a zero-fret in place of a nut, but the major 3rd of the sharp B-string will still rear it's equal-tempered head. The stridency (sharpness) of the minor 3rd vs Just Intonation gives a guitar that ambiguity between major and minor that it exploits better than anything else; most easily heard in blues leads.
Top tip for tuning with pedal tuners. Use the neck pickup and roll the tone off. The signal will have less harmonics and you can tune more quickly. Don't forget to turn the tone up afterwards!
They (the BOSSes) don't disagree on the A string, which is a whole number multiple/divisor of 440 hz (220 hz). Or on the Es and D, which is closest to an integer ratio in 12-tone Equal Temperament. It's with the B and G which are a whole tone off the octave. But those are the second-most consonant (relative to just intonation) intervals in 12-TET after the fifth and the fourth (E and D). It's like they aren't programmed with just quite the correct interval. The generic chip found in random cheap chinese tuners seems to be much better in this regard. They just let down in build quality or display.
@@BibleStorm Why would you care how a guitar tuner performs outside of the scope of a guitar? Unless you're planning on playing sine waves instead of guitars sometime soon this seems to get the point across. This is what tuning with these tuners is ACTUALLY like.
Aren't you supposed to always tune "upwards"? That is even if the string is slightly sharp, you drop it flat and then increase tension until it's in tune?
If this is NESSESARY..your strings are not moving freely through your nut most likely, or perhaps the angle from the nut to the tuning peg is too extreme to allow it to move freely because of the friction created from the angle in which case keeping that guitar tuned will always be an issue.. Epiphone Les Paul guitars have better tuning stability than Gibson Les Paul guitars for this very reason.. Check your nut the next time you change strings and drag the old string moderately through the nut groove of that string..it should slide through easily. If not use the string like a file and run it it back and forth on the nut groove for that string just once or twice being you dont want to cut the nut groove deeper, just enough to clear it. Factories typically do not do the lil things and this is a VERY common problem...you may need a proper nut file for strings not wound. Try a very small bit of lube in the groove. Good luck
James Hill brings up a good point about friction at the nut, but a big deal is the amount of wraps around the tuning machines. Tuning down can cause them to slacken, then settle later. Since locking tuners don’t need all those wraps, tuning down isn’t such a big deal.
I generally get the best results with any tuner that you are plugged into by rolling down the tone all the way and using the neck pickup and making sure to always tune UP to the correct pitch.. that way you are tightening the tension as you reach the pitch.
Actually more interesting that I expected. It would have been interesting to send a sine wave through at a known pitch to see how accurate they were before testing them on a guitar.
Having used a lot of tuners over the years, from Peterson's to Boss and Korg etc., I've found that it's important to pick the strings when tuning the same way - (or close) - to the way you pick the strings when you're playing, otherwise you'll definitely be out of tune when you "attack" the strings while you're playing in a gig situation. Just my own personal experience, and most tuners are not "perfect".
I was given a tip a long time ago that when you tune your guitar you should hit the strings as hard as you normally play, that way the pitch is correct. It really does help
Also if you play heavier stuff where you're really chugging on the bottom strings a lot, turn the tone down and keep hitting the string as you tune. That way it'll be in tune all the time you're playing like you normally do.
That's a good tip. For years I just lightly pecked at strings while tuning, then wondered why when I robustly strummed a chord it didn't sound right. So, like you, I learned to hit the string not hard, but with a firm stroke to get the best reading. Of course, when we're actually playing the guitar, we're not always striking the strings with the same force because we need dynamics in our playing.
it depends on your string tension, too. A big advantage of heavier gauge is less going-sharp in the initial transient. Playing 9s and 10s - especially with a heavy hand - is always going to 'wonk' the pitch sharp by 5-15cents over the first 50-100milliseconds of the note. This is partly why the buzz feiten system only works with specific gauge and scale of guitar.
Yep, guitar strings will get sharper as you hit harder, and they'll also go flat as they sustain. Also make sure that you have the guitar in playing position, rather than laying on a table, because gravity affects it too - probably wouldn't do that at a show, but I can see someone doing that after a string change.
An old trick is if you’re recording a song in E don’t tune the guitar EADGBE instead hold the E chord and tune each note of the chord. Anytime you tune you’re only tuning the note of that open string and the moment you press it down it will be a little out of tune because the amount of pressure you apply will be sightly different every time.
@@orlock20 yeah thats what im saying , the guy doing the major 3rd of the chord can be 2 cents flat and it will sound better for it. and fifths sound better 2 cents sharp etc.. edit: "or girl"
I remember reading an interview, about 25 years ago, or so, with Alex Lifeson from Rush. The question of staying in tune came up, considering his choice of complex chords. He stated that, he always starts of with a tuner and chosing the neck pickup because it catches closest to the wider part of the string vibrating, and would tune the strings. He would then tune the guitar to itself. He would hold chords, and tune the chords. Using three or four different chords along the neck and tune to the guitars idiosyncrasies. Making sure he would tune first and sixth strings to the tuner if they went off. And tune the rest to the chords he liked to use. He would go back and forth between the chords until they sounded right. Ever since then, I use the same method, with great results. If you've been playing long enough you just naturally know how the chords are supposed to sound like. Give it a try.
Tuning for what you are playing is a good idea on the guitar. If you are going to be playing a lot of open chords, tune for the best tuning in that position. if you are going to play higher chord forms up the neck, tune for that region. It is my understanding that this is what EVH does. He loves those chord shapes around the middle of the neck, especially those where the third is on the B string, so he tunes for those to be most in tune. He likes his third a little flat so he tunes the B a little flat.
For most of my playing over the past 30/40 years, I've tuned my ear, to tune to the root of whatever tune I was playing along too. Given that tuning stability was all over the place in some recordings, or even diliberately out (Page), this was the best way of getting in tune with the artist/recording. But this technique started when I was around six or seven, when I first started playing the recorder at school and for the following years up to 17 (on obtaining my first guitar), the recorder and occasionally the piano were my only instruments. I have always been able to play music by ear and of course to always know when someone/something was out of tune. My ears *had* perfect pitch, they still are pretty accurate, despite the years, but I learned to do the same as Alex as my competency grew. Now, I do use tuners (one clip-on and the onboard tuners of the Pod and TC-E processor... Which appears the most accurate and easier to use, for me..). But I still tune initially by ear and then cross-refer to one of the E-tuners, then I tune the guitar to open chords. This is a constant process often. And of course all guitars have differing tuning characteristics.
I’m an audio engineer and in the recording studio we use Peterson strobe units almost exclusively. Every band that comes in gets a recommendation for our favorite guitar tech to intonate their guitars, and a little lesson on using the strobe tuner! Peterson has a phone app that’s also amazing. They are tougher to use playing live though
Thanks! I’ve been going back and forth between the Peterson Strobo Stomp, Turbo Tuner ST 300, and the Peterson “strap-on” tuner as the Captain would call it. If the phone app works well, I’ll get the clip on. I have an old, huge VT-2 that provides a sweetened temperament for guitar that sound much better to my ears than equal temperament. Peterson has different temperaments for electric, acoustic, 12 string ... something like 50 custom tunings.
Neck these tuners being digital, the differences would be incredibly low if not nonexistent. Ones with a minimal display wouldn’t even show it. Analog tuners would be a different story! But those can be calibrated.
When my Boss tuner says I’m in tune, I test it against the rest of my band and could swear that it sounds a little flat. It drives me bonkers. At least I know now that it’s not just me. This was a very informative video :)
I have the older boss tu-2 and in my experience the best results are when you tune fast and pick several times so you tune the attack of the note since it's always the sharpest of the whole note. :)
I've got blurry vision and play outdoors during daytime on occasion. I've been through several. I presently have the Korg custom shop tuner pedal with the green and blue 3D display. I can see the bugger! In daylight, at dark, from across the room at angles. I'm hooked on it. Accuracy seems perfect, even with the band.
