How To Tune A Guitar

Learning How To Tune Your Guitar

One of the most important steps for any beginner guitar player is to first learn how to tune your guitar.

While this might be a daunting task at first, once you understand the basics of how tuning works and have successfully tuned your guitar a few times it will become second nature.

In this lesson, we will teach you everything you need to know in order to be able to tune your guitar. We’ve also included a video lessons to show you how to tune your guitar.

Guitar Tuning Basics

The first thing you need to do is to learn the names of the strings. A guitar has 6 strings and each one of them is tuned to a particular note.

The first string (thinnest string) is tuned to the note E
The second string is tuned to the note B
The third string is tuned to the note G
The fourth string is tuned to the note D
The fifth string is tuned to the note A
The sixth string (thickest string) is tuned to the note E

This means that you need to tune your first string to match an E note. This way, if you played an E note and a Piano played an E note you would hear that the pitches match, and would be “in tune” with each other.

A great way to remember the names of the strings in order from thinnest to thickest is by using the sentence “Easter Bunnies Get Drunk At Easter” where the first letter of each word matches the name of the strings.

You can use the sentence “Eddy Ate Dynamite, Good Bye Eddie” to remember the order of the strings in the order of thickest to thickest.

The Musical Alphabet

The musical alphabet contains the notes: A, B, C, D, E, F & G.

It is also important to know that there are notes between most of these notes.

Between A and B there is a note which can be called A# or Bb
Between C and D there is a note which can be called C# or Db
Between D & E there is a note which can be called D# or Eb
Between F & G there is a note which can be called F# or Gb
Between G & A there is a note which can be called G# or Ab
There are no notes between the B & C note or the E & F note.

This is crucial to know, because A and A# are different notes and many beginners make the mistake of note noticing a # or b symbol next to the note letter on their tuner and end up tuning their guitar to the wrong note.

So for example, if you need to tune your first string to an E note but the tuner tells you it is a D note, you need to tighten the string until either a D# or Eb note appears (they are the same note,) and then keep tightening until the D#/Eb note turns into an E note.

Learning how to tune your guitar goes hand in hand with learning your guitar fretboard. If you need additional help making sense of all these notes check out our guide to learning the guitar fretboard.

How To Tune Your Guitar Using With A Guitar Tuner

By far the easiest way to tune a guitar is by using a guitar tuner.

You can either get a physical tuner from your local music store when first buying a guitar or you can download a guitar tuner app on your smartphone or tablet. There are a plenty of tuners on the market and any of the top 10 will be good enough to use.

Tuners usually work by telling you what note the string is currently tuned to and indicating whether it needs to be tightened or loosened using an arrow or meter of some kind. You will need to adjust the string using the tuning peg

Now that you have a tuner, you need to know how to use it. Here is a step by step process for how to tune your guitar:

Turn your tuner on.
Pluck the first string.
Look at the note on the tuner and determine whether it is sharp, flat or in tune.
1. If the note is sharp as indicated by the # symbol, you need to loosen the string.
2. If the note is flat, as indicated by the b symbol, you need to tighten the string.
3. If the you are in tune, leave the string as it is.
Make an adjustment.
Pluck the string again and make an adjustment while the string is still ringing out
Repeat this process until the string is in tune.
Repeat steps 2-6 with each of the 6 strings until your guitar is in tune.

Other Tips For Tuning Your Guitar

Here are some additional tips to consider when tuning your guitar:

Tune your guitar at the start of every practice session and every three songs if you are performing or playing with others.
You should pick the string and turn the tuner while the string is ringing out. This will help your ear get used to hearing the notes change and will also allow the tuner to hear the change.
Be mindful of the # and b symbols when tuning. If your guitar is lighting up green on the note Eb or is listing a note as D# you are
Pick the string with the same force that you would normally pick when playing normally.
Make sure your tuner is set to 440hz otherwise your guitar will sound out of tune with most standard music recordings.
If your tuner has multiple instrument settings, make sure you have it set to G for Guitar or C for Chromatic (or B for Bass if you are tuning a bass guitar). Many a performance has been ruined by people who accidentally have their tuner set to violin mode.
Buying a quality guitar tuner is a great investment, you can get one from your local music shop.

How To Tune Your Guitar For Alternate Tunings

When a guitar is tuned to the notes E, B, G, D, A, & E it is said to be in Standard Tuning.

The vast majority of contemporary music is played on guitars tuned to standard tuning and most tuners with a guitar mode will try and help you to tune to this. It is also possible to tune the strings to different notes, this is called using Alternate Tunings.

Some popular alternate tunings are:

Drop D Tuning (E, B, G, D, A, D) – Where string 6 is tuned to a D note instead of an E.
Half Step Down Tuning (Eb, Bb Gb, Db, Ab, Eb) – Where all the strings are lowered by 1 half step.
Open D Tuning (D, A, G, D, A, D) – The guitar has been tuned to an open D chord and you can get some great sounds.

It is worth noting that using certain alternate tunings can effect the shapes & patterns you use for chords & scales, so be mindful of this and how it works before you experiment with open tunings.

Hooray! You Now Know How To Tune Your Guitar

Learning how to tune your guitar is a very important skill and one that you will learn how to do relatively quickly as a beginner guitarist.

It won’t take you long to master this skill and having your own guitar tuner and knowing how it works will make the tuning process much easier. Get used to tuning your guitar to standard tuning first and then explore alternate tunings when they come up in a study piece.

If you are learning how to play guitar and need help getting started don’t hesitate to reach out to us for help.