h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: How To Tune A Guitar - A9407630
Author: Roymondo - Twang, twang, twangity twang, OUCH! Thanet meet: A8566572. B.Perv (Hons.) - U1330481

Joined at the hip and not too longwinded!

A fair bit of new stuff added, and confusion. I'm sure I saw an entry on Drop D tunings, but can't find it now. And I can't find an entry on the Stones. Hmmm.

I hope the last sentence isn't too mushy - I wrote it whilst listening to Marillion!

I don't agree with what you say about tuning forks at all. They're the best way other than an electronic tuner. You strike the tuning fork on your knee, then place the end on the bridge, which produces a very loud A note. You tune the A string to that, and then tune the rest to the A.

Even using pitch pipes, you should only tune one note to the pitch pipes and tune all the rest to that one string - you'll be much more in tune than if you tune each string to a separate note from the pitch pipes. The same applies to tuning the guitar to a note from a piano or any other instrument. Only tune one string to the instrument, then use relative tuning to tune the rest; otherwise it will sound awful. The only exception is the electroninc tuner, where each string is tuned separately.

I agree about the accuracy but, from personal experience, have always found juggling the guitar, a pick, a tuning fork/pitch pipe and the tuning peg impractical - hence the recommendation of an electronic tuner over pitch forks/pitch pipes.

Hmmm. You may be right. I just play the tuning fork A once, and then I can tune to that note for the next five minutes or so. I agree that beginners won't be able to do this.

That's the thing - I gave up on tuning forks & pitch pipes when I was a beginner (in time I've learned to get an 'A' from memory - most of the time!) so don't think recommending them in the entry will help anyone.

I'll amend the pipes bit to suggest tuning relatively from one pipe.

Pipes bit amended and a stray comma removed.

But the absolute beginner will need one note from somewhere to start off. They will have no idea where an E or an A are.

On the pipes? The pipes are marked with their notes.

No, I think Gnomon means that the beginner will need a note (like concert A) to hear in order to know what to begin tuning to.

I love electronic tuners - I still rely pretty heavily on them, and I've been playing violin for six years! But perhaps you should mention that there are two kinds: the kind that plays concert A for you to tune to, and the kind where you play concert A and it tunes you. Some electronic metronomes come with a feature where it plays an A. It's probably worth specifying so that the beginner doesn't get confused.

I use an electric tuner, but only when tuning the bottom string. The rest I can do by ear.

Thanks for the help!

I got a guitar last week and began some lessons. I've only learnt a few chords and the notes, but I've been practicing on the guitar so much that it got out of tune. Using your entry, I managed to tune the guitar perfectly in 15 minutes. Its amazing how much better the chords sound when the guitar is in tune!

Great entry by the way. i'm glad you wrote it when you did, the timing was perfect for me!

I've got my next guitar lesson tomorrow! Woo-hoo!

O.A

You should tune your guitar every time you play it, and check that it is still in tune about every 10 minutes or so.

I am missing some words about the tuning with harmonics:

If you gently touch a string just above the 5th fret (don't press it down, just touch it), it produces an note which is exactly two octaves above the free string. If you do that wit the 7th string, the resultung note will be one octave plus one fifth above the free string.

How can you use that phenomenon (it's called "flageolet" - can someone please verify the english spelling for me?) for tuning?

Touch the low E at fifth and the A string at 7th fret (remember: just touch then, don't press them down!): The resulting notes will be an E two octaves above the free E string and a note which is one ectave and a fifth above the A which happens to be ... that very same E!

If both notes are precisely the same, you will hear them as one homogenous sound. If they aren't, they will produce a phasing, tremolo-like sound that vibrates the faster the more those notes are out of tune. Just bring that phasing to a standstill, and voilà: Tuned.

It works for every pair of strings that is one quart apart.

--
Jeremy

Thanks, Jeremy. The word flageolet (correct spelling!) is used in English but not for anything to do with tuning guitars. It is a type of whistle.

In English you say "a fourth apart" rather than "a quart apart".

I'm a bit concerned about wher eyou say a telephone ringing/dialing tone is 440 (a avbove middle C) I enquired of this to my friend (who has perfect pitch) and he was most dubious about it, also I've noticed with my telephones they differ between my cordless handsets and the landline fixed phone My Friend said yep there seemed to be 440 hertz there in the dialing tone, but other frequencys too were with it I still favour a tuning fork to give me the a note to tune the rest of the guitar from I tend to sound an artifical A harmonic on the guitar (so it lasts for longer) then stike the tuning fork and tune that string to the A before tuning the rest to the tuned string

I was going to check that when I went to London last week, but I forgot. I seriously doubt that the British dialing tone is 440Hz myself.

Apparently, its got 440 in it, but other tones too

Ello, I've finally taken another look at this.

Jeremy I've your harmonics bit (with a couple of alterations). I treid adding you to the 'researcher' box at the bottom but the the entry said you researched it and I edited it.

Orange A - glad to be of service.

I've ditched the bit about dialling tones.

Still not sure about the 'A' thing. If the guitar's being tuned relatively it won't matter what the note is and if it's tuned to concert pitch then the tuning device will say indicate what it is. Unless you mean I should explain the musical scale?

I've added emr's point about some tuners playing an 'A', and tried to clarify what the 'A' is - but could only do so by repeating that the 5th string when played open. Not sure how else to explain an 'A' (or any other note) without attaching an audio file!