Actually all tuners have slight differences which is coming from the tolerances of the components in their circuit. Which is why in the studio you want to have all the instruments tuned through the same tuner.
@@OverMotoren Well digital works based off analog components. Clocks for example are varying a lot between computers - set up 3 computers without internet access and observe their clocks for an hour - they will drift significantly. The frequency in a computer comes from a quartz crystal and they have huge tolerances - up to 30% are not rare. There are similar principals for "generating" the reference pitch. If it was all digital then the tuners would have to sample / digitize your input signal, for which you'd need a precise clock, which tuners most likely won't have. Even if you ignore all that. Different tuners come with different accuracy some are 0.1 cents some are 0.01 cents or even more these days. So you are guaranteed to get different results from tuners with different accuracy - if you want to know why they have different accuracy you can follow up my explanations with some research of your own into computers, clocks and such :) Enjoy!
hukl, NO! Try 30ppm for a bog standard crystal. That's 0.003%. 30% is 18 minutes per hour. Is your computer really that crap? 0.003% is, I expect, inaudible to humans, so I doubt the tolerances in a digital tuner are audible.
I agree 100% - I eventually ended up buying matching tuners for everybody in all of the bands I was in most recently. Four different 4 member bands each ended up making m wallet lighter - but my ears thanked me!
Train your ear with unaccompanied vocal practice for a year or so and that answer will change. In fact the human voice is typically the only instrument that CAN be in perfect tune in any key. Check out some doo-wop or a capella jazz for real-world examples of this.
Years gone by when piano tuners were human beings, many were blind as they had really good ears, They would tune to a note, and then play chords, etc and adjust accordingly so it sounded right.
I wish you guys did the strobe mode on the polytune 3. It claims to be +/- .02 cents accurate which is basically very close if not the same as the Peterson tuner.
Paul Morini His tuning “preset” is included in the Peterson tuner as a sweetened tuning simply known as “ACU” as in acoustic. I love my Peterson stroboclip.
Enjoyed this and well worth the time. NOT boring - quite funny and entertaining. Thank you. It also underscores what live band guitarists have to put up with on stage. Factor in fast moving song sets, time constraints, temperature fluctuations, weather etc., and it’s a true marvel that anyone sounds right. Guitars are living breathing instruments.consisting of organic materials. Naturally, it is a going to present a serious challenge. Cheers.
I once tried a clip on tuner on bass at a show. Needless to say I had to walk out of the club into the alley to tune before the show. The music over the PA made it impossible. Last time I did that. I then took that headstock tuner and mounted it to an unused spot on my bass controls and direct mounted it there with the wires directly wired to the output. Worked awesome.
The Peterson clip on tuners have a "Sweetened Tunings" settings based on the instrument, it will slightly tune up or down per string to compensate for temperament. I love mine.
I got korg pitchblack poly and it is wonderful. Giant screen, instant response, good precision and first of all polytuning which settled deal for me. TC polytune does the same, but with smaller screen and bigger price.
You need to tune the guitar through each string at least 2-3 times. The reason is because the neck has a little bit of flex in it. As you tune each string, the others are affected ever so slightly. The pitch eventually converges to a tuned state for all strings. This isn't an issue with the tuner, it's the guitar. Some guitars have this effect more than others depending on the hardness of the wood, length of the neck, construction quality, etc.
Completely correct, even more so with whammy bridges because the springs have to find equilibrium as well. Also depends on the kind/tension of strings.
I stuck an Earvana nut on one of my guitars and hearing the open E and A chords being in tune is incredible. You get so used to the slight dissonance that hearing the chord without it is very surprising.
It’s also good to point out that if you have a properly set up guitar, with the intonation, action and truss rod set up right, you will most likely get an accurate reading of your chords being pressed down compared to the open string!
I Love my TC Polytune 3 and my little Snark SN-8 for my Acoustic in the Park or Coffee-house Open-mic. Both are Fantastic, and I wouldn't be without either one. The Polytune 3 and the Peterson Sounded the Most Accurate ( to my ears ).
Where your finger is in relation to the preceding fret or the following fret as well as the variance in the amount of pressure you apply when fingering the instrument affects the precision of the tuning.
Some tuners are just more sensitive. A sensitive tuner can start to pick up the wave too much and never settle but it can also be very useful to fine nuances in your guitar.
When you play that kind of open G, you’re only really hearing G and D notes (1st and 5th). When you play E you’re trying to get a pleasant sounding G# major 3rd on the first fret of your heaviest plain steel string which will always give you intonation problems (as it’s relatively stiff and doesn’t move much at each end of the string).
Korg Pitchblack is one of the best pedal tuners I've used. I just recommend if playing in a band everyone use the same brand and make. Edit: The mentioned that right after i posted this.
Yes indeed. I think if you want to be in tune use a tuner with a strobe! Captains, can't you do a strobe test to see which strobe tuner is the best? Or if they differ much. :)
May have been stated already but you could have grabbed a Boss ES-8 off the shelf and ran all of these tuners in loops and compared simultaneously. One output could have routed to an amp so we could hear Pete’s chords.
Even way back In 1980 our band would all tune to just one tuner even though we had our own tuners since it gave the best results. Seems from you video that might still be the best solution.
Since a lot of us have switched to Kemper, Helix, etc. You guys should do an episode comparing the Kemper tuner vs Helix Tuner vs. Axe Fx, etc. Would be interested to see the results.
G'day Men, I still use and old Korg GT6 for my initial tune up and then a clip on for on the run quick checking. Years ago it was tune from a Piano and use your ears. The great players seem to tune whilst they're playing, eg Mr Emanuel. Thanks for the video.
With tuning stability, I always pull the strings up from the fretboard around an inch and you will find the string will go flat ig it was sharp and you tune down. I always tune from flat to sharp. This is due to winding the string up through the nut giving you zero string lag. I use the pitch black and PRS guitars with graphite nuts. Try it. Tune a sharp string down to pitch on your tuner then pull it up from the fretboard around an inch and it will now be flat no matter how expensive your nit material is.
I have a Boss TU3 and thought I needed a guitar set up ... used my buddy's TC and tuned up and checked everything and the guitar was perfect. I spent months tuning and then strumming a chord and fixing my tuning. I work at a studio and we use a Boss tuner and I feel like its never correct. The TC is always super accurate and the Boss seems off. I don't trust it. I 100% believe in this test.
This is a great video. I agree with Pete. It didn't really sound in tune until after the using the Polytune. Then the E chord sounded in tune. Thanks guys!
An Eventide Harmonizer has over a thousand presets, a good value, one of which is a tuner. It is much more accurate than average tuners. To tune a guitar, use intonation methods and check. Harmonic on 12 is how you tune, then lightly fret the 12 to verify your new strings intonate properly. Tuning up is typically done silently, and the harmonic 12th fret removes the fatigue. I haven’t heard anybody tune as Pete does here, and was fatigued by the 3:40 mark. Regards.
There are a couple of reasons that the G chord sounds more in tune to you than the E. First, the third of the chord will always be more open to interpretation, because the 3rd is more out of tune in equal temperament. Second, when you fret unwound strings, especially the G and B strings, they tend to go sharp in comparison with the open string. Thus, when you fret the E chord’s third on the G string. It’s the most likely to sound a little wonky. Finally, the timers are more accurate than your ears, but your ears will tend to prefer intervals that are in just temperament, while the tuner will simply tune to the equal tempered frequency. So it’s very possible for a person to tune the guitar to a particular chord, but then have other chords sound out of tune. When you pluck a string hard, you are increasing the length of the string. Thus, the attack will always be a little sharp.
