How To Tune The Guitar By Ear
Learn How To Tune The Guitar By Ear!
Learning how to tune the guitar without a tuner can be frustrating for beginner guitar players but this lesson gives you all of the tools that you need in order to get good at tuning the guitar by ear. Don’t get frustrated if you aren’t great at tuning the guitar by ear right away. It takes a lot of practice for most people.
Start off by playing the low E string on the 5th fret. This is an A note. The next string over, the 5th string, is an open A. Since the note on the 5th fret of the low E string is the same note as the open A string, you can use it as a reference note to tune the open A string. Play both notes at the same time and see if you can tell if the open A string needs to be tuned up or down. Try to match the open A string to the 5th fret of the low E string by adjusting the A string’s tuning key up or down. This may be difficult and frustrating at first but the more that you practice this the better your ear will get.
Once your A string is in tune, switch to the 5th fret of the A string and play that note along with the open D, or 4th, string. Use the pitch of the 5th fret of the A string as a reference note to adjust the open D string. Repeat the same process with the 5th fret of the D string and the open G string. When you get to the next pair of strings the tuning method changes a bit. Instead of fretting the G on the 5th fret you need to use the 4th fret. Play the 4th fret of the G string and tune your open B string to that note. For the last string play the 5th fret of the B string and tune the open high E string to that note.
Having a guitar that is in tune is important so that you can sound your best all of the time. Give yourself some time to get this down and let your ears develop. Practice tuning often and you will get better at it. This link will take you to the next beginner guitar lesson in the series.
Loving the series, I wish all guitar lessons were this accesable. Nate has a great teaching ability. Cant wait to start playing guitar!
this was just wat i needed
this is pretty cool cuz my tuner duznt wrork anymore and the steps are really easy thnx nate!!
sure he’s good enough for a giiggng band, maybe a recording band even. In my opinion, he’s not amazing, or the best . This video isn’t about my bass playing but I’ve got more groove than this guy and I dont play with my thumb out.
umm theres only one prob… my low E string is ALWAYZ loose. its frustrating and my tunerz dont work right and i neeed help! btw, im 11…
Hmmm. . . sounds like you need to replace your tuners.
Play any of Nates lessons and listen to his low E. Match yours as close as possible and apply the technique to the rest. maybe that will help!
My low E string is looser than the others and that kind of bugs me, but according to my tuner it is the right pitch and it sounds right to me.
this is really nice but it seems like if you wanna do that you must have at least one of your strings tuned…right?
To Amr
Yep if your guitar is completely out tuned you need first to tune
your A open chord with a diapason wich give you the A(440hz).
How can I do that without tuner or something like that…!
Please help me to tune my acoustic guitar…
OK .. thanx jean
i dont think im that talented at guitar but now i can at least make it sound a little better
BAHA! same here…
This is amazing! I wish all things were this easy!(:
Grade A stuff. I\’m uqnuestoinably in your debt.
sir from this lesson i came to know that based on 6th strings 5th fret sound u are tuning the 5th string and similarly other strings too and my doubt is how to tune 6th string itself.,as i am beginner i don no the proper sound of the 6th string.,can u help me wat to do in this case sir……
The 6th string just needs to be close. You could also just tune the 6th string to a piano or another guitar. Hope that helps.
Ive enjoy a lot of things
This helps so much! All the time I’ve been playing with an out of tune guitar, and now it sounds so much better!
Could you give a lesson on harmonic tuning?
hey nate sir…..when we tuning the gutitar by ear…..how do we adjust the tuning pegs..???..please help me..??????…if we move it in the clockwise direction then what does it do and same what we do when we move in anti-clockwise direction…????.a big question….sorry but please tell me…
someone please correct me if im wrong but as far as clockwise and counter clockwise depends on how ur strings are wrapped on the pegs but tightening the strings makes the sound higher and loosening makes the sound lower hope this helps
p.s im a beginner also but my mom plays and think this is correct
while tuning the 5th string our first finger should be on the sixth string 5th fret or on the 5th fret but not toching the 6th string….im a total zero in guitar….???????????plzzz need your help
ur finger needs to be on the 6th string 5th fret
Hey nate.. thats so cool… thanks for ur tuning lessons.. God blessssss u man….
You just made what seemed virtually impossible….Possible. I have been trying to learn how to tune by ear forever and you made it so simple. Thanks man.
Simplicity works best, excellent. Im definately getting my husband to fetch my guitar out of the loft!
hello nate. im bit confused about the 6th string.. i mean you showed how to tune a guitar, but how should the 6th string sound exactly when i am starting to tune my guitar by ear.. because on that basis only i am gonna tune the other srings. plz help
Well. . . hopefully/ideally the E string should be close to an E to start with. If it isn’t you have to get it close by using a reference note on a piano, pitch pipe, tuning fork, or something like that. I have even used the dial tone on a phone before to tune my A string and tuned the rest of the guitar from there. (I know that the dial tone in the US is an A)
This is what I did.. But!!! this doesn’t work.. I tried this one then it has a nice result but when I uses the TUNER it gives an exact tune and perfect result.. How can I learn to Tune a guitar without a tuner or by the ear then it is as perfect as this tuner to have a perfect music/????.. =)
Nate does your Alvarez have an electronic tuner like the Martin DCX1E
jean pierre pin
May 23, 2011 at 8:13 am
To Amr
Yep if your guitar is completely out tuned you need first to tune
your A open chord with a diapason wich give you the A(440hz).
