Tuning Best Practices

[Phil Macino]

Picked this up...interesting points. I don't know about the "two second wait" though...



Use a tuner (no matter how good you think your ears are, tuners are better. They are designed to know, not assume)
Switch to neck pickup only and roll off all high end or tone (tuners are simple, they simply tell you how close you are to a frequency, but can easily get confused if there are more then one frequencies being played. Clarity or tone is simply that… it acts like a cutoff, and removes all frequencies above your pot setting)
Pluck the string around the middle of the neck… 12th fret (just another way to remove unneeded frequencies. Plucking the string anywhere else creates subtle, but noticeable, overtones or harmonics that tuners can get confused by
Always come up to the note (if you are sharp, drop the string below the note and come up to the correct note. Sometimes when you tune down, the tension on your string gets caught between the bridge and the ball of the string… it then becomes a delicate tuning to the whole string, and a simple strum can set it out of tune again. Tuning up always keeps the same tension on the whole string)
If you play standing up, tune standing up… if you play sitting down, tune sitting down (this is especially important to guitars that have the strap connected to the head stock. The weight of the guitar pulls and bends the neck and body just enough when supporting its own weight, that the tuning will not be the same sitting and standing)
Wait 2 seconds before moving the peg (the initial attack of the pick or finger on the string pulls it past its normal tension and therefore starts the note sharp, sharp by cents mind you, but the tuner knows the difference)

[jas]

Hey, that's interesting stuff!

All these years I've been doing it wrong...:D

I agree that 2 seconds sounds a bit severe. Who's got two extra seconds to spend tuning a guitar?

Seriously, though, in each of these examples we're dealing with overtones that would either be far from the fundamental note or else they would BE the fundamental note, tuning-wise. I mean, there aren't overtones that are just one or 2 cents away from the fundamental tone - enough to confuse a tuner - are there?

-John

[darial]

I'm not a huge fan of 1. I think tuning by ear is a key element of any guitarist's training - if you can't distinguish pitch to a high degree of accuracy, how will you know if a string goes out of tune, or for that matter bend to pitch with any accuracy?

That said I do use a digital tuner most of the time to speed things up. The key is to be able to tune by ear.

2. and 3. are overkill if you have a good tuner. 4. is key. 5. seems paranoid on a solidbody with a standard strap setup. 6. is overkill - 1 sec. would do fine.

[darial]

Seriously, though, in each of these examples we're dealing with overtones that would either be far from the fundamental note or else they would BE the fundamental note, tuning-wise. I mean, there aren't overtones that are just one or 2 cents away from the fundamental tone - enough to confuse a tuner - are there?


Not until you go up many, many octaves. Although the mathamatically inclined could prove that there's an overtone of any note within any small distance epsilon of any other note (with unspecified octave) if they were so inclined.

Tuners have high pass filters and lock loops to sort this stuff out anyways. The strongest frequency (ie. the fundamental) is all a well designed tuner will ever see.

[darial]

Oh, and THE key practice, pre-stretching the strings, is missing. How can you leave out that?

[Dan Desy]

I'm not a huge fan of 1. I think tuning by ear is a key element of any guitarist's training - if you can't distinguish pitch to a high degree of accuracy, how will you know if a string goes out of tune, or for that matter bend to pitch with any accuracy?

That said I do use a digital tuner most of the time to speed things up. The key is to be able to tune by ear.

2. and 3. are overkill if you have a good tuner. 4. is key. 5. seems paranoid on a solidbody with a standard strap setup. 6. is overkill - 1 sec. would do fine.
That's the difference between relative pitch and absolute, or perfect pitch.
I'm far from having perfect pitch, but relative pitch is crystal clear to me.
I know when I'm out of tune. And I'm not even a trained musician!
Imagine that! ;)

[Phil Macino]

Oh, and THE key practice, pre-stretching the strings, is missing. How can you leave out that?
That's independant of tuning. Humidity control could be added at that point too.

[darial]

That's independant of tuning. Humidity control could be added at that point too.
Picky, picky. It's pretty key either way.

[grego7]

Originally posted by John Phillips:
Tuners are for situations (ie on stage) where you can't tune by ear because you either can't hear the guitar or don't want to subject the audience to it. IMO. And for checking absolute pitch in the studio etc.
I think that you have to add that tuners are used onstage because all involved have to be playing in tune with one another. I can tune my guitar fine using only my guitar. If it's in E or Eflat or some micropitch in between I can't honestly tell until I use my pedal. But I don't have perfect pitch...

[Supasso]

Use a tuner (no matter how good you think your ears are, tuners are better. They are designed to know, not assume)
Agreed. While I believe I have good ears and trust my ears for tuning, it's my ears telling me that using tuners is better. But if you can't tune your guitar by ears, you can't be a musician.

[kev]

I think that you have to add that tuners are used onstage because all involved have to be playing in tune with one another. I can tune my guitar fine using only my guitar. If it's in E or Eflat or some micropitch in between I can't honestly tell until I use my pedal. But I don't have perfect pitch...
All great points.

kev

[george4908]

>>I think that you have to add that tuners are used onstage because all involved have to be playing in tune with one another. I can tune my guitar fine using only my guitar. If it's in E or Eflat or some micropitch in between I can't honestly tell until I use my pedal. But I don't have perfect pitch...<<

That's what a tuning fork is for. ;)

I'll use a tuner to get in the neighborhood quickly, but if the situation allows, I'll always fine tune by ear. I have a Korg DT-7, but it's way too easily satisfied -- my ears are much fussier.

[Sherpa]

I tune by ear on the attack, because that suits my playing style, then I double-check using a tuner, again honing in on the attack, not the bloom. Works for me:)

[Old Fuzzface]

Here's my 2 additions, one will be useful to lots of players, the other only small minority.

If you have a floating trem, tune from outside in. Top E first, then bottom E, then B, then A etc. Saves a lot of iterations.

If you have a Hipshot tremsetter installed (unlikely, but you'll thank me if you do) tune down to the note, not up as you'd normally do. Don't ask why - I don't know. But it does work.

[VCuomo]

I'm pretty sure that there's at least one exception to #4: If you have locking Sperzels, I think you're supposed to tune down to the note (at least I've heard/read this a number of times). Anyone know for sure?

[AbstractLunatic]

I tune my plain strings to the attack and wound strings to the bloom. works for me...

I DO always use my neck pickup though...

[Jo]

I agree that 2 seconds sounds a bit severe. Who's got two extra seconds to spend tuning a guitar?

2 seconds sounds crazy. Generally, when playing a song, you don't let notes ring for 2 seconds in a song, unless if you're playing a very slow song. You're probably struming or picking approx 1/2 second apart.

Why is the neck pup recommended over the bridge?