How To Tune A Guitar Online

Guitar Tuning is probably the second most important thing you can do with a guitar, apart from learning to play it that is!! You can try to play a guitar all you like, but if it is not in tune you may as well give up. This is why many people who try to learn the guitar get upset and think they are not playing like crap, as they are following the guitar lessons properly, but the guitar just doesn’t sound right.

Tuning Your Guitar

There are many different “keys” to tune your guitar to. The most popular key that most songs are played in is the key of “E”…So that is what we will be concentrating on here, as you don’t have to worry about the other keys until you are a more advanced guitar player. When tuning your guitar to the key of “E”, this is the way the strings are named:

• E is the top string, and is the thickest string on the guitar.
• A is the second string and is the second thickest string on a guitar.
• D is the third string and is the third thickest string on a guitar.
• G is the fourth string and is the fourth thickest string on a guitar.
• B is the fifth string and is the fifth thickest string on a guitar.
• E is the sixth string and is the thinnest string on a guitar.

What you need to do first is to get the “E” string to be at the right pitch, you can listen to the correct pitch of the “E” string in the video below. All you have to do is to make your “E” string (thickest string) sound the same as that note that you will hear.

Guitar Tuning – The E String

Now, to tune the rest of the strings on your guitar, you can either just press the other buttons (A,D,G,B,E) on the online guitar tuner to the right of the screen, or do it the way i describe below.

I would suggest you do it the following way, as you will soon be able to tune your guitar without the need for a guitar tuner if you practice this method…

Once you have your thickest string tuned to “E”…follow these steps:

• On the 5th fret, press the “E” string down and make the “A” string sound the same (by playing the two strings (E then A) one after the other)
• On the 5th fret, press the “A” string down and make the “D” string sound the same (by playing the two strings (A then D) one after the other)
• On the 5th fret, press the “D” string down and make the “G” string sound the same (by playing the two strings (D then G) one after the other)
• On the 4th fret, press the “G” string down and make the “B” string sound the same (by playing the two strings (G then B) one after the other)
• On the 5th fret, press the “B” string down and make the “E” string sound the same (by playing the two strings (B then E) one after the other)

Guitar Chords & Tuning Instruction

Now you have all the tools you need to keep your guitar in tune. As mentioned before, when you want to learn the guitar, you also have to learn about Guitar Tuning. I would suggest you tune your guitar before each playing session.

When you are just learning the guitar, you may still be having troubles with tuning your guitar, if this is the case after trying a few times, i would suggest you that you buy a electronic guitar tuner from your local music store, it will cost you between $25 & $75 and will make your task of Guitar Tuning super easy.

Alternatively, if you have an iPhone, gibson has just released a fantastic iPhone Guitar App that will solve all your tuning needs.

Until next time…Rock On!
Scotty Smith ©2008-2009