Thanks for this explanation. I've read a bit about tempered tuning and I understand the gist of it, but your comment about why the G string is so tricky on an E chord---because it's the 3rd of the chord. That's a useful little nugget of knowledge there!
I'm far from an expert on the matter but I think you might be incorrect on you last point. My understanding is that a longer string will produce a flatter note (unless you tighten it up of course). I'm pretty sure the hard pluck makes the note go sharp due to the increased string tension from the stretching of the string. My basic rule with these thing is Shorter, thinner, tighter = sharper. I hope I'm right :)
@@duffypratt I've never thought about that before, but isn't your original comment also true. If you measured the length of an open string, and then the same string bent up, say, 2 whole tones (big bend), surely it's now longer (although it would be at a higher tension too). So presumably an open plucked string, while vibrating, is also slightly longer, and simultaneously, under more tension. Two things at once, just as tuning is simultaneously boring and fascinating.
I'm amazed!!! I've watched the entire video because my dad mentioned that his boss tuner just didn't seem to tune as tightly as other tuners we use (TC one, Korg pedal, Mooer tuner) impressed with landlord one
Love my new Polytune3, but... Has anyone ever experienced that the polytune function says all six strings are perfectly in tune, after having tuned it (perfectly) one string at the time? Personally i think the polytune function is useless (but the rest of the tuner (especially in strobe mode) is the best tuner I've ever had!
Tuning is a tricky subject and has been ever since music was invented. It is physically impossible to get a guitar perfectly in tune. Even with wavy frets for perfect equal temperament, equal temperament itself is a compromise tuning. Which is why you get the - G chord sounds in tune but the D chord doesn't - problem. When a string is plucked it is deflected and tension is increased slightly, making the pitch sharp. As the note decays the tension slowly drops and pitch falls. This is visible on really accurate tuners, others seem to employ some kind of damping to lock on to the intended note. There are two things to consider with a tuner; pitch accuracy - if the tuner shows A 440 how close is that to exactly 440Hz. It is certainly quite a feat of accuracy if all 11 of those tuners show A 440 when fed with a 440Hz tone. The second thing to consider is discrimination - how small are the pitch graduations. On many cheaper tuners the display is only graduated in steps of 3 cents, or sometimes even coarser. The best tuner I have found is an app - Cleartune. The display shows two dials - one a course dial that shows a span of several notes, and the other shows plus and minus 25 cents (and there are a number of other features). This is great for guitar repair work because you can measure and write down intonation errors in cents and set tuning to under 1 cent. I have yet to find another tuner that allows that. The Peterson tuners claim an accuracy/definition of 0.1 cents, but they only display that as a simulated strobe except in the software app version, which does seem to show an error in cents. When I started playing guitar all we had was a set of harmonica style pitch pipes.
Terry Relph-Knight. The 440 hz "A"as you probably know is to set the hertz frequency of the other notes. Some tuners allow you to modify this as that "A" above Middle "C" as in some places that frequency is not accepted. (In years gone by there were a lot of variations through out the World, and even some within Europe however in more recent years the 440 Hz has become more accepted.) In orchestras instruments are set from a certain pitch and that is usually from an in tune piano as that cannot be easily adjusted whereas most others can.hertz frequency of the other notes. Some tuners allow you to modify this as that "A" above Middle "C" as in some places that frequency is not accepted. (In years gone by there were a lot of variations through out the World, and even some within Europe however in more recent years the 440 Hz has become more accepted.) In orchestras instruments are set from a certain pitch and that is usually from an in tune piano as that cannot be easily adjusted whereas most others can. Like you when I started we only had pitch pipes, tuning forks, and possibly keyboards to tune from. I could never get on with pitch pipes that also went out depending on how hard you blew so you had to be careful. I went for the pitch fork, and tuned all other strings at the 4th and 5th fret. In a band situation we would tune all instruments to one and then check them by playing chords, etc and adjust if need be. Though none of these are perfect especially with ET and fixed frets, (neither are harmonics that were highly promoted at one time), I do wonder if the old tuning at the 4th ad fifth fret made the guitar "sound" more in tune as you moved around the guitar . Like most I use electronics these days to tune my guitars and it is certainly quicker to get at least close than in those earlier days. I was never good at tuning by ear and often when others said their instrument was in tune to me it often didn't sound that way.
@@madcockney Yes I know some tuners allow offsetting or retuning the reference and that orchestral A has only quite recently settled on 440Hz. I mentioned A440 simply because (it is now) a common reference and all modern tuners will treat that as the default. My point was that all tuners must be adjusted or calibrated to a reference and whatever that reference pitch is, it is unlikely all tuners will be adjusted spot on to that pitch. The question is, is the technology of electronic tuners in general good enough that if you tune to any tuner, is it going to be so close to any other tuner that any error doesn't matter. Tuning by harmonics is the way that the old minstrels used to do it back in the days when they had moveable frets and the reason it doesn't work perfectly on modern instruments is that natural harmonics are the basis of just intonation not equal temperament. The result of tuning from string to string at the fifth and fourth frets will vary depending on how carefully the intonation compensation is set at the bridge. Then there are the 'sweetened' tunings where you tune the various strings so many cents flat or sharp ... The more you delve into tuning and improved accuracy the further down the rabbit hole you go.
A guitar tech I know who has toured with a lot of pro star players always tells me (like a few below have already said) use the neck pick up with the tone rolled all the way back to get a "smoother" tone as possible. However, he then advises to tune the strings in this order (for Std Tuning of course) - G - D - B - A - High E - Low E - or as he calls it the 3,4,2,5,1,6 method You'll find the guitar should work better (can never be perfect) wherever you play on the neck. This method works particularly well with Floyd Rose style locking trems too. *** NB *** Little extra tip for those using a Floyd Rose in a live setting and need to tune quickly if just one string is out (thus avoiding sending all other strings out and stopping the gig for 20 mins lol) and that is using the "chart" above find the string's "pair" i.e. G is paired with D and B is paired with A leaving the two E's paired. So, say your tuner shows your B string is sharp by 10 cents instead of using the fine tuner on the B string itself simply detune the A string by 10 cents! Same if say the G is flat then sharpen the D by the same amount its off pitch. By doing this it negates the necessity of re-tuning the whole guitar but makes you be in tune again - as I say very useful if playing live of course. It takes a bit of practice to get used to it and be confident but if I ever gig with a Floyd Rose (which is most gigs tbh) then this method really does work!
Top E and A tuned a little flat to compensate for them going sharp when picked. G tuned about 5% flat to compensate for the inherent tuning flaw of a guitars design. The Boss TU-3 phone app is quite good, better than most clip-ons.
Text fishy I'm legally blind and the only tuner I found both those on the market and on the phone apps is send it to me. I wonder how accurate it is compared to the boss phone app. I play mostly by myself so it's not really a problem and like I said just send it to him is the only one that I'm actually able to see and use so kind of limits my my range of Tunis to say the least anyway peace and I please excuse any typos misspelled words that's a lack of punctuation. I'm not a bad diaper and I'm not even a little bit a little people friends like to say I am :-) you could tell by my comment what my problem is I use speech to text and it was incessant does what it wants sincerely yours, the blinds bedroom guitarist
Excellent demonstration of the tuners accuracy. I am on to buy a tuner and if I can find a Peterson Strobetuner, that is the one. Otherwise, the Pitchblack PB-04.
Also, if you pluck a string hard it will register sharp compared to when the string settles down a bit a second or two later. This is because when it's vibrating harder it is essentially tighter and thus sharper. My advice is to play the strings firmly but not super hard when tuning.
