How to Tune Your Guitar, Step 1: Using a Tuner

Other posts in this series:
How to Tune Your Guitar, Step 2: Tuning the Guitar to Itself
How to Tune Your Guitar, Step 3: Alternate Tunings

This is the first post in a series about how to tune your guitar. Tuning seems unpredictable - at times very difficult, while at other times it seems very simple. But fear not! With a bit of knowledge and some practice, you can tune like a pro. Here are some of the basic steps involved when tuning your guitar.

Step 1: Know thy string names

First things first, the tuning of the guitar starting from thickest string (the 6th string, the top string) to thinnest (the 1st string, which is the bottom string - yes, the strings are numbered "upside-down"):

E A D G B E

To remember this, I like to use a little mnemonic: Eddie Ate Dynamite, Good Bye Eddie! (If you're not a fan of eating dynamite, you could try Elephants And Dogs Grow Big Ears).

Step 2: Grab your Tuner

Let's start using your tuner. If it's a clip-on tuner, simply clip it on to the headstock of your guitar (the part where the tuning pegs are found), and turn it on. If it's not a clip-on tuner, just place it somewhere nearby. Electric guitars can often be plugged plug into your tuner if it's not a clip-on (and if your tuner doesn't have that option, just be sure to go somewhere nice and quiet).

Step 3: Start Tuning

Play your low-E string (6th string). Is the string:
- In tune?
- Too low (flat)?
- Too high (sharp)?

Look for a needle or dial on your tuner's display that shows how close you are to being in tune. Some tuners use a display a bit like a car's speed-o-meter. If you're too far to the left the string is flat, and too far to the right means you're sharp. Some tuners use colours, where green means "in tune", and red and yellow mean "sharp" or "flat". Check your manual if you're not certain (or check online if you've already thrown your manual out by mistake!) and figure out if your string is in tune.

While doing this, keep one thing in mind: your tuner doesn't know what pitch you want to tune your string to, it simply shows you the pitch that the string is closest to. This pitch may not be the one you want. So in order to tune your guitar you may need to learn about the notes on the fretboard. I have a separate page about that, "Notes on the Guitar Fretboard", which is worth learning, but for now, I've listed the order of notes below:

C C#/Db D D#/Eb E F F#/Gb G G#/Ab A A#/Bb B C C#/Db etc.

(# means "sharp" and b means "flat")

Our system of music cycles through the same notes over and over again, so we keep seeing the same order of C, D, E, F, G, and A (with all the sharps/flats in-between) over and over.

So, if your string is supposed to be tuned to an E, but it's reading as D#, there's a very good chance you need to tune it higher (read; sharper) to reach E. Why? Because there's a D# right below E, and the next D# is 11 notes higher, so odds are in favour of tuning up rather than tuning down. If, however, you're not sure, you can always try tuning down first, and if the string starts sounding and feeling really loose, tune it up instead.

Once you know whether your string is too low or too high in pitch, turn the tuning peg in the appropriate direction until you get the pitch you want. If you're not sure which direction that will be, try turning slowly in one direction and notice what the tuner indicates. If the tuner isn't showing you getting closer to the note you want, you're probably tuning the wrong way.

Two important things to keep in mind while tuning:

1) STRINGS CAN BREAK IF YOU TUNE THEM TOO TIGHTLY

I wrote that in all caps because it's important you pay attention. Make sure you don't tighten the string too much. Doing so might break a string! For example, if the string is supposed to be an E, but you accidentally try to tune it to the A above that E, you run the risk of breaking the string. Your strings don't like being too tight, so please be careful to avoid this. Not sure which way to tune? When in doubt, tune down (loosen the  string) until you're confident you're going the wrong way, then tune it back up. If you've loosened the string too far, you'll figure it out eventually - the string will get very loose and won't produce a clear sounding note.

2) Always end by tuning up!

If your string is flat and you're tuning up (higher in pitch), then you're fine. If you're tuning down to a pitch, make sure to tune slightly lower than the actual pitch, and then finish by tuning up to the correct pitch. Why? If you end by loosening the string, the string can still be a bit loose in the head-stock of the guitar (where the tuning pegs are), and the string can un-tune from that pitch slightly. So always end your tuning of a string by tuning up to the correct pitch.

That's all there is to it.

Follow this procedure for all of your strings, and then voila! You're in tune!

Frequently Asked Questions about Tuning:

What if I don't have a tuner?

Stuck without a tuner? Or did your tuner run out of batteries? It's still possible to tune your guitar - I'll teach you how in How to Tune Your Guitar, Step 2: Tuning the Guitar to Itself.

Can my string really break when I'm tuning?

Yes, it can, and sometimes it hurts when it does. I've bit hit in the hand and in the face with a string breaking before (though not from tuning), so please be careful. Usually people don't get beaten up by a broken string like I was, but better to avoid breaking strings whenever possible.

I'm really scared of breaking a string, how do I know if I should tune up (tighten the string) or tune down (loosen the string)?

As I said above, tune down first if you're not sure. For example, say you're trying to tune to an E. Tune down until you reach the next E below whatever pitch the string is currently tuned to. If the string feels very loose by the time you've finished, then you needed to tune up instead, so tune back up to the next E. You can always try checking online (do a YouTube search for "tuning the guitar" or something similar and you can hear what a tuned guitar sounds like), or try to play something you know really well, and if it sounds off... chances are you need to fix your tuning!

My tuner keeps doing this weird thing where one moment it shows me an E note, then suddenly shows me an A note. Can you help me fix this?

Your problem is a common one and has to do with overtones. You see, whenever you play a note, there is the fundamental note (the name of the note), and its overtones (basically, other notes that also ring when you play that note). Overtones are what make notes sound full and are part of what differentiates different instruments. This can cause other strings to vibrate in sympathy (because they are the same note). I won't go into detail here - partly due to temporary ignorance - but the fix for this is easy: just keep plucking the string you're trying to tune, over and over, as you tune it. Doing so should make it so that the loudest note picked up by your tuner is the one you want.