The Electric Guitar

Tuning the guitar

How to tune a guitar in standard tuning

There are several different guitar tuning profiles, but the most popular one by far is
‘standard tuning’.

In standard tuning, the notes of the guitar, from thickest to thinnest are:

E, A, D, G, B, E

Page | 1
How to remember the notes of the guitar strings
Here is two useful mnemonics to help you remember the order “E, A, D, G, B, E”.

• Elephants And Donkeys Grow Big Ears

• Eddie Ate Dynamite Good Bye Eddie

Pick whichever one you like best, or make up your own. (The sillier the better.)

Now we know the notes we are aiming for we can tune

the guitar
You have already learned the first half of how to tune a guitar, well done!

Now we need to look at how to tune a guitar to E, A, D, G, B, E.

Page | 2
How to tune a guitar to E, A, D, G, B, E
Look at your guitar’s headstock (the thin end of the guitar).

You will see small ‘keys’ that you can turn. We call these ‘machine heads.

Each string is attached to a machine head of its own. When we turn a machine head, we
change the pitch that the string is tuned to.

How do we know what note the string is tuned to when

we’re turning the machine heads?
Easy. We use a tuner to tell us! 🙂

If you’re wondering how to tune a guitar with what you have at hand, there’s 4 methods
(we’ll cover each one in turn):

1. How to tune a guitar using an electronic guitar tuner.

2. How to tune a guitar using a smartphone app.

3. How to tune a guitar using other instruments.

4. How to tune a guitar using its own strings (and your ears!)

Page | 3
How to tune a guitar using an electronic guitar tuner.
When people ask me how to tune a guitar, I always say the same thing: All things
considered, electronic guitar tuners are the best option.

They are fast and accurate. (When you have a decent electronic guitar tuner you simply
will not need to worry about how to tune a guitar again.)

The interface of ALL tuners is broadly the same.

You pluck a note and the tuner shows you the note you played.

The tuner shows you this in three ways:

• It will tell you the string it thinks you are trying to tune.

• It will show you with an oscillating ‘needle’ how far away from the note you are.

• It will show you with a light whether the note is too low or too high.

You need to get the needle in the middle.

Page | 4
On the picture above the ‘needle’ is perfectly in the middle. (Can you see the thin, black
vertical line?)

Because the needle is perfectly in the middle, the green light above it is lit. This note is
perfectly in tune!

We can see it’s tuning the A string (the 5th string) because in the top left corner it says
“5A”.

• If the needle was over to the left, the green light would not be lit. The red light
to the left of it would be lit and this would tell us the note was too ‘flat’ (too low).

• If the needle was over to the right, again the green light would not be lit. The
red light to the right would be lit and this would tell us the note was too ‘sharp’
(too high).

Got that? Ok, let’s tune up!

1 – Turn the tuner on.

2 – If necessary, tell the tuner the string you want to tune. (Most tuners default to ‘auto-
detect’ the strings, but some tuners need to be manually told what string you want to
tune.)

Page | 5
Important! If your tuner is manual, then make sure your tuner is ‘listening’ for the correct
string that you want to tune. If the tuner is set to ‘listen’ to a different string to the one you
are tuning, you may overtune the string and it will snap!
3 – Pluck a string.

4 – Look at the tuner. Is the needle in the middle? If not turn the machine head one way
or the other.

5 – Pluck again. Which way did the needle go? If it went towards the middle, keep going!
If it went away from the middle, turn the machine head in the opposite direction.

6 – Repeat the cycle of A) pluck string B) look at tuner and C) turn machine head until the
needle is in the middle.

Page | 6
While tuning, pluck the string a LOT.
Most beginners are quite timid and pluck once and then wait for ages while the tuner
‘listens’ for a note that’s stopped ringing.

Don’t do this. You should pluck, pluck, pluck away!

The more your guitar is ringing out a note the easier it is for the tuner to hear, so pluck
lots. (About once a second is ideal.)

There are 3 different types of electronic tuner.

1. Vibration-based

2. Microphone-based

3. Plug-in / pedal-based

Ideally, we want you to know how to tune a guitar with all three.

It’s pretty easy: ‘get the needle in the middle’ remains our aim.

Vibration-based electronic tuners

Vibration-based tuners clip on to your guitar’s headstock. I love these!

They are brilliant if you’re in a noisy place as they detect the note’s pitch through vibration,
so if there’s lots of noise around, it doesn’t affect the tuner (because it isn’t reliant on a
microphone).

Page | 7
Once in position and switched on they will usually automatically show you what note your
string is tuned to when you pluck it. (You don’t need to worry about ‘manual’ or ‘auto’
detection.)

They are very accurate and have colour LCD displays that are easy to read, even in bright
sunlight. (The ‘needle’ is indicated by different colours.)

Microphone-based electronic tuners

Microphone tuners are great and they don’t add any clutter to your guitar headstock like
the clip-on vibration-based tuners do.

The only downside is that the microphone must be able to hear the guitar clearly. If
there’s other music in the room (or sound from the TV, or whatever) that will throw the
tuner off course.

Page | 8
You can use these for all acoustic guitars and if it has a jack input you can use it for
electric guitars too.

Page | 9
As with the clip-on vibration-based tuners these sometimes automatically detect strings,
but depending on your model you may have to preselect the note manually.

Plug-in and pedal tuners

Plug in tuners are VERY accurate and connect directly to your electric, bass or electro-
acoustic guitar via a jack lead.

They are expensive, but awesome. My favourite is the Boss TU3. It’s built like a tank.

