How You Can Tune Acoustic Guitar in Easy Steps

While it’s fun and enjoyable to learn how to play the acoustic guitar, it is not without its frustrating moments. Hearing the guitar play sounds out of tune is definitely one cause of frustration. Actually, when you first pick up a guitar, it’s nearly impossible to play anything on it that sounds good. Most new guitars are not properly tuned. Hence, even if you know the basic techniques to play a decent song, it would never come out right. Obviously, it’s important to tune acoustic guitar first before you’re able to play acceptable music. When a fine-tuned guitar and your guitar-playing skills combine, there’s no doubt that everyone would listen in awe.

Of course, if you’re new with your acoustic guitar lessons, it would be impossible to understand how tuning works and how it’s done. The first thing you need to realize is you need to tune your guitar each time you use it. Guitars have the habit of going out of tune on its own very quickly. Perhaps too much strumming on the strings can affect the tuning. Therefore, if you practice your lessons quite often, your guitar is bound to become out of tune. That’s why it’s important to tune your guitar regularly and as soon as you notice a difference in the sound coming out from it. You need not worry that tuning your guitar would take too much time, leaving you with little to devote to your lessons. It only takes a couple of minutes and if you were already adept with tuning, you’d be able to do it in a matter of seconds.

What else do you need to know about how to tune acoustic guitar? Well, if you were tuning the guitar for the first time, it would be a good idea to use another source for your reference pitch. You will use this source to set the initial pitch and work your way into tuning the rest of your guitar using that one note. In order to set the initial pitch, you could use a pitch pipe, tuning fork, a piano, another guitar, or any other options. The important thing is the source should be able to give you the perfect pitch, as this would set the tone of your guitar. You could also try the fret method, which is the time-tested way to tune your guitar.

The fact is there are sites that teach how to tune acoustic guitar online. However, for your benefit, here are the basic steps:

1. Take your index finger and push down the sixth or E string found on the fifth fret. On the fifth fret, you would see a dot (marker). Make sure to play in the space between the two metal bars. It’s important to push down hard to produce a clear note. Afterward, compare the pitch of that note you played (this is usually the A note) with the fifth or A string played with open fingers this time (this means you would release your hold on the string). Obviously, when both actions produce different sounds, you need to adjust the fifth or A string.
2. For the next step, you need to push your index finger down on the fifth or A string at the fifth fret (the D note) and change the fourth or D string to produce the same sound.
3. Repeat the same procedure, playing the fourth string this time, which is still on the fifth fret (note G). You also need to tune the third string with open fingers until they sound the same.
4. For the third string, you would hold your index finger down on the fourth fret (note B) and repeat the same techniques as in numbers one through three.
5. Finally, play the second string on the fifth fret (we go back to note E), and do the same things as above while making sure the result produces the same sound.

If you find the above steps a tad complicated, you can always tune acoustic guitar tuner style. What does that mean? Well, there are electronic tuners sold in most music stores. Such a gadget can help you tune your guitar without difficulty. Nevertheless, if you feel strongly about tuning your guitar through hard work, then you can just use a tuner to fine-tune your guitar. With a fine-tuned guitar, you would be able to play the sweetest music.