I have 2015 LP with robo tuners, you certainly need to strum gently to make them work fast. But once those settle, korg tuner says that tuning is good. Those El Cheapo clip on tuners are fine too, they just have annoying delay in response and much less options for calibration or alternate tunings.
I've found that the clip-on ones really struggle when there's lots of outside noise, say if you're between songs and a room full of drunk people are hollering and clapping away.
I've been using a boss tr2 on my pedalboard that I got free when I bought a new bass amp back in 2008. I asked the dealer if he'd throw in the tuner if I'd l pay the full sales price of the amp, "which was on sale," and he did. It's the oldest pedal on my board but it's been bullet proof. And still works and looks like it just came out of the box.
The Polytune had a firmware update and I feel like the accuracy and polytune mode has improved by installing the update. Also, the Polytune mode works better if you do it the way they tell you to in the manual - neck pickup and strum with your thumb, not a pick.
The 3rd interval in a chord (often the G string) will sound out of tune if it's even the slightest bit sharp while it can be a bit flat and still sound great. Conversely, the 5th interval can be a bit sharp and still sound good but if it's flat the ear will pick it up as being out of tune. So in an open E chord if the tuner says you are basically in tune but your ear is telling you otherwise, look for even a hint of sharpness on the G string.
Yes! Exactly what I have noticed. Tuners sound different. They, themselves, don't have a sound, but they make the instrument sound different. Had a Boss tu3, the moment I got polytune, everything sounded sweeter and less harsh.
Samo Saarts boss pedals have buffers built in rather than true bypass due to the bypass wiring they’ve chosen to use, hence possibly sounding brighter than the true bypass Polytune. Buffers are useful if you use/have long cables/signal path, it will ‘counter’ the natural low pass filter created by the RC filter from the resistance and capacitance in the pick-ups and cabling/wiring respectively.
They used Y splitter in the video. The only difference in sound is the tuning. I am totally aware of the buffers, therefore have always used a Y splitting footswitch to bypass the tuner completely from my signal path. But yes, in typical IN/OUT use case, the tuner may actually color the sound too.
I've always used Korg tuners. I have the standard Pitchblack pedal and before that the Korg rackmount. They always have seemed the most reliably accurate tuners. Never understood why so many players use the Boss tuner pedal. Much harder to see and less accurate than Korg or TC tuners.
I've had the Snark for a few months and once left it at our practice space for a week and was forced to use a boss tuner...I was so glad to get the snark back!
20 mins of tuning and as a electrical engineer student who worked on audio equipment I would love to take them apart and see how they work. My quest to why the headstock tuners seem better is because they are powered by a battery and you don't have to worry about the power supply frequency mixing in to the signal. Another reason that at least the Snark tuner works well is they only make tuners and metrornomes and there for throw more time into make them sound good
I'm pretty amazed I just watched 20 mins of guitar tuning...
Like some local gigs I have been to.
@@celticbattlepantsLocal gigs where a guy has just bought his first Floyd Rose.....
/wrists
I'm used to 20 minutes tuning my damn cheap guitar 🙄
@@derpimusmaximus8815 haha yes! And all the gain, and none of the mids
@wahmsi I would...but it's not in tune ;)
For the first time ever, I can actually play everything Pete plays in the video.
I hope they put out a tab for it......
Hahaha.
HAHAHAHHAHA. I can relate!
Underrated
😂😂👌🏼
It's a fact that if we tune so the E chord sounds perfect, the G chord does not and so on. That's why digital tuners are a good idea for most situations. It's because equal temperament (what tuners use) is based on dividing octaves into 12 equal steps, whereas our ears prefer the higher pitched strings to coincide with the harmonic overtones of the lower strings. And natural harmonics and overtones are close to but not exactly the same as, notes tuned to the nearest semitone.
Needs more upvotes! Wish it was mentioned here. Paul Davids did a great video on that subject
absolutely true,
It's that bloody B-string, which has to be somewhat sharp in relation to the 4 lower strings in order to modulate key. You can mitigate the open-G going sharp from fretting at fret1 with a zero-fret in place of a nut, but the major 3rd of the sharp B-string will still rear it's equal-tempered head. The stridency (sharpness) of the minor 3rd vs Just Intonation gives a guitar that ambiguity between major and minor that it exploits better than anything else; most easily heard in blues leads.
Was about to comment this, but here it is. Glad the internet has some people that know about tuning
+
Top tip for tuning with pedal tuners. Use the neck pickup and roll the tone off. The signal will have less harmonics and you can tune more quickly. Don't forget to turn the tone up afterwards!
Steve Preston my guitar doesn’t have a neck pickup nor a tone knob
@@sergutiov too bad for you
Absolutely. Same way I tune Steve....
@@sergutiov Guess you can't tune up. Do you use a clip-on in that case then?
sparkyguitar 00 i use a polytune 3 pedal haha 😂
Everytime I tune my guitars my wife says 'you always play the same song'
Ha...! That made me chuckle, good one...
Ahaha true story
Vitor Isaia My girlfriend says the same thing!! 😂
Why do you always play "Nothing Else Matters"?
@@eriknarez524 HAHAHA
This reminds me of the old joke..........."A man with one watch always knows what time it is; a man with two is never sure"
lol brilliant
😂
This is the pedal board i need.
Then add a Miku at the end!
You could also try new strings once in a while 🤔
Lofl 😆
Great idea for pedalboard, each tuner for different pitch 😏
if humans can only hear to 10 cents how can electronic tuners not be more specific?
Send a 440hz Sine wave through and see if all the tuners recognize it as "A"!
I wonder how much the cheap ones they showed were correct compared to the least accurate by using a wide tolerance.
They (the BOSSes) don't disagree on the A string, which is a whole number multiple/divisor of 440 hz (220 hz). Or on the Es and D, which is closest to an integer ratio in 12-tone Equal Temperament. It's with the B and G which are a whole tone off the octave. But those are the second-most consonant (relative to just intonation) intervals in 12-TET after the fifth and the fourth (E and D). It's like they aren't programmed with just quite the correct interval. The generic chip found in random cheap chinese tuners seems to be much better in this regard. They just let down in build quality or display.
Also tuner Apps are good to check.
Yeah, this is a seriously badly designed experiment. The guitar is too variable. A 440Hz sin wave is not variable.
@@BibleStorm Why would you care how a guitar tuner performs outside of the scope of a guitar? Unless you're planning on playing sine waves instead of guitars sometime soon this seems to get the point across. This is what tuning with these tuners is ACTUALLY like.
There's a lifetime of guitar frustration on display here ......
Oh yes, yes there is... I have always thought the same...
hit E string
hit whammy bar
repeat for 1 hour
I do not regret spending over 19 minutes just on tuners. This is very important to me and I REALLY needed to know this. Guys, thank you very much!
Aren't you supposed to always tune "upwards"? That is even if the string is slightly sharp, you drop it flat and then increase tension until it's in tune?
understanding.
If this is NESSESARY..your strings are not moving freely through your nut most likely, or perhaps the angle from the nut to the tuning peg is too extreme to allow it to move freely because of the friction created from the angle in which case keeping that guitar tuned will always be an issue.. Epiphone Les Paul guitars have better tuning stability than Gibson Les Paul guitars for this very reason.. Check your nut the next time you change strings and drag the old string moderately through the nut groove of that string..it should slide through easily. If not use the string like a file and run it it back and forth on the nut groove for that string just once or twice being you dont want to cut the nut groove deeper, just enough to clear it. Factories typically do not do the lil things and this is a VERY common problem...you may need a proper nut file for strings not wound. Try a very small bit of lube in the groove. Good luck
Not as big a deal with locking tuners as there is very little string wound around the post but for the most part yes.
