Guitar Tuning
Guitar strings tend to go out of tune very quickly, especially if you play the guitar a lot. When you pick it up to play a tune, you should strum the chords to see if you do need to do some simple tuning before you start playing. When you are practicing your songs, you should stop from time to time to check the tuning and the more often you play the guitar, the more often you will have to tune it. At first, it may take you five minutes or more to tune the instrument, but as you become more familiar with the tuning, you will be able to do it more quickly.
The standard way of tuning a guitar is to start with the 6th string. This is because this is the thickest string and therefore has the lowest sound. Check to see if you are hearing a higher or lower sound than the next string. Simply turning the pegs will increase or lower the pitch.
You have to know the notes of each string on the guitar in order to tune it. These are:
- 1st string – e
- 2nd string – b
- 3rd string – g
- 4th string – d
- 5th string – A
- 6th string – E
With standard tuning, you use simple fingering for the chords and play common scales with a minimum of movement in your left hand or the hand with which you press on the strings between the frets. You can play the chords by holding each of the four fingers on the first four frets. The intervals between the first and second strings and between the third, fourth, fifth and sixth frets are perfect fourths. The interval between the second and third string is a perfect third.
Using a tuning fork makes it easier to tune in the sound of each note on the strings. However, if you are tuning the guitar to play rock music or if you are a folk musician, then you will need to use an alternative tuning method. These tuning methods make it easier to play the chords. The various names of these tuning methods tell you the sequence in which you should tune the strings:
- Dropped D – D-A-D-G-B-E
- Dropped C – C-G-C-F-A-D
- Dropped B – B – G flat – B-E-A-D
- Dropped A- A-A-D-E-A-D
There are also tunings for E flat and standard notes.
In open tuning, the strings are tuned so that you can play the chords without using the frets.
There are many tuners available on the market, you can just clip it to the top of the guitar pluck the string and the tuner will tell you what the note is, so you can adjust it to your playing needs.