How to tune a guitar

Standard tuning: the six strings

Standard tuning, from the thickest string to the thinnest, is E A D G B E. The thickest string, at the top when you hold the guitar, is string 6; the thinnest is string 1. Each note has an octave number, so the low E is E2 and the high E is E4. The frequencies below use the usual reference of A4 at 440 Hz:

• String 6: E2, 82.41 Hz
• String 5: A2, 110.00 Hz
• String 4: D3, 146.83 Hz
• String 3: G3, 196.00 Hz
• String 2: B3, 246.94 Hz
• String 1: E4, 329.63 Hz

The high E is two octaves above the low E, so it has four times the frequency. Rounded, the E4 figure is often written as 329.6 Hz.

Tune with a tuner in your browser

The guitar tuner listens through the microphone of the phone or computer you are using, so you need nothing but a browser. Stayput's privacy page says the sound from its microphone tools is handled inside the page in your tab and never sent to a server. The steps are:

• 1. Open the tuner and press Start the tuner. Allow the microphone when your browser asks. Leave the instrument on Guitar, standard.
• 2. Pluck one open string and let it ring. The tuner shows the nearest note, with its octave, and a needle that moves left when the string is flat and right when it is sharp. It also shows the pitch in Hz, and the target pitch of the string it thinks you are tuning.
• 3. Turn the peg. Tightening the string raises the note and loosening it lowers it. The tuner says how many cents sharp or flat you are, such as "18 cents flat: tune up", and says "In tune" when you are within 5 cents. Pluck again after each small turn.
• 4. Move to the next string, working from low E to high E. Then go round all six strings once more, because tightening one string can shift the others a little.

The string buttons on the page play each open-string note through your speaker, so you can also tune by listening. If your band or a piano tunes to a pitch other than A4 at 440 Hz, the tuner lets you set the reference pitch from 415 to 466 Hz.

Tune by ear with the 5th-fret method

With no tuner, tune the strings to each other. Start with the low E sounding right (from a tuner, a piano, or a recording of an E), then:

• A string: press string 6 at the 5th fret. It plays an A. Tune the open string 5 until it matches.
• D string: press string 5 at the 5th fret to get a D, and tune the open string 4 to it.
• G string: press string 4 at the 5th fret to get a G, and tune the open string 3 to it.
• B string: the exception. Press string 3 at the 4th fret to get a B, and tune the open string 2 to it.
• High E string: press string 2 at the 5th fret to get an E, and tune the open string 1 to it.

Listen for the "wobble" between the two notes. It slows as they come closer together and stops when they match. By-ear tuning gets the strings in tune with each other, but not necessarily at the right pitch, so check against a tuner if you will play with other people.

When a string will not stay in tune

New strings stretch for the first day or two, so expect to retune them several times. Always tune up to a note: if a string is sharp, loosen it below the note and then bring it back up, so the gear is pulling against the string and holds better.

• The tuner reads the wrong octave. Pluck one string only, let it ring rather than muting it, and keep the others from sounding. A light pluck gives a cleaner sound than a hard one, which can add overtones. The tuner shows the octave next to the note name, so you can see when it is off.
• The needle will not settle in a noisy room. The tuner listens to everything the microphone hears. Move somewhere quieter, turn off music and fans, and hold the phone or laptop close to the guitar. An unplugged electric guitar is quiet, so hold the device right next to the strings.
• Every string is in tune but chords still sound wrong. The open strings can be perfect while notes up the neck are off. That is intonation, set at the bridge, and a tuner cannot fix it. A guitar shop can set it up.

Drop D and half a step down

Drop D keeps five strings as they are and lowers string 6 a whole step, from E2 to D2 (73.42 Hz), so the strings read D A D G B E. In the guitar tuner, choose Guitar, drop D from the Instrument list, then tune only the sixth string down until the needle centres.

Half a step down (E flat) lowers all six strings by one semitone: E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭ B♭ E♭. The guitar tuner has no preset for it, so choose Chromatic and tune each string down until it reads the note one semitone lower. The big letter on the tuner uses sharp names, so the same notes show as D♯, G♯, C♯, F♯, A♯ and D♯.

Questions