James Hill brings up a good point about friction at the nut, but a big deal is the amount of wraps around the tuning machines. Tuning down can cause them to slacken, then settle later. Since locking tuners don’t need all those wraps, tuning down isn’t such a big deal.
This is mostly an issue of backlash in the worm wheel system. accurate worm wheel systems will not have this issue to a degree that you can feel it.
2:22 Boss TU
3:43 Korg Pitchblack
4:37 Boss TU-3
5:05 Cheap pedal
5:45 TC Electronic Polytune
7:53 Peterson
8:32 TC Electronics Polytune Mini
Awesome video! The Fender tuner could have been a nice addition to the episode, a popular tuning pedal. Also, the Artec Big Dots.
This video actually has made me feel better about my own struggles to keep my guitar in tune.
Me, too!
I generally get the best results with any tuner that you are plugged into by rolling down the tone all the way and using the neck pickup and making sure to always tune UP to the correct pitch.. that way you are tightening the tension as you reach the pitch.
Actually more interesting that I expected. It would have been interesting to send a sine wave through at a known pitch to see how accurate they were before testing them on a guitar.
That's a great idea
Turbo tuner, not shown here, is the most accurate...
Nyne Forte yes.
Too logical. 🥴
Define "known pitch". How do you know the quartz in your computer is accurate? :)
Having used a lot of tuners over the years, from Peterson's to Boss and Korg etc., I've found that it's important to pick the strings when tuning the same way - (or close) - to the way you pick the strings when you're playing, otherwise you'll definitely be out of tune when you "attack" the strings while you're playing in a gig situation. Just my own personal experience, and most tuners are not "perfect".
I was given a tip a long time ago that when you tune your guitar you should hit the strings as hard as you normally play, that way the pitch is correct. It really does help
Also if you play heavier stuff where you're really chugging on the bottom strings a lot, turn the tone down and keep hitting the string as you tune. That way it'll be in tune all the time you're playing like you normally do.
Amen to that: "keep hitting the string as you tune"
That's a good tip. For years I just lightly pecked at strings while tuning, then wondered why when I robustly strummed a chord it didn't sound right. So, like you, I learned to hit the string not hard, but with a firm stroke to get the best reading. Of course, when we're actually playing the guitar, we're not always striking the strings with the same force because we need dynamics in our playing.
it depends on your string tension, too. A big advantage of heavier gauge is less going-sharp in the initial transient. Playing 9s and 10s - especially with a heavy hand - is always going to 'wonk' the pitch sharp by 5-15cents over the first 50-100milliseconds of the note.
This is partly why the buzz feiten system only works with specific gauge and scale of guitar.
Yep, guitar strings will get sharper as you hit harder, and they'll also go flat as they sustain. Also make sure that you have the guitar in playing position, rather than laying on a table, because gravity affects it too - probably wouldn't do that at a show, but I can see someone doing that after a string change.
An old trick is if you’re recording a song in E don’t tune the guitar EADGBE instead hold the E chord and tune each note of the chord. Anytime you tune you’re only tuning the note of that open string and the moment you press it down it will be a little out of tune because the amount of pressure you apply will be sightly different every time.
Ah, the constant battle of 12-tone even temperament vs the uniformly-fretted string instrument :)
It'll never be perfect, sadly.
Pianos are purposely wrong, yet many singers learn to sing their notes using a piano which might not match any other instrument on the planet.
True Temperament frets are pretty damn close, though.
@@orlock20 barbershop quartets have no limits!! in-tune gods and shave and a hair cut
@@bluejavelina5335 They learn to harmonize with each other, but few use instruments when doing the performance.
@@orlock20 yeah thats what im saying , the guy doing the major 3rd of the chord can be 2 cents flat and it will sound better for it. and fifths sound better 2 cents sharp etc.. edit: "or girl"
0:30 the symmetry, the perfection of that throw. Heavenly!
I remember reading an interview, about 25 years ago, or so, with Alex Lifeson from Rush. The question of staying in tune came up, considering his choice of complex chords. He stated that, he always starts of with a tuner and chosing the neck pickup because it catches closest to the wider part of the string vibrating, and would tune the strings. He would then tune the guitar to itself. He would hold chords, and tune the chords. Using three or four different chords along the neck and tune to the guitars idiosyncrasies. Making sure he would tune first and sixth strings to the tuner if they went off. And tune the rest to the chords he liked to use. He would go back and forth between the chords until they sounded right. Ever since then, I use the same method, with great results. If you've been playing long enough you just naturally know how the chords are supposed to sound like.
Give it a try.
I just tried it. Didn't work, I still don't sound anything like Alex Lifeson
Tuning for what you are playing is a good idea on the guitar. If you are going to be playing a lot of open chords, tune for the best tuning in that position. if you are going to play higher chord forms up the neck, tune for that region. It is my understanding that this is what EVH does. He loves those chord shapes around the middle of the neck, especially those where the third is on the B string, so he tunes for those to be most in tune. He likes his third a little flat so he tunes the B a little flat.
@@KidNato lol, neither do I, but I can still dream.
For most of my playing over the past 30/40 years, I've tuned my ear, to tune to the root of whatever tune I was playing along too. Given that tuning stability was all over the place in some recordings, or even diliberately out (Page), this was the best way of getting in tune with the artist/recording. But this technique started when I was around six or seven, when I first started playing the recorder at school and for the following years up to 17 (on obtaining my first guitar), the recorder and occasionally the piano were my only instruments. I have always been able to play music by ear and of course to always know when someone/something was out of tune.
My ears *had* perfect pitch, they still are pretty accurate, despite the years, but I learned to do the same as Alex as my competency grew. Now, I do use tuners (one clip-on and the onboard tuners of the Pod and TC-E processor... Which appears the most accurate and easier to use, for me..). But I still tune initially by ear and then cross-refer to one of the E-tuners, then I tune the guitar to open chords. This is a constant process often. And of course all guitars have differing tuning characteristics.
He (Alex) needs to tune so much to adjust for “Using Gibsons” - #Gstring 🤣🤣🤣
I’m an audio engineer and in the recording studio we use Peterson strobe units almost exclusively. Every band that comes in gets a recommendation for our favorite guitar tech to intonate their guitars, and a little lesson on using the strobe tuner! Peterson has a phone app that’s also amazing.
They are tougher to use playing live though
Thanks! I’ve been going back and forth between the Peterson Strobo Stomp, Turbo Tuner ST 300, and the Peterson “strap-on” tuner as the Captain would call it. If the phone app works well, I’ll get the clip on. I have an old, huge VT-2 that provides a sweetened temperament for guitar that sound much better to my ears than equal temperament. Peterson has different temperaments for electric, acoustic, 12 string ... something like 50 custom tunings.
Their end result is so much nicer though, worth dialing your guitars in with them.
Clearly these tuners are made out of different tonewoods...:p
Tunewoods.
Extra points for that
Clearly these tuners are all made by Gibson; which is why they will not tune a guitar.
@@nitegoat1369 Tune authentic.
But the best ones are made of Richlite.
"It's interesting, isnt' it? No. It's the most boring video we've ever done but it's informative." Lol
I would be very interested in seeing another video where you take multiples of the same tuner and compare them to see if they all match.
Neck... I was just thinking the exact same thing. Cheers！
Same here.
Neck these tuners being digital, the differences would be incredibly low if not nonexistent. Ones with a minimal display wouldn’t even show it.
Analog tuners would be a different story! But those can be calibrated.
Tabs would be great!
one way you could compare different tuners would be to use a sine wave tone coming from a synth and see if the tuners register differently.
