If your guitar sounds a little bit off while playing, it is most likely that your guitar is out of tune. This means that you have to tune your guitar to get it sound correctly again. Tuning an electric/acoustic guitar is a simple task if you know how to do it. Tune your guitar every single time you decide to pick it up and jam with it. Here’s how to get it done.
How to tune a guitar
1 – In order to tune your guitar, you would need a reference pitch. If you have a digital guitar tuner, it would work wonders. Guitar tuners are highly recommended as they can help you tune your guitar accurately. If not, use a reference pitch which could be another tuned guitar or a piano.
2 – Your strings go in order from the low E string to the high E string (thickest to thinnest). Each string is marked by an alphabet — E A D G B E. If you can’t remember the alphabets, try remembering Eggs Are Damn Good Better Eat.
3 – Tune your low E string to the low E note. Play this note on the tuned guitar or piano and turn the peg of your low E string till its tone matches the low E note.
4 – Once you get the right tone on the low E string, you can tune the other strings according to that.
5 – The open A string should match the tone of the fifth fret of the low E string.
6 – Tune the D, G and high E strings in the same manner — matching the tone of the open string to that of the fifth fret of the string above it.
7 – The B string is the only exception. The tone of the open B string needs to match the tone of the fourth fret of the G string.
8 – Once you have tuned your guitar completely, check the tuning against another tuned guitar to make sure you’ve got it right. It may need a bit of fine-tuning initially.
Most songs are played as per the above standard tuning. Others may require you to tune it differently. Either way, getting your guitar tuned correctly can make your guitar sounds truly fantastic.
