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Posted by: Henrik Skotth Nov 19 2007, 09:40 AM

So, I got a comment to my http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/blog/?p=84, suggesting that I get a tuner. I've read the http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showtopic=5233 but I still have some questions.

First: How does a tuner actually work? I mean, how do I use it?? As I've never seen or used one, I only get half the picture from that thread. Perhaps we should have a "tuning video" here on GMC?

Second: Is it hard to do? Do I risk screwing up? Any specific tips for a beginner?

And lastly: Any suggestions for an affordable tuner? Korg CA-30 was suggested in the thread above, any comments on that?

Thanks in advance for any help you guys can give me

Posted by: Hemlok Nov 19 2007, 11:12 AM

Your second question, is it hard to do? A: no. Do you risk screwing up? A: YES!!! gotta make sure you don't push it too far or it will snap. I snapped a string tonight.

I have a plan to make a video on tuning, but someone might beat me to it.

I don't have a suggestion for a tuner, any chromatic tuner does the job in my opinion. Some have built in metronome which would be a cool investment.

Posted by: mattacuk Nov 19 2007, 12:28 PM

Henrik!!

Ok so first off, I have a Boss TU-80 tuner and i can highly recommend it to a beginner. It is fairly cheap, accurate and easy to use.

The first step in tuneing is knowing exactly what pitch to tune your strings too. Standard tuneing is as follows, from low E (thick string nearest you) to high E (the thinnest one).

E
A
D
G
B
E

Plug one end of your lead into the tuner (input slot) and the other end into your guitar. Power on your tuner and start with the low E (just for example, you can start on any string you like).

Hit the string, look on your tuner and it will tell you what pitch that string is currently at.

Depending on what pitch the string is currently at, you will need to (SLOWLY) turn the tuneing peg clockwise, or anti clock wise untill you reach the pitch of "E" on your string.

There should be a needle on the screen telling you if you are too flat or sharp. Once the needle is in the centre of the screen and you see the correct pitch letter (E in this case) you should be tuned accuratly.

Apply these steps to the rest of the strings, ensureing you tune to the correct pitch for each string as shown above.

Tuneing is typically a straight foward process, but be carefull not to go to mad tighetning the string because this is a beginner mistake and you may snap your string!

Good luck

regards

Matt

Posted by: blindwillie Nov 19 2007, 01:27 PM

The Korg CA30 is a common choise it seems. Easy to handle and does it job reliably. A good choise as far as I can tell.

Posted by: MickeM Nov 19 2007, 01:31 PM

I've got Korg GA-30, it's a good one, it can handle flat tuning. I'm fine with it.

Posted by: lefty01 Nov 19 2007, 02:13 PM

QUOTE (MickeM @ Nov 19 2007, 07:31 AM)

Posted by: Jakub Luptovec Nov 19 2007, 04:13 PM

I myself use tuner in Guitar pro.. (via microphone..)
It suits all my downtuning needs and also.. IMO, Guitar pro is a must for anyone, who wants to make his practicing as easy as possible..
it has almost all, you need - only thing, that is cannot do is to practice instead of you:)

But you have metronome, (a kind of..) drum machine and backing track maker, speed trainer, fretboard reminder, song learning abilities etc. etc...
and also a tuner:)

Posted by: Henrik Skotth Nov 23 2007, 10:56 AM

I've finally finished tuning my guitar now! It turned out that I had a tuner built into my amp! It wasn't a very great one though, as it could only tune to E (and I didn't have a clue how to manage that!), and didn't have any of the nifty features described above such as showing in which direction I was out of tune etc. However, I got some nice suggestions by PM on how to tune to E, which enabled me to tune it anyway.

I think that I learned a lot by doing it this way, both guitar theory and learning to listen to the pitch to know in which direction to move the tuning peg. It got easier and easier.

So thanks guys for all of your advice! In the future, I might get a better tuner, but for now this will do. Now I'm going to go and write a blog post about this, I think

Posted by: DeepRoots Nov 23 2007, 11:09 AM

QUOTE (Henrik Skotth @ Nov 23 2007, 09:56 AM)

I've finally finished tuning my guitar now! It turned out that I had a tuner built into my amp! It wasn't a very great one though, as it could only tune to E (and I didn't have a clue how to manage that!), and didn't have any of the nifty features described above such as showing in which direction I was out of tune etc. However, I got some nice suggestions by PM on how to tune to E, which enabled me to tune it anyway.

I think that I learned a lot by doing it this way, both guitar theory and learning to listen to the pitch to know in which direction to move the tuning peg. It got easier and easier.

So thanks guys for all of your advice! In the future, I might get a better tuner, but for now this will do. Now I'm going to go and write a blog post about this, I think

Posted by: Mackietao Nov 23 2007, 01:02 PM

I recently started playing again but in my years "back in the days" when I played I never owned a tuner.. I did have a metronome that could sound the note A though. Never had any problem and I never snapped a string. Most of my stringchanging was on floyed rose guitars. That took some time though.

How I do it: I put them on one at a time. Start by removing an E string, putting on the new string, giving it some tension perhaps up to a few halfstepes higher then E. It will go back under E very fast so do that a couple of times until it does drop so fast. Do the same thing to the next string.. And while putting on the other strings go back now and then and give the already done strings some tension to somewhere around their normal tuning. No need to use tuner unless you feel insecure. (i never snapped a string). So now all strings are changed, give them some bending (not monsterbends) at different places on the fretboard. Give them some more tension and bend some more. Now you can use a tuner and tune it right. If it still goes out of tune and playing for a short period give it some more bending and playing and then tune again.

Now I don´t know if it´s a good thing to bend the "slack" out of them. I sometimes grab them with my right hand on pull them up "in the sky" a few cm´s sometimes too. But I´ve see guitartech´s do this and it speeds up the process.

Posted by: Xranthoius Nov 23 2007, 02:32 PM

ill make a video of tuning... real easy would it count as a lesson and would i get paid too