How to Tune a Guitar?: Basic Guitar Lessons

So far, you have learned which guitar to buy, parts of a guitar & accessories needed, how to hold a guitar and  correct posture while playing a guitar. The next big thing to learn is how to tune a guitar.

Tuning a guitar is the easiest thing to do these days due to the technology. There are a lot of guitar tuning apps out there that can help you in tuning your guitar within seconds.

I personally use the gStrings free guitar tuner app that helps me quickly set my guitar for rock and roll. There are plenty of other guitar tuning applications out there which you can choose from.

You can also purchase a physical guitar tuner that clips over your guitar and guides you through the tuning process, like Vault Clip-On Digital Tuner. You may also purchase a portable metronome & guitar tuner. Usually they make Multipurpose Clip-On Tuner & Metronome which can be a handy accessory as it both tunes the guitar and works as a metronome while playing.

But before you start using a guitar tuner, you must know the Names of the Guitar Strings in its Standard Tuning and in the Open Position (i.e. when you are not pressing on any fret), as it will help you in recognizing the notations on the guitar tuning app.

First you must note that all the strings are bound to the tuning keys/knobs in the head of the your guitar. So as you turn the keys/knobs, the strings can either be tightened or loosened as per your tuning needs.

Next you must understand that there is a standard guitar tuning on which your guitar must be tuned before you start playing, because otherwise if out of tune, it will not sound its best.

In order to tune your guitar to the standard tuning, you must tune it as per the universal names of open guitar strings in standard tuning, i.e. E-B-G-D-A-E starting from the skinniest string to the heaviest one (see pic).

The best way to remember this is to rote the following sentence:

[E]very [B]ad [G]uy [D]oes [A]n [E]vil (From 1 to 6)

Important Note: Always remember that we start counting the string of a guitar from the bottom to the top. So we count the skinniest string as the 1st string and move upwards till the heaviest 6th string (as shown in the pic when the guitar is placed in horizontal position).

How to Tune Guitar with a Tuner

Now, when you are using a tuner to tune your guitar, certain notes will show up on the tuner as you will start plucking the strings in their open positions. You should tighten the tuning keys to go high e.g. from A to B and loosen the keys to come low e.g. from D to B. Your tuner will help you in this as it’ll show you green lights when the string is tuned. When all the open positions show up tuned, you are ready to rock and roll.

How to Tune Guitar by your Ears

You can also tune your guitar by your ears. If you can remember the sounds that the guitar strings make in their standard tuning in open positions, you can easily adjust the tuning keys to get the standard tuning by attentively listening to the sounds. This will take time and you may not be able to do it as a beginner but as you gain experience and your ears get familiar to the standard tuning sound, it will become easier. So start training your ears.

Happy Tuning! 🙂