When my Boss tuner says I’m in tune, I test it against the rest of my band and could swear that it sounds a little flat. It drives me bonkers. At least I know now that it’s not just me. This was a very informative video :)
make sure its set to 440khz. may need a reset
I appreciate that someone else has suffered along with me when the tuner says I'm good but something sounds off.
I have the older boss tu-2 and in my experience the best results are when you tune fast and pick several times so you tune the attack of the note since it's always the sharpest of the whole note. :)
I found the TU2 slow to wake up and slow to tune. TU3 much faster
Me: I'm going to do something productive today.
Also me: oh a 20 min video of people tuning a guitar
Why isn't that productive? I's IMPORTANT! You did good. Real good.
Hahaha
You guys even managed to make a tuner episode enjoyable.
God, I love this channel. 😂
"Daddy, please make it stop!" "Shh son I'm watching this Anderton's video"
I've got blurry vision and play outdoors during daytime on occasion. I've been through several. I presently have the Korg custom shop tuner pedal with the green and blue 3D display. I can see the bugger! In daylight, at dark, from across the room at angles. I'm hooked on it. Accuracy seems perfect, even with the band.
Actually all tuners have slight differences which is coming from the tolerances of the components in their circuit. Which is why in the studio you want to have all the instruments tuned through the same tuner.
If they were mechanical then I would agree. However, they're digital.... so I'm having a hard time.
@@OverMotoren Well digital works based off analog components. Clocks for example are varying a lot between computers - set up 3 computers without internet access and observe their clocks for an hour - they will drift significantly. The frequency in a computer comes from a quartz crystal and they have huge tolerances - up to 30% are not rare. There are similar principals for "generating" the reference pitch. If it was all digital then the tuners would have to sample / digitize your input signal, for which you'd need a precise clock, which tuners most likely won't have. Even if you ignore all that. Different tuners come with different accuracy some are 0.1 cents some are 0.01 cents or even more these days. So you are guaranteed to get different results from tuners with different accuracy - if you want to know why they have different accuracy you can follow up my explanations with some research of your own into computers, clocks and such :) Enjoy!
Love it. I'm not gonna argue a single bit.
@@hukl3945 That's why you synch computer time to NIST!
hukl, NO! Try 30ppm for a bog standard crystal. That's 0.003%. 30% is 18 minutes per hour. Is your computer really that crap? 0.003% is, I expect, inaudible to humans, so I doubt the tolerances in a digital tuner are audible.
I agree 100% - I eventually ended up buying matching tuners for everybody in all of the bands I was in most recently. Four different 4 member bands each ended up making m wallet lighter - but my ears thanked me!
"Are Human Ears More Accurate?" Years of playing and listening to bands live seem to be pretty strong evidence of "No". ;-)
Train your ear with unaccompanied vocal practice for a year or so and that answer will change. In fact the human voice is typically the only instrument that CAN be in perfect tune in any key. Check out some doo-wop or a capella jazz for real-world examples of this.
Years gone by when piano tuners were human beings, many were blind as they had really good ears, They would tune to a note, and then play chords, etc and adjust accordingly so it sounded right.
@@madcockney Just because they existed doesn't mean they were better than electronic tuners
@@ktfjulien I didn't say that the human piano tuners were better.
I wish you guys did the strobe mode on the polytune 3. It claims to be +/- .02 cents accurate which is basically very close if not the same as the Peterson tuner.
James Taylor does a series on tunings. He moves string tuning up or down a few cent.
that only works for capos
Paul Morini His tuning “preset” is included in the Peterson tuner as a sweetened tuning simply known as “ACU” as in acoustic. I love my Peterson stroboclip.
Enjoyed this and well worth the time. NOT boring - quite funny and entertaining. Thank you. It also underscores what live band guitarists have to put up with on stage. Factor in fast moving song sets, time constraints, temperature fluctuations, weather etc., and it’s a true marvel that anyone sounds right. Guitars are living breathing instruments.consisting of organic materials. Naturally, it is a going to present a serious challenge. Cheers.
Neighbors complain about my playing, wait 'til I blast this video on my speakers
I once tried a clip on tuner on bass at a show. Needless to say I had to walk out of the club into the alley to tune before the show. The music over the PA made it impossible. Last time I did that. I then took that headstock tuner and mounted it to an unused spot on my bass controls and direct mounted it there with the wires directly wired to the output. Worked awesome.
This would have been a perfect opportunity to bring in a true temperament guitar!
The Peterson clip on tuners have a "Sweetened Tunings" settings based on the instrument, it will slightly tune up or down per string to compensate for temperament. I love mine.
The flaws of equal temperament tuning on display right here
I got korg pitchblack poly and it is wonderful. Giant screen, instant response, good precision and first of all polytuning which settled deal for me. TC polytune does the same, but with smaller screen and bigger price.
How about in outdoors situation? (korg)
@@BagusWibisono yeah, the Polytune 3 (only the big) has this automatic brightness adjustement that made me buy it.
@@BagusWibisono Avoid Pitchblack for outdoor visibility! Hopeless....
Best thing you've done in ages - genuinely interesting!
You need to tune the guitar through each string at least 2-3 times. The reason is because the neck has a little bit of flex in it. As you tune each string, the others are affected ever so slightly. The pitch eventually converges to a tuned state for all strings. This isn't an issue with the tuner, it's the guitar. Some guitars have this effect more than others depending on the hardness of the wood, length of the neck, construction quality, etc.
Completely correct, even more so with whammy bridges because the springs have to find equilibrium as well. Also depends on the kind/tension of strings.
Thank you Pete and Captain. It was actually very informative.
Important: if you play while standing, tune while standing, because the pressure on the neck of the strap changes the tuning
Thanks Joni Mitchell, but I think the majority of us are on electric.
I stuck an Earvana nut on one of my guitars and hearing the open E and A chords being in tune is incredible. You get so used to the slight dissonance that hearing the chord without it is very surprising.
Lead us all to Earvana™
I just learned that a super tight strap-on will improve your pitch. Thank you Andertons UK 🇬🇧.
It’s also good to point out that if you have a properly set up guitar, with the intonation, action and truss rod set up right, you will most likely get an accurate reading of your chords being pressed down compared to the open string!
I Love my TC Polytune 3 and my little Snark SN-8 for my Acoustic in the Park or Coffee-house Open-mic. Both are Fantastic, and I wouldn't be without either one. The Polytune 3 and the Peterson Sounded the Most Accurate ( to my ears ).
I would love to see how the Gibson robo tuners that everyone hated would compare to these
Same
More authentic tuning.
@@davedavem how authentic?
@@TheIgisas play authentic :D :D :D
@@stanislavmigra shush
Where your finger is in relation to the preceding fret or the following fret as well as the variance in the amount of pressure you apply when fingering the instrument affects the precision of the tuning.
Some tuners are just more sensitive. A sensitive tuner can start to pick up the wave too much and never settle but it can also be very useful to fine nuances in your guitar.
When you play that kind of open G, you’re only really hearing G and D notes (1st and 5th). When you play E you’re trying to get a pleasant sounding G# major 3rd on the first fret of your heaviest plain steel string which will always give you intonation problems (as it’s relatively stiff and doesn’t move much at each end of the string).
I think you've accidentally stumbled upon the horrific imperfect art that is intonation!
Korg Pitchblack is one of the best pedal tuners I've used. I just recommend if playing in a band everyone use the same brand and make. Edit: The mentioned that right after i posted this.
The Polytune has a strobe mode as well that's more accurate than the normal mode.
Yes indeed. I think if you want to be in tune use a tuner with a strobe! Captains, can't you do a strobe test to see which strobe tuner is the best? Or if they differ much. :)
And yet even in the regular mode, it was better than both the Boss ones! Haha.
I just bought a Boss Chromatic TU-3 and waiting for it to be delivered this week. Will give my review soon.
