Before You Begin to Tune the Guitar
There are several points to consider before you begin tuning your guitar. The following tips will greatly improve your chances of successfully tuning your guitar.
Tuning New Strings
If you are a beginner and have fitted new strings to your guitar, it is recommended you get some assistance at first from an experienced guitar player. It is at this stage of tuning that the risk of breaking a string is highest. Once the strings are fitted and tuned you will find it easier to keep the guitar in tune by using minor adjustments.
If you wish to fit new strings to your guitar, try fitting one string at a time and tune the string after it is fitted. It is easier to tune one string to another string that is already at the correct pitch.
"Working In" New Strings
New strings will need to be ‘worked in’ after each fitting. This is specially helpful if you are fitting one new string at a time and you would like the string to stay in tune before fitting the next string.
Strings should be stretched by pulling them away from the fretboard a little. The string can also be stretched in sections along the string by stretching the string between the thumb and fingers of your right hand. Obviously do not over stretch the string as you could break the string. Ask an experienced guitarist for a lesson in this technique.
Once a string is fitted it should also be played a little to help with the settling down of the string. Sometimes it can take a few days for a new string to settle in but once it has, it should maintain its tune and only require minor adjustments.
Room Acoustics and Temperature
The sound of the room will assist with tuning. Try to tune the guitar in a quiet room so you can clearly hear the pitch and tone of each note as you are tuning. A useful tip is to practice tuning in the bathroom which often has the best acoustics in the house, helping to produce a strong, clear note.
Try to keep your guitar at a constant temperature. Moving your instrument from a cold room to a warmer room, or visa versa, can effect the pitch of the strings.
Slowly at First!
At the early stages of learning how to tune the guitar it is vital to approach it slowly and very carefully. A common error is to turn the wrong tuning key, causing another string that perhaps has already been tuned to be put out of tune. It also creates the risk of breaking a string. Before you adjust a tuning key, double check that you will in fact be turning the correct tuning key.
If your guitar has already been tuned, perhaps by your teacher or a friend, you should only need to make minor adjustments to the tuning key. Therefore it should not be necessary to turn the tuning key very much at all. If you find yourself turning a tuning key a lot, pause and rethink what you are doing. Chances are you could be doing something incorrectly.
Patience
Everyone has trouble with tuning a guitar in the beginning. Be patient and eventually you will be tuning your guitar, quickly, easily and accurately.
