Guitar Lesson Online #2

How to tune your guitar

Of course, you must learn to tune it as soon as possible, as newly tuned strings tend to lose their pitch level quite quickly.

Besides, you should check the tuning before each practice session (which should be, at least, once a day). There are few worse things than practicing with an untuned instrument.

There are several ways to tune a guitar. There's a basic way, that you should learn immediately, and other more sophisticated ways, that you should learn later, as you'll need them to get a perfect tuning.

First of all, you'll need a tuner, another well tuned guitar, a piano, a flute, etc., to get the right pitch level of the first string (the bottom one, as in the playing position, strings are counted upwards).

Play (or get played) the E of the 6th octave (in the piano), and level up the pitch of the first string, turning the corresponding tuning key of the tuning machine, until you hear that both instruments sound at the same pitch level.

Then press the second string on the fifth fret (frets are counted from the nut towards the sound hole). The pitch of that note should be the same of the first string not pressed on any fret (open). If it isn't the same, just change it by turning the corresponding tuning key.

Now, press the third string on the fourth fret, and repeat the process, this time taking the open second string as reference.

Let's go, now, to the forth string, which, pressed on the fifth fret, should sound at the same pith as the open third string.

Then, the fifth string, pressed on the fifth fret must have the same pith level as the open forth string.

And, finally, the sixth string, pressed on the fifth fret, should sound at the same pitch level as the open fifth string.

Now, you must repeat the whole process, at least three times, as strings will tend to loosen their tension and lower their pitch. And they will lose their pitch level in different amounts, so the guitar will also lose its tuning balance.

This is the basic way to tune your guitar. Sure, the tuning will not be perfect, but it will be enough to start your practice on the instrument.

As soon as you can (after you got your ear trained), you will be able to learn more perfect tuning methods, to get your guitar perfectly tuned and balanced.

See you in the next lesson.

Now, let's go for Guitar lesson online #3!

Other very useful guitar links you shouldn't miss:

• Guitar Alliance (Unforgettable!)
• Guitar Mojo (Very cool!)
• Just Acoustic (Lots of useful stuff!)

If you don't find what you need, please feel free to contact us at mail@beginnersguitar.com.

You may also visit Project Ever Guitar Lessons Website for Guitar Lessons Tips.