Guitar Lesson: 10 Guitar Tuning Tips And Secrets

• Tune your guitar every time you pick it up to play, guitars can go out of tune sooner then you think.

• Avoid leaving your guitar in areas with extreme temperature changes,this will definitely mess up the tuning. Dropping or bumping the guitar will also make it go out of tune. Carry your guitar in a case as any damage to it could effect how well it tunes up.

• In a noisy environment you will definitely want to use a guitar tuner. You should purchase a quality tuner. You don’t need to spend alot. An inexpensive tuner or tuning fork is definitely good enough to start out. Always bring it to gigs and jam sessions. But, remember try to develop your ear by using the traditional guitar tuning method when you can. In the long run you will be just that much better of a musician. Only use a guitar tuner to tune the Low E string and then tune the rest by ear. This will help develop your ear as a musician.

• Learn to attach the strings to the machine heads properly.

• ALWAYS TUNE UP! When you tune a guitar string, always start below the desired note and tune up to pitch not down to pitch. This will help prevent the string from going flat during play. Even if the note is too high you can stretch the string to give it some slack then tighten it.

• Tuning heads have a certain amount of “play” in them so make a couple of deep bends and then fine tune the string.

• Before tuning a suspect string, check it against both adjacent strings to determine which string is actually out of tune. The string you suspect may not even be the culprit.

• Play a chord that you know well to test the tuning, if it sounds odd or out a bit it probably is, remember always trust you ear.

• When tuning a guitar with a vibrato arm, tune the string, give the arm a good shake, stretch the string, give the arm another shake and fine tune.

• When putting new strings on your guitar you must always make sure you stretch them as you tune them to pitch. Try holding them down on the neck around the 24th fret with your right hand while pulling them away from the guitar body with your left hand. You don’t have to use too much muscle, a few firm tugs should do the trick.