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Acoustic Guitar Tuning - When Should It Be Done

By: Allison Thompson
 

If you really want your acoustic guitar to sound good all the time then you should be tuning it every time you play it. There really is not any funny about playing a great piece of music out of tune. Although in the beginning, you may become somewhat frustrated when it comes to tuning your guitar you will soon realize the importance of ensuring that yours has been correctly tuned. So it really is worth your time and effort when it comes to acoustic guitar tuning before you beginning playing it.

But it is also important to note that it will take a lot of practice on your part to learn how to tune an acoustic guitar just by listening. But many people prefer the easier way of tuning theirs by using an electronic tuner instead. You can get a good one for around $20 and this is a wise investment to make if you are going to spending a lot of time playing yours. The big advantage to be had from using an electronic tuner is that not only tells you when the note is right but also which string it is you are actually playing.

To use one of these tuners you sit down and place it close to your guitar, either on a stool or table close by. Then once the machine is set up and you have your guitar on your lap you turn the machine on and pluck the sixth string on your guitar in order to give you your reference pitch (low E). The tuner picks up the pitch of each note through the microphone on it and there is an indicator on the front, which shows you when the string is at the right pitch. These machines are also able to show if the pitch of the note is too sharp or too flat and in order to tune the string to the right pitch you then just start to turn the tuning key at the head of the neck of the guitar. After each turn of the key you should pluck the key and see what reading the tuner is giving.

When tuning your guitar you should always tune up and never tune down. To tune up you need to tighten strings, which have become loose until the right pitch in the note is heard. But if you do, find that you have tightened the string too much rather than loosing it off slightly (tune down) to hit the right pitch you should loosen the string off quite a bit and then start to tune up again. The reason is that you will actually be able to more accurately high the right pitch when tuning the strings up on your guitar and they will stay in tune for much longer as well.

If you would like to learn acoustic guitar tuning without the use of an electronic tuner then you will still need a source in order to reference pitch from. Ideally you can either use another guitar, a piano, a tuning for or even an MP3 as long as you know that it is in tune.

When you start your acoustic guitar tuning start by tuning the sixth string (low E) and use this as your reference pitch. Then once you have the sixth string tuned you can then move on to tuning the other five strings to that particular note. When moving on to the next strings to tune you should do the following:-

1. Play the sixth string (which is in tune) on the fifth fret after doing this start to tune the open fifth string until it sounds the same. 2. Now play the fifth string on the fifth fret as you did above and once you have the note in your mind you can start to tune the open fourth string. 3. After tuning the fourth string you now do the same with the third string. But you need to pay special attention here as you will switch from the fifth fret to the fourth fret on the third string when tuning up the second string. 4. Then after you have tuned the second string you move on to the final (first) string. Again to tune this you need to play the second string first with this you now move from the fourth fret to the third fret in order to get the note for the first string which is open. Once you have done these moves you have now completed tuning your acoustic guitar.

But a great way of ensuring that when first starting to tune your guitar by ear is to also use an electronic tuner as well. Although when it comes to acoustic guitar tuning the old fashioned way is good, but an electronic tuner ensures that you get accurate results every time that you do it.

Article Source: Main Articles

Above we have gone through the steps you can use in order to tune your acoustic guitar and the kind of equipment that you can use when it comes to tuning. To learn more about acoustic guitars and playing them please click on this link Acoustic Guitar Information.

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