Actually laughed out loud at the more tuna than a sushi place joke.
He made this video just to use that line.
The playing is absolutely on point in this!
May have been stated already but you could have grabbed a Boss ES-8 off the shelf and ran all of these tuners in loops and compared simultaneously. One output could have routed to an amp so we could hear Pete’s chords.
Even way back In 1980 our band would all tune to just one tuner even though we had our own tuners since it gave the best results. Seems from you video that might still be the best solution.
Since a lot of us have switched to Kemper, Helix, etc. You guys should do an episode comparing the Kemper tuner vs Helix Tuner vs. Axe Fx, etc. Would be interested to see the results.
G'day Men, I still use and old Korg GT6 for my initial tune up and then a clip on for on the run quick checking. Years ago it was tune from a Piano and use your ears. The great players seem to tune whilst they're playing, eg Mr Emanuel. Thanks for the video.
0:45 - I solved that problem years ago: both me and the other guitarist in my band tune our guitars with the same tuner. : )
With tuning stability, I always pull the strings up from the fretboard around an inch and you will find the string will go flat ig it was sharp and you tune down. I always tune from flat to sharp.
This is due to winding the string up through the nut giving you zero string lag.
I use the pitch black and PRS guitars with graphite nuts.
Try it. Tune a sharp string down to pitch on your tuner then pull it up from the fretboard around an inch and it will now be flat no matter how expensive your nit material is.
I have a Boss TU3 and thought I needed a guitar set up ... used my buddy's TC and tuned up and checked everything and the guitar was perfect. I spent months tuning and then strumming a chord and fixing my tuning. I work at a studio and we use a Boss tuner and I feel like its never correct. The TC is always super accurate and the Boss seems off. I don't trust it. I 100% believe in this test.
This is a great video. I agree with Pete. It didn't really sound in tune until after the using the Polytune. Then the E chord sounded in tune. Thanks guys!
Yeah, I still use my old Boss TU-12. It does a great job in my opinion.
@al I got mine about that time too. Glad I'm not the only one!
@@paulwatts003 me too.
An Eventide Harmonizer has over a thousand presets, a good value, one of which is a tuner. It is much more accurate than average tuners. To tune a guitar, use intonation methods and check. Harmonic on 12 is how you tune, then lightly fret the 12 to verify your new strings intonate properly. Tuning up is typically done silently, and the harmonic 12th fret removes the fatigue. I haven’t heard anybody tune as Pete does here, and was fatigued by the 3:40 mark. Regards.
There are a couple of reasons that the G chord sounds more in tune to you than the E. First, the third of the chord will always be more open to interpretation, because the 3rd is more out of tune in equal temperament. Second, when you fret unwound strings, especially the G and B strings, they tend to go sharp in comparison with the open string. Thus, when you fret the E chord’s third on the G string. It’s the most likely to sound a little wonky.
Finally, the timers are more accurate than your ears, but your ears will tend to prefer intervals that are in just temperament, while the tuner will simply tune to the equal tempered frequency. So it’s very possible for a person to tune the guitar to a particular chord, but then have other chords sound out of tune.
When you pluck a string hard, you are increasing the length of the string. Thus, the attack will always be a little sharp.
Thanks for this explanation. I've read a bit about tempered tuning and I understand the gist of it, but your comment about why the G string is so tricky on an E chord---because it's the 3rd of the chord. That's a useful little nugget of knowledge there!
Please be on my pub quiz team
I'm far from an expert on the matter but I think you might be incorrect on you last point. My understanding is that a longer string will produce a flatter note (unless you tighten it up of course). I'm pretty sure the hard pluck makes the note go sharp due to the increased string tension from the stretching of the string. My basic rule with these thing is Shorter, thinner, tighter = sharper. I hope I'm right :)
Reginaldesq Yes, you are right, you aren’t actually lengthening the string but increasing tension. Same effect as in bending.
@@duffypratt I've never thought about that before, but isn't your original comment also true. If you measured the length of an open string, and then the same string bent up, say, 2 whole tones (big bend), surely it's now longer (although it would be at a higher tension too). So presumably an open plucked string, while vibrating, is also slightly longer, and simultaneously, under more tension. Two things at once, just as tuning is simultaneously boring and fascinating.
I'm amazed!!! I've watched the entire video because my dad mentioned that his boss tuner just didn't seem to tune as tightly as other tuners we use (TC one, Korg pedal, Mooer tuner) impressed with landlord one
Love my new Polytune3, but... Has anyone ever experienced that the polytune function says all six strings are perfectly in tune, after having tuned it (perfectly) one string at the time? Personally i think the polytune function is useless (but the rest of the tuner (especially in strobe mode) is the best tuner I've ever had!
When recording tracks with guitars and bass, everyone knows to tune up with the SAME tuner before you roll tape. Excellent video...very educational.
Tuning is a tricky subject and has been ever since music was invented. It is physically impossible to get a guitar perfectly in tune. Even with wavy frets for perfect equal temperament, equal temperament itself is a compromise tuning. Which is why you get the - G chord sounds in tune but the D chord doesn't - problem.
When a string is plucked it is deflected and tension is increased slightly, making the pitch sharp. As the note decays the tension slowly drops and pitch falls. This is visible on really accurate tuners, others seem to employ some kind of damping to lock on to the intended note.
There are two things to consider with a tuner; pitch accuracy - if the tuner shows A 440 how close is that to exactly 440Hz. It is certainly quite a feat of accuracy if all 11 of those tuners show A 440 when fed with a 440Hz tone. The second thing to consider is discrimination - how small are the pitch graduations. On many cheaper tuners the display is only graduated in steps of 3 cents, or sometimes even coarser.
The best tuner I have found is an app - Cleartune. The display shows two dials - one a course dial that shows a span of several notes, and the other shows plus and minus 25 cents (and there are a number of other features). This is great for guitar repair work because you can measure and write down intonation errors in cents and set tuning to under 1 cent. I have yet to find another tuner that allows that. The Peterson tuners claim an accuracy/definition of 0.1 cents, but they only display that as a simulated strobe except in the software app version, which does seem to show an error in cents. When I started playing guitar all we had was a set of harmonica style pitch pipes.
Terry Relph-Knight. The 440 hz "A"as you probably know is to set the hertz frequency of the other notes. Some tuners allow you to modify this as that "A" above Middle "C" as in some places that frequency is not accepted. (In years gone by there were a lot of variations through out the World, and even some within Europe however in more recent years the 440 Hz has become more accepted.) In orchestras instruments are set from a certain pitch and that is usually from an in tune piano as that cannot be easily adjusted whereas most others can.hertz frequency of the other notes. Some tuners allow you to modify this as that "A" above Middle "C" as in some places that frequency is not accepted. (In years gone by there were a lot of variations through out the World, and even some within Europe however in more recent years the 440 Hz has become more accepted.) In orchestras instruments are set from a certain pitch and that is usually from an in tune piano as that cannot be easily adjusted whereas most others can.
Like you when I started we only had pitch pipes, tuning forks, and possibly keyboards to tune from. I could never get on with pitch pipes that also went out depending on how hard you blew so you had to be careful. I went for the pitch fork, and tuned all other strings at the 4th and 5th fret. In a band situation we would tune all instruments to one and then check them by playing chords, etc and adjust if need be. Though none of these are perfect especially with ET and fixed frets, (neither are harmonics that were highly promoted at one time), I do wonder if the old tuning at the 4th ad fifth fret made the guitar "sound" more in tune as you moved around the guitar . Like most I use electronics these days to tune my guitars and it is certainly quicker to get at least close than in those earlier days. I was never good at tuning by ear and often when others said their instrument was in tune to me it often didn't sound that way.
