by Eric Halloran

Created on: February 16, 2009   Last Updated: March 04, 2009

In these days of electronic wonders there are plenty of electronic tuners that will help you tune your guitar. I recommend using one of these: popular models by Korg are reasonable in price and easy to operate. You match the vibration frequency of the string to the perfect pitch by adjusting the tuner knobs at the head of the guitar and LED lights let you know when you are on target and voila, you have achieved perfection.

Believe me, anyone you play for, as well as everyone you play with, will appreciate that you are in tune. But what pitches, you might ask, should the guitar be tuned to? In standard tuning, the pitches are from low to high: E, A, D, G, B, E. The low E which is on the thickest string is tuned to the E that is below middle C. If you have a piano handy, you'll find middle C right under the makers label in the middle of the keyboard. It is the white key that is imediately adjacent to the left of the lowest of the pair of black keys in the middle of the keyboard. If you are stuck without an electronic tuner and without a piano, you can still get a reliable reference tone from your phone. In the US, the standard dial tone is an F. This would correspond to the sixth (lowest) string - first fret on a guitar. Now you can use the 'in tune' sixth string to tune all other strings 'relative' to it. The lowest four strings are all tuned a fifth below the next string up. In other words the fifth string (second from the lowest) is one fourth (four half steps) above the the first string. To put it very simply, the fifth string struck openly should sound the same as the sixth string when it is fretted on the fifth fret. Tune the fifth string to A by holding down the sixth string at the fifth fret to sound A.

Similarly, once you have the A string (fifth string) in tune, pinch it against the fifth fret to sound a D and tune the fourth string to that pitch. The D string (fourth string) pinched at the fifth fret produces a G pitch, which gives you the reference pitch for the third string, but here is where things go slightly awry. You might assume that we can pinch the G string (now, now, I know what you are thinking..) at the fifth fret and use it for the reference for the second string. But in standard tuning, the second string is tuned to B (not C) and so pinch the third string at the fourth fret to get the relative reference pitch of B for the second string. There are two ways to tune the first and highest pitch E string. Returning to the convention, pinch the second string at the fifth fret to sound an E. Or, you can use the sixth string as a reference - it is also tuned to E, although it is two full octaves below the E for this highest string. Even so, your ear should be able to bring it in to tune.

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