Guest Blogger and Guitarist Ian Fraser

“Easy Guitar Tuning Without the Need for an Electric Tuner”

If you’ve been playing guitar for any length of time then you’ve likely used or own an electric tuner. They’re pretty straight forward to use and what most people think of as the easiest method of tuning their guitar, but what if you don’t have an electric tuner around? Can you still tune your guitar? Of course you can, what did they do before we had electric tuners? Everyone certainly didn’t play out of tune that’s for sure.

In this post I’m going to explain how you can get your guitar in tune quickly without the need for any electronic devices. All you’ll need to remember are a couple of simple rules and train your ear to hear when your string(s) is out of tune.

Let’s get started…

Here are the two rules you must memorize for tuning your guitar by ear.

1.)Any given string should be the same note as the 5th fret on the string above it
2.)One exception to rule one is the G and B string where it’s the 4th fret of the G string that should match the B string.

EXAMPLE: If your D string is sounding a little out of pitch you can quickly check to see if it’s in tune by first playing the 5th Fret of the A string then the D string. Compare the sound and if the D string sounds lower or higher then the 5th fret on the D string simply tune it up or down using the tuning peg.

This method takes a little practice to train your ear to hear the sounds and know if a particular string is higher or lower then the other. I suggest you practice this technique each time you sit down to play. By practicing it consistently you’ll quickly realize when a string is out of tune and know if it’s higher or lower then it should be.

Below is a quick video that explains this concept in detail. I suggest you take the time to watch it and the example tuning of all 6 strings. Then go grab your own guitar and give this exercise a try.

For more tips like these and to improve your guitar playing why not consider taking some guitar lessons for beginners. Thanks to dvds, online videos and ebooks you can improve your guitar playing studying completely at home on your own time and for less money then private lessons.