Guitar Tunning?!


Question:

Guitar Tunning?


I took my guitar to get a string fixed and bought a tunner. A night later my dad and i tried to tune it a different string broke. Now i am too broke to get more strings. Moms hate to give alowence lol. How can i properly tune this thing? I never want to go thru this again!
It is an Quik tune(brand) and the kind were u play the string and if the needle is in the right place that string is tuned.
Can i take a class on tunning?
Anything u can do to help would be great.


Answers: Yeah, this can be a pain if you've never done it.

The first thing you should know is the approximate range that your lower strings are in. Sing the lowest note you can. The two thickest strings (E-the thickest and A-the second thickest) should be lower than your lowest pitch being that you're a girl (unless you've got a REALLY deep voice. :P ).

Second, I'll show you how I have had the best results in tuning (don't worry, I've tried a bunch of ways. I've been playing for 14 years).

Tune your A string to the tuner. NOW FORGET ABOUT THE TUNER! PUT IT TO THE SIDE!

Now lightly touch the tip of your finger to the string DIRECTLY above the 5th fret of the A string, but don't push the string down. Now pluck the string with your pick and quickly release your finger. You'll hear a much higher note than you would normally hear at that fret called a "harmonic." This step is important.

I'm sure you probably already know this, but the names of the string from the thinnest to the thickest are:

High E (1st string)
B (2nd string)
G (3rd string)
D (4th string)
A (5th string)
Low E (6th and thickest string)

Remember the harmonic? Play it again and let it ring. Don't stop it from vibrating. Now play another harmonic, only this time above the 7th fret of the D string. These two notes should be EXACTLY the same pitch. You need to decide if the harmonic on the D string is HIGHER or LOWER than the harmonic on the A string.

Let's say that you decide the D string is too high. So you tune it down slightly. How will you know when it's in tune with the A string?

Listen to the two notes as they come closer together. The closer they get, the slower the oscillation that you hear is. "WTF!?" By oscillation, I mean the "wah, wah, wah, wah" that you hear. The oscillation, or "wah-wah-wah" that you hear will slow down further and further until there no (or almost no) oscillation at all. When the oscillation is the least that you can possible get it to make, those two string are in tune! Congratulations. :)

It sounds kind of complicated, and it would be much easier to learn from a guitar teacher, but this is free, so just put a little effort into it. :) It's SOOOO easy once you know how.

Now you just have to do the same thing with all the other strings. :) With a few exceptions. Here we go...

Low E's 5th fret harmonic = A's 7th fret harmonic
A's 5th fret harmonic = D's 7th fret harmonic
D's 5th fret harmonic = G's 5th fret harmonic

Now for the high strings. You'll have to play the high strings open. In other words, don't put your fingers on the high strings, just play them without pressing down on a fret. This is called "open."

Low E's 7th fret harmonic = B string played open
A's 7th fret harmonic = High E string played open

Once you've tuned everything up, check your strings again with your tuner. Chances are about 90% that the entire guitar is going to be tuned slightly too low (unless you're using an electric guitar with a tremolo, aka "floating tremolo" or more popularly "whammy bar", in which case, it's 100% :P ).

That's OKAY if this happens :). Tuning it again will be fast the second time around because now all the strings are closer to their final tension. The reason that's it's off is because as you've tuned all the strings up, they've put more and more pressure on the neck. When this happens, the necks bends (probably not visibly) and the rest of the strings lose some tension. IT HAPPENS TO EVERYBODY, so don't be disheartened. :) Just run through the tuning again until everything is dead on. You'll be SOOOO happy with the sound once you have (assuming you have proper intonation, which is a whole other procedure!!! :0 Don't even worry about that right now).

Of cours, by this logic, if the strings were too high and you tuned them down, then the ones you didn't change would end up higher then they were before tuning. :) Trust me, it makes sense.

There are several different ways to tune, and many people might suggest a different way than this, but I've always gotten my best results this way. If you really try, this should get you in tune. If not, you should DEFINITELY see a guitar teacher. He or she will charge you anywhere from $20-100 per lesson (yeah, I can't give you a definite on price), and they should be able to teach you how to tune with some degree of proficiency within one lesson, and you may have time to learn more. :)

Good luck. If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask. I'm always willing to help another girl learn guitar. :P

btw, you should put your own strings on. It's easy and will save you money. As far as putting one string on at a time, don't do it unless the strings are a week old or less (or unless you're just really desperate :P as I've been before). Instead, put a new pack on if you can afford it (once again, unless you're just really desperate). Sometimes a string from a fresh pack DOES break, but this can often happen because it's been tuned too high, which is why you have to have a good idea of what frequency range each string is in. The more you play, the more you'll know what the strings are supposed to sound like and if they're in tune or not.

Just use the method of tuning one of the E's, then tune the next string off of the E and the next off of that one, etc.

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