Tuning the guitar.

Let's get started with one of the most important lessons of the guitar. Tuning your guitar.

On a six-string guitar, you have the following strings tuned to the following (standard tuning). Starting on the thickest string (or if you are holding your guitar and you look down at it, the first string you see), you have the notes on the string E A D G B e:

The upper-case E is the low E string (6th string), and the lower-case e is the high e string (1st string).

What you could do is take your phone and download an app that will tune the guitar for you (I have GuitarTuna on my phone). Sometimes your amp will have a built-in tuner that you could use, and these work and are very good. However, we should try and get our ears working as that is what music is all about. So step one is get your tuner out and tune the low E string with your desired app/built-in tuner on amp, etc.

With that low E string tuned, now turn off your tuner and use your ear to tune the A string to the low E string. We are going to do this by fretting the 5th fret on the low E string and plucking both the 6th string and the A string at the same time. When you fret the 5th fret on the 6th string, you get the following note:

Now we can see by fretting the 5th fret you get the A note on the 6th string. Now all you need to do is take the 5th string tuner and turn it up or down to match the A note on the 6th string. When first starting out, you want to really listen to the 2 notes together; slowly adjust the tuner. If you are really unsure if the 5th string is lower or higher than the 6th string A note, then try turning slowly the 5th string tuner one way and keep adjusting it (try not to go too far up as you could break the string if you go too far). If you are not getting it, you could tune the string down so it's quite lower than the 6th string A note and then pluck the 6th string. Then pluck the 5th string and turn the tuner on the 5th string up and keep going up slowly until it sounds the same. Once you believe you have the 5th string tuned to the 6th string – turn your tuner back on and check the 5th string and see how close you got it. If you are off, that’s ok just correct it to the tuner.

Once you get better at it, you should get to the point where you can tell when you pluck the 5th string if it is higher or lower than the 6th string and tune direc

Ok let’s try the 4th string (D note). This time, we are going to fret the 5th fret on the 5th string, which will give us the D note on the 5th string as follows:

Check that the D string (4th string) is tuned correctly using your tuner.

If the D string is in tune, let's tune the 3rd String G using the same method as above.

Once you believe the 3rd string is tuned to the G note on the 4th string, check your work with the tuner.

Now we will do the B string as follows:

I hope you catch that we are fretting the 4th fret on the 3rd string as opposed to the 5th fret as every other string so far. For now, just remember this. With the minor difference, you will do the same procedure as before; pluck both 3rd string and second string and tune the 2nd string to the 3rd string. Once you have them sounding the same, check the 2nd string with your tuner.

Now we will do the last string, the 1st string, by fretting the 5th fret of the 2nd string.

Again, once you feel like you have the two strings sounding the same, check your work with a tuner. Now, at this point, you can check all 6 strings with the tuner to make sure you have them correctly tuned. If they are, then you have done it. It will take time and practice for you to get this. After you have checked all the strings, strum a chord that you can recognize the sound of and see if you think it sounds right to you.

By following these steps, you'll be able to tune your guitar accurately and efficiently. Happy playing!