How to tune your guitar

all this while i've been learning guitar,4 years already,i've only learned how to tune my guitar after 3 years of playing. somehow my ears are not capable to detect and remember the frequency of each string. when i needed my guitar to be tuned, i'll just bring to my guitar teacher and asked him to tune it for me. but just before SPM, i stopped going to classes and since then, i have to resort to my own will to tune my own precious classical guitar.

at first, I started by going to the net and looked for an online tuner. I found one and attached it in my blog where I can refer to every time I need to tune my guitar. But soon after, a few months later I guess, I can tune my guitar without going online. How did I tune my guitar? Well, certainly not by remembering the individual frequencies of each strings! What I did was I assumed the highest string on the fret, which is also the thickest one, as E. I do not tune it to E at the normal frequency. I just tune it to a point where I assume it is E. then, from there I start to tune the other strings by making the E string as my reference.

When I wanted to tune the fifth string which holds the A note, I just pressed the high E at the fifth fret and the note produced will be an A. so what I’ll do from here is that I tune the fifth string until it vibrates when I pluck the E string. And I will tune the rest using the same way except that I press the third string(G) on the fourth fret when I want to tuned the second string(B).

Little did I know that, when I tune my guitar using this method I’m actually applying a physics concept which is resonance. What is resonance? It happens when the natural frequency of and object is matched to the driving or the forcing frequency of another object. In this case, the A string natural frequency was matched with the forcing frequency when I pressed the E string on the fifth fret and thus will result with the A string vibrates indicating they are both now the same frequency.

Had I known this concept earlier I would be able to tune my guitar without relying on my guitar teacher. So for the rest of you who are learning guitar and yet to know how to tune your guitar, apply this concept and you can tune your guitar whenever and wherever you want.

Summary on how to tune your guitar:

First you'll need a reference such as a tuning fork, piano or guitar. In this case is your E string if you remember that string frequency. Once you have one of the strings tuned properly, you only need to fret to match the other strings as follows:

A string matches E string at the 5th fret of the E string

D string matches A string at the 5th fret of the A string

G string matches D string at the 5th fret of the D string

B string matches G string at the 4th fret of the G string

E string matches B string at the 5th fret of the B string

the position of strings

with this method you don't have to rely on electric tuner again.

Just as a reminder, all you need to do though is to memorise and remmeber the sound of the high E string so it would be easier for you to tune from a reference. Enjoy your tuning session! i hope this article is helpful.