@@madcockney Yes I know some tuners allow offsetting or retuning the reference and that orchestral A has only quite recently settled on 440Hz. I mentioned A440 simply because (it is now) a common reference and all modern tuners will treat that as the default. My point was that all tuners must be adjusted or calibrated to a reference and whatever that reference pitch is, it is unlikely all tuners will be adjusted spot on to that pitch. The question is, is the technology of electronic tuners in general good enough that if you tune to any tuner, is it going to be so close to any other tuner that any error doesn't matter.
Tuning by harmonics is the way that the old minstrels used to do it back in the days when they had moveable frets and the reason it doesn't work perfectly on modern instruments is that natural harmonics are the basis of just intonation not equal temperament. The result of tuning from string to string at the fifth and fourth frets will vary depending on how carefully the intonation compensation is set at the bridge. Then there are the 'sweetened' tunings where you tune the various strings so many cents flat or sharp ...
The more you delve into tuning and improved accuracy the further down the rabbit hole you go.
A guitar tech I know who has toured with a lot of pro star players always tells me (like a few below have already said) use the neck pick up with the tone rolled all the way back to get a "smoother" tone as possible. However, he then advises to tune the strings in this order (for Std Tuning of course)
- G - D - B - A - High E - Low E - or as he calls it the 3,4,2,5,1,6 method
You'll find the guitar should work better (can never be perfect) wherever you play on the neck. This method works particularly well with Floyd Rose style locking trems too.
*** NB *** Little extra tip for those using a Floyd Rose in a live setting and need to tune quickly if just one string is out (thus avoiding sending all other strings out and stopping the gig for 20 mins lol) and that is using the "chart" above find the string's "pair" i.e. G is paired with D and B is paired with A leaving the two E's paired. So, say your tuner shows your B string is sharp by 10 cents instead of using the fine tuner on the B string itself simply detune the A string by 10 cents! Same if say the G is flat then sharpen the D by the same amount its off pitch. By doing this it negates the necessity of re-tuning the whole guitar but makes you be in tune again - as I say very useful if playing live of course. It takes a bit of practice to get used to it and be confident but if I ever gig with a Floyd Rose (which is most gigs tbh) then this method really does work!
Top E and A tuned a little flat to compensate for them going sharp when picked. G tuned about 5% flat to compensate for the inherent tuning flaw of a guitars design.
The Boss TU-3 phone app is quite good, better than most clip-ons.
I like the TU-3 app too, although for me it's more of an at-home with no-one else making a noise thing.
Text fishy I'm legally blind and the only tuner I found both those on the market and on the phone apps is send it to me. I wonder how accurate it is compared to the boss phone app. I play mostly by myself so it's not really a problem and like I said just send it to him is the only one that I'm actually able to see and use so kind of limits my my range of Tunis to say the least anyway peace and I please excuse any typos misspelled words that's a lack of punctuation. I'm not a bad diaper and I'm not even a little bit a little people friends like to say I am :-) you could tell by my comment what my problem is I use speech to text and it was incessant does what it wants sincerely yours, the blinds bedroom guitarist
2:21 9:59 Boss TU-2w
3:43 10:29 Pitchblack
4:37 Boss TU-3
5:05 Nano
5:44 Polytune 3
7:53 Peterson Strobetuner
8:32 Polytune
13:08 Clip Tuner 1
14:07 Clip Tuner Stagg
14:56 Clip Tuner Earnie Ball
15:59 Clip Tuner Snark Super Tight
Excellent demonstration of the tuners accuracy. I am on to buy a tuner and if I can find a Peterson Strobetuner, that is the one. Otherwise, the Pitchblack PB-04.
Also, if you pluck a string hard it will register sharp compared to when the string settles down a bit a second or two later. This is because when it's vibrating harder it is essentially tighter and thus sharper. My advice is to play the strings firmly but not super hard when tuning.
The G sounds in tune because we tend to omit the 3rd from this chord. 3rds are impossible to get right- so frustrating!
I have 2015 LP with robo tuners, you certainly need to strum gently to make them work fast. But once those settle, korg tuner says that tuning is good. Those El Cheapo clip on tuners are fine too, they just have annoying delay in response and much less options for calibration or alternate tunings.
Ew robo tuners
Robo tuners actually seems cool to me.
I had the same experience with my Boss TU-3. Always sounded off a bit. Didn't realize it was the tuner until I used a different one.
I've found that the clip-on ones really struggle when there's lots of outside noise, say if you're between songs and a room full of drunk people are hollering and clapping away.
I own the Conn Stroboconn and Strobotuner.... the grandparents of the Peterson tuners. I'm convinced that the mechanical strobes are the best.
every drummer's favorite jam
underrated comment
I've been using a boss tr2 on my pedalboard that I got free when I bought a new bass amp back in 2008. I asked the dealer if he'd throw in the tuner if I'd l pay the full sales price of the amp, "which was on sale," and he did. It's the oldest pedal on my board but it's been bullet proof. And still works and looks like it just came out of the box.
Did you make sure they're all calibrated the same? Ie. A = 440
If they weren’t then all the strings would be sharp or flat. By quite a bit
@@baileyandthebadhabits9254 nah. 1 or 2 cents is pretty subtle
The Polytune had a firmware update and I feel like the accuracy and polytune mode has improved by installing the update. Also, the Polytune mode works better if you do it the way they tell you to in the manual - neck pickup and strum with your thumb, not a pick.
Pitch Fork? I thought that it was a Tuning Fork! Don't you use Pitch forks with your hay? 🤔
Well there is a huge music related site called pitchfork.
@@tree267 Well to be honest Pitchfork is a better play on words than Tuning Fork! 😉
It’s punnier that way 😂
I mean technically you could use a tuning fork to shift hay, it would just take a little longer lol
The 3rd interval in a chord (often the G string) will sound out of tune if it's even the slightest bit sharp while it can be a bit flat and still sound great. Conversely, the 5th interval can be a bit sharp and still sound good but if it's flat the ear will pick it up as being out of tune. So in an open E chord if the tuner says you are basically in tune but your ear is telling you otherwise, look for even a hint of sharpness on the G string.
Can't you split the signal seven ways and use all tuners at once that way?
Yes! Exactly what I have noticed. Tuners sound different. They, themselves, don't have a sound, but they make the instrument sound different. Had a Boss tu3, the moment I got polytune, everything sounded sweeter and less harsh.
Samo Saarts boss pedals have buffers built in rather than true bypass due to the bypass wiring they’ve chosen to use, hence possibly sounding brighter than the true bypass Polytune. Buffers are useful if you use/have long cables/signal path, it will ‘counter’ the natural low pass filter created by the RC filter from the resistance and capacitance in the pick-ups and cabling/wiring respectively.
They used Y splitter in the video. The only difference in sound is the tuning. I am totally aware of the buffers, therefore have always used a Y splitting footswitch to bypass the tuner completely from my signal path. But yes, in typical IN/OUT use case, the tuner may actually color the sound too.
I've always used Korg tuners. I have the standard Pitchblack pedal and before that the Korg rackmount. They always have seemed the most reliably accurate tuners. Never understood why so many players use the Boss tuner pedal. Much harder to see and less accurate than Korg or TC tuners.
I've had the Snark for a few months and once left it at our practice space for a week and was forced to use a boss tuner...I was so glad to get the snark back!
I lost it at "strap-on tuner" ... filthy Captain 🤣
20 mins of tuning and as a electrical engineer student who worked on audio equipment I would love to take them apart and see how they work. My quest to why the headstock tuners seem better is because they are powered by a battery and you don't have to worry about the power supply frequency mixing in to the signal. Another reason that at least the Snark tuner works well is they only make tuners and metrornomes and there for throw more time into make them sound good