It’s really easy to start learning how to play the guitar; all you have to do is grab it and it’s ready to go. Unfortunately, it is not as simple as that. A good habit to get into is to tune your guitar before playing it.
It is harder to tune a guitar than many other instruments because it has six seperate strings, each of which represent a different pitch or a different place in the musical staff. Plus, each string needs tuned individually. The string numbers, from top to bottom, are 6,5,4,3, 2 and 1. Their musical counterparts are mi, la, re, sol, ti and me, or E, A, D, G, B, and E respectively.
One way to tune your guitar, that is known to be reliable, is using tuning forks.
In order to use a tuning fork, you have to follow several steps. First you have to make the fork vibrate by tapping it gently against a hard object while you hold onto the handle. Then you have to touch the handle on the guitars soundboard either below or above the sound hole and gently move it in the direction of the bridge. This will help you locate the area where the resonance is the loudest. Keep it here. You should hear a high-pitched A (la); if the guitar is in tune, the A will be the same as the sound made by playing the first string while simultaneously pressing it on the fifth fret.
Now that the first string (E/mi) is tuned, its sound will be the same as that made when the second string is pressed on the fifth fret. When you press down on their fifth fret, the rest of the strings will sound just like the string above them when they are held open and played – D to B, G to D, A to G, and E to A, respectively.
To doublecheck the accuracy of your tuning, lightly touch the fifth string just above the fifth fret wire. Do not press the string to the fingerboard. The string should make a sound similar to that of the tuning fork’s high-pitched tone. These sounds are called harmonics.
The fifth fret of your sixth string is harmonic 5, and is the same as the open first string, which is harmonic 7, and this principle continues from there. Harmonic 5 of the fifth string is the same as harmonic 7 on the fourth string; harmonic 4 of the third string is the same as harmonic 5 of the second string and harmonic 7 of the first string. Due to the fact that harmonic 4 can take a lot of practice for some people, it is advisable to use harmonic 7 of the sixth string to tune the open second string. When sounded at the same time, these pairs of harmonics should produce a single steady tone. If the sound they make clashes or sounds at all wavy, then you have more tuning to do.
You have to do both of these methods of tuning together. You can, however, use them in either order, using one to check the other. You might have to start all over again if, after you’re done checking up, they don’t sound right. You might need to get new strings if tuning is impossible. But if you have new strings, the problem may be something bigger — your hearing!
An electric guitar tuner can bypass the hassles of manual tuning. All you have to do is plug it in or set it next to the guitar, set the dial to the string you want to tune and it’ll check it for you.
Other people tune their guitar by imitating the pitch produced by playing it on another musical instrument like the piano, flute, etc. There are even pitch pipes that you can use, but they’re not as popular anymore. You have been warned!
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