Page | 10
Pedals operate like any tuner (the lights represent the ‘needle’), but of course you have
to stomp the pedal to activate or deactivate them.

Page | 11
How to tune a guitar using a smartphone app.
For most modern guitar learners smartphone apps are a good cheap starting point when
learning how to tune a guitar.

There are hundreds of free and paid smartphone apps that are decent. They operate
exactly the same as the microphone-based electronic tuners that we covered above.

Search around, the app landscape changes fast and there’s always a new top dog.

Page | 12
How to tune a guitar using other instruments.
If you already play a musical instrument, it’s possible to tune your guitar to
it (especially if it has a fixed tuning such as an electronic keyboard).

To learn how to tune a guitar in this way you will need to find E2 A2 D3 G3 B3 E4 on your
instrument. (On a keyboard or piano, E2 is two octaves below middle C4.)

You or a friend may need to play each note on your instrument, holding it down as a
‘drone’ so that as you tune your guitar you can listen carefully for the moment the notes
start to resonate and sound the same.

(Once you have your low E string, you can tune the others using the below method.)

“Open strings” are strings that are not being pressed (fretted) onto the guitar neck. When
you pluck a string without pressing down on any frets, we say you are playing an ‘open
string’.

Page | 13
Spock likes guitar.

Page | 14
How to tune a guitar using its own strings (and your
ears)
Here is a good 6-step method for ’emergencies’, like if your electronic tuner isn’t to hand
and your smartphone’s battery is flat. It’s the ‘anytime, anywhere’ method of how to
tune a guitar.

Step 1 – Tune the 6th string

Tune the thickest open string as accurately as you can to a low E. It doesn’t have to be
perfect. Just ‘guesstimate’ what the thickest string usually sounds like.

(All the other strings will be tuned relative to this, so it doesn’t really matter if it’s a little
sharp or flat.)

Step 2 – Tune the 5th string

Place your first finger on the fifth fret of the thickest string. This will give you an ‘A’ note
that will sound exactly like how you want the open 5th string to sound.

You can now tune the 5th string to match the note you are holding on the 6th string.

Keeping your finger on the fifth fret, gently pick both the 6th string and the open 5th string
in turn, gradually turning the 5th string’s machine head until the two notes are in harmony.

You need to listen carefully here. The two notes will ‘resonate’ when they match.

Step 3 – Tune the 4th string

We’re going to do the same thing again here, except a string higher.

Page | 15
Place your first finger on the fifth fret of the 5th string. This is a D note.

Keeping your finger on the fifth fret, pluck the 5th string and then the open 4th string one
after the other, at the same time turning the 4th string’s machine head until the note of
the 4th open string chimes like the note of the fifth fret of the 5th string.

Step 4 – Tune the 3rd string

Same again. Place your first finger on the fifth fret of the 4th string. This gives a G note.

Keeping your finger on the fifth fret, pluck the 4th string and open 3rd string alternately,
turning the 3rd string’s machine head until the 3rd string is in harmony with the fifth fret of
the 4th string.

Step 5 – Tune the 2nd string

It’s different here. Place your first finger on the fourth fret of the 3rd string. This gives
a B note.

Page | 16
Keeping your finger on the fourth fret, pluck the 3rd string and open 2nd string alternately,
turning the 2nd string’s machine head until the 2nd string rings brightly with the fourth fret
of the 3rd string.

Step 6 – Tune the 1st string

Place your first finger on the fifth fret on the 2nd string. This is an E note.

Tune the thinnest and last string to that, again by turning the 1 st string’s machine head
until the tone of the 1st string dings with the fifth fret of the 2nd string.

• So you can see we tuned each string to the prior string. To remember
this pattern, think “5 5 5 4 5”.

• Don’t forget the 2nd string is the only one that uses the fourth fret to tune
from. All the others use the fifth fret.

Page | 17
6 Top Tuning Tips
Guitars are more sensitive than most people realise, so bear these things in mind.

1) Tune up EVERY time you play.

This is non-negotiable. As a beginner, your ears won’t be able to tell if your guitar has
gone slightly out of tune.

Guitars drift out of tune every day and there is nothing more demotivating for a guitar
learner than sounding bad when playing. (I often speak with guitar learners who are
feeling down because they think they’re not playing ‘well’, but their guitar is out of tune!)

This isn’t an optional thing. As musicians, we should tune our instrument as part of our
routine EVERY time we play.

Page | 18
2) Keep your guitar out of hot places
Your guitar is like any other piece of wood. Temperature affects it. Keep it out of the sun,
out of your car on a hot day etc.

Don’t ever rest it against a radiator or any other heat source.

3) Keep your guitar out of cold places

It doesn’t have to be Arctic, even a gentle draft from under a door will nudge your guitar
out of tune.

Don’t leave it in your car overnight!

Page | 19
4) Loosen the strings before storage or transport
Loosening your guitar’s strings slightly beforehand allows your guitar to relax and cope
with changes in humidity and temperature.

Store your guitar somewhere dry and cool. Away from radiators, air conditioners and
any damp conditions.

5) Avoid impacts, big and small

Any kind of bump will knock your guitar out of tune. Of course, if it falls over it will go out
of tune, but even little bumps (like a door opening against it) will knock it out.

Also, remember that general play causes your guitar to go out of tune from the constant
pressing of your fingers on and off the strings. It happens. It’s normal.

(String-bending solos will always cause a re-tune, too.)

6) Replace your guitar’s strings regularly.

Dirty, corroded, and over-stretched strings become brittle and harder to tune. They also
sound terrible!

Change your strings every 6-8 weeks.

Page | 20