How to Tune a Guitar with an Electric Tuner

Tuning a guitar with an electric tuner is about as easy as waking up in the morning. Okay, so it may be harder for some than others, but it is much more straightforward than tuning by ear. Imagine no hassling with listening to each note, plucking the strings until your fingers ache with frustration. However, if tuning by ear is more your style, by all means go for it, but please recognize that this article carries a heavy bias in favor of electric tuners.

An electric tuner is a small, usually square, black piece of equipment. The tuner will have either dots or an analog face showing the user which way to tune the guitar – sharp or flat, the tuner knows it all. A tuner also has a port on either side for input; if you have an electric guitar or acoustic/electric combination, you are able to plug your guitar directly into the tuner and tune away with remarkable accuracy. Because of the ease of using an electric tuner, it is here to stay.

Another bonus of the electric tuner is that the microphone it uses to pick up the pitch can be adjusted to either the manual or the automatic setting. In general, the difference between the two settings is that in automatic mode, the tuner will pick up any note you play, from A to G, and tell you whether it is flat or sharp. The manual setting is for more advanced users as it allows you to pinpoint the note’s exact pitch, but only a single note at a time. In other words, the tuner will only recognize the note that you set it to and will not recognize other notes. When you are just getting started and still getting used to your tuner, the automatic setting is definitely the most user–friendly setting.

As is mentioned above, plugging your pickup into an electric tuner’s input port is a slice of heaven all in its own. When you plug an electric guitar into a tuner, you can tune the guitar perfectly and will not have to deal with outside noises influencing the microphone that is trying to pick up pitch. However, if you love the rich sound of an acoustic guitar, then tuning might be a little more tedious, even with the aid of an electric tuner.

First, when tuning a guitar without using the input port, you must find a quiet room to tune it in. Set the tuner as close as you can to the point where the sound is emitted from the guitar. This way, you are able catch the purest sound without external influences. Keep in mind that any noises will make the tuner go haywire and explode! Just kidding! However, you should be prepared for your tuner to make some odd noises – no need to call the bomb squad– generally, these noises are simply telling you to stay quiet.

Standard tuning begins from the 1st or thinnest string, and proceeds E, B, G, D, A, E. Pluck each string and turn each tuning peg to justify the note’s pitch. If the note is sharp, or #, then loosen the string. If the note is flat or looks like a lowercase cursive b, then tighten the string.

All tuners in essence work the same way, but Korg tuners work great. Now that your guitar is finally tuned and ready for playing, you should whip up a tasty groove on that music box!