Reply
Hi Nate,
I was wondeing does all of the strings have to kinda sound the same?
Rosie
hy nate sir………….i now u have got thousands of thanks………..but yep i too had a urge to thank u…….so THANKS SO MUCH =)
this is really NICE..thanxs a lot,Nate
I feel so sorry that krist novoloselic is meienontd as a bass player. His 10 minutes of fame was over when he threw his wall-mart bass in the air and it knocked him down off his feet. He has no more crediability than a 12- yr old looking to avoid a bad report card.
this is wayy too simple..:)
hi,if u cant do it online to u get a book and do it or classes?
if your tuning and you know it is flat which way do you turn the peg?
hey nate…i am from india… got great teaching abilities…
thanks man…keep it up
Im only eleven and I’m trying to learn how to play p guitar and this website didn’t help a lot …… I wish someone would up with a website just for tweens like me that are intrested in playing a musical instrument and they should make it easier to read
Hi Nate,
Thanks for the lessons. Just what I needed. This site is really what I’ve been searching for a month. Finally everything makes some sense. Thanks a LOT!
Nature
its still hard to tune my pink guitar:( even though i payed atenchen to the video it may be that im only 8 and i dont understand
boo hoo for me
fantastic
what is the price of gitar
hi nate
thanks for being a great teacher on guitar. i can play the guitar a bit, but it is now that i got to know so many professional techniques about playing guitar. i’m very grateful to you.
oh my gosh thank you so much, i have been playing an out of tune guitar and had no idea. it sounds so much better, thanks!!
I think ear tuning is better than electronic one. It makes your soul work with music. Thanx again.
Well done Nate you are pretty good at these everything a beginner needs to start playing guitar thank you
can we use anything other than tuner
this is amazing i actually learned this all in 1 day good job !!!
These lessons are very good and help full me be a good guitarist,,Thanx
these lessons are amazing…..they are really working!!!!!
but how we will tune the e string if the guitar is totally out of tuned?
u need to tune ur guitar with a piano or a guitar which is already tuned
how will we tune the E string??!!! im reallly confused…
tune ur guitar with a piano or a guitar which is already tuned
I am an intermediate gituar player and so far i’ve always been playing it by looking at gituar tabs for cover songs, and i’m tired of it. i actually want to be able to come up with my own melodies and riffs but don’t know the best approach. I know songs are usually in one or two certain scales in a certain key if im right. so if you think its the correct approach, which scale in which key should i learn to improvise in metal music?
how can u compare the messed up strings to tune them?????
I am enjoying learning how to play guitar….thanks for these lessons…
wow.ui just got a guitar and im already getting it! these lessons are so easy that a monkey could learn how to play guitar! it is helping alot. THANK YOU NATE!
Hey, Just got the Fender a friend gave me as a gift out of storage and found this site. Kismet! TY, Gary
This helped a little but I still don’t really understand… i am BRAND NEW to the guitar an d have a book but I felt I needed a teacher. So I went on here but I don’t really understand tuning by ear. Can anyone help me?
I dont really get it
great website!!!!!
THX Nate for makein this website!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks so much for this. It really is guitar made easy and for one my age whose fingers are well.. a bit rusty, it is great stuff
Thanks
wat if the low E is messed up too and thr is no tuner ?
nice thank you
hi nate how ru i got my past weeek bcoz of u in a week i learnt some 10 chords ur just gr8 but i am having problems with tuning the guitar by ear i think i need some practice ‘
thanks a lot
i think i got the tunning right
i need help with chords now can u help me please
um…….thanks, it helped a lot, now i’m pretty sure i’ll get the tuning right.
this is pretty nice site to learn about guitar twinning. I enjoy using it hope you will also.
Hope that I can do tuning by ear
that’s really nice thank you man
i quitted guitar just because i couldn’t tune i……… looks like nate draged me back into guitar by making it hell easy
i use DaTuner at Andriod market
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bork.dsp.datuna&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5ib3JrLmRzcC5kYXR1bmEiXQ..
Works very well so man dont need a eletronic tuner.
Thanks Nate my guitar tuner was saying the a chord was too high though it was just a few turns from coming off. thanks a million.
Hey Nate, thanks a lot. I was having a real hard time with tuning but I’m practicing your method, and yes my ears are getting better. Great stuff!
Hey Nate i just loved your lessons i want to buy a guitar as i am a beginner please tell me which type of guitar is best for me A acoustic or An electric or A semi electric..
hey nate, thanks alot.. but how do i know whether my “e” not sounds right?