Become Old Fashioned When You Tune a Guitar!
Sometimes small things can make a big difference in your musical development. The way you tune a guitar is one of those things.
In the early days of my playing and teaching, we all relied on our ears to tune our guitars. Many of my students today don’t even know how to tune a guitar without a tuner and all of them use one regularly. Witnessing the decline of certain skills during that transition led me to conclude that it’s a good idea to frequently ditch the tuner.
It’s true that by using a tuner, you’ll increase your chance of achieving accuracy and you may be able to get to the business of playing more quickly than if you tuned by ear. But if you choose to use your ear and practice relative tuning instead, you’ll find that the act of observing your finger placement and comparing the pitches of one string to another provides subtle insight into note recognition and interval shapes—two things that will serve you as you progress in your playing.
How to Tune a Guitar Without a Tuner—and More
If you don’t know how to tune using the relative tuning method, you can learn by following these instructions. Once you’ve finished tuning by ear, you can use your tuner to check your accuracy and get a sense of how to hone your pitch sense. Since playing music is first and foremost about listening, it’s the ideal way to begin each practice session!
One more tip: carry an “E” tuning fork around with you and listen to the pitch multiple times throughout the day. After a few days you may discover that you’ve memorized the pitch and will be able to tune your guitar without the help of a tuning fork or constant pitch instrument. (Bonus: when you know hwo to tune a guitar without a tuner, you can play in tune anywhere, any time, without batteries!)
Tune by ear every time you pick up your guitar—and while you’re doing it, think about the names of the notes you’re playing. In time, you’ll notice an improvement in note recognition, fretboard comprehension, and pitch sense.
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