How Do You Get Your Guitar in Tune?

[Moonray]

I've found the root/5th method described above to be reliable.
..I got a version of carrying that out from an article written by
Jon Finn [a Berklee instructor I believe]
Those articles were in a guitar mag back in the late 90's.
Basically his approach was very exacting in first matching pairs
of strings....then 3 adjacent strings ...then 4 etc until you have
a beautifully resonating 6 string E5 chord.
He was adamant that each step sounded as close to perfection as
possible, before moving to the addition of another string....
Otherwise you just carry over any error to subsequent strings...
...So...if you hear a discrepancy in the string pair, or string group,
you must first go back and sort that out before continuing on.
...Oh and BTW, he carries this process out low to high.
I think this is the best way, as you're hearing the upper partials
that come from the higher strings.

For those intrepid readers who haven't glazed over from all this
verbiage,I apologize but it's a fairly complex procedure to explain..
yet quite easy to demonstrate.
Jon Finn has in his 2 article on tuning some cool diagrams to clarify
his method.
I just dug out the articles entitled "the tortures of tuning" pub.
in Guitar magazine, April/May issues 1998.
Finn has a web site and his articles [on many topics] could possibly
be found there....He's an interesting mind on guitar matters.

Also, a little trick I learned from an Eric Johnson article some years ago
was to speed up the tuning process, when using an electronic tuner is
to tune the strings in this order

Low E, high E, D, B,A, G ...and make sure you damp each string before
going to the next one.
This order of strings [together with the damping] means that you have
the smallest number of sympathetic over tones ringing on in the tuner's
"memory" so to speak.
I find this works great and I just go boom boom boom...and I'm done.
...One note per second is where you can get it to.
Check it out.

Or, you can do like Joe Pass said he did...."I give it to a friend to tune"
ha ha....that's fine with the kind of friends he had!

[Kojo27]

Thanks a BUNCH, Moonray. Wow - a ton of useful stuff there. I wish you had some links, but that's okay Eric Johnson is one intense guitarist - aye?

[Moonray]

Sorry about the lack of links....I'm an old school techno phobe...
...wouldn't know how to do the link thing....my kids keep showing
me....But, as you know there's way more fun to be had learning some
new musical idea! Time is tight....

Yes...EJ is a real searcher.....and a finder...he doesn't quit until he's
cracked whatever is driving him....I really dig that about him as much as his
musical output.
Also he makes my mono-mania life style seem quite within the bounds of normality by comparison...ha ha....[I mean what else is there but this
wonderful music and the guitar?]
My students think I'm enthusiastic on the topic of jazz guitar.....actually
it's just like my father told me many decades ago...."son, you're obsessed
with that banjo...put it down and do your homework"....some hope...
with paradoxical intent like that, who needs all this namby pamby
encouragement I see kids getting for just taking part!
OK...got that out of the system...all systems normal-ish...ha ha
But regarding the Jon Finn articles [excellent] ...do try his web site: Jon Finn
..I think I saw print outs of his writings there.
...and the Eric Johnson tip was a sidebar to a larger piece in a Guitar Player
mag.I think he got that trick from his guitar tech....[How many jazz guitar
players have a guitar tech....sheesh]
Finally ...the one and only Johnny Smith wrote an in depth article on
"The Art of Stringing and Tuning"...Guitar Player mag. July 1984...That
piece is priceless..and GP have reprinted it a few times in one or other
of their subsidiary rags...["How to Play the Guitar" is one example] or try
their online backlog of bygone issues/articles.
We'll get this darned thing in tune if it's the last thing we do....and it
probably will be.....or give up and buy one of them robot guitars!
Are they kidding with that.......?
Anything to avoid the unpalatable truth that maybe we should all do as
Pierre reminds us almost daily....

Time on the instrument....... [Thanks for constantly bringing us back
to ground level Pierre]

[Jake Hanlon]

[Patrick2]

Is that ear booger ?????

[WhoisLevang]

Snark and then I check all the Es and... all the Cs! and sometimes the As... *geek* and then I'm usually pretty happy, more or less. :-)

[Kojo27]

Hear a PRO tune up...


Here's a "guitar-in-hand" talk about tuning, by one of the great guitar players of our day. This ties in with the thread about how those who are *SO* good, and are self-taught, can sometimes be bad teachers.

See if you notice why it's bad teaching.

This is an extract from a Homespun CD. Fabulous CD, so go buy the package. (ahem)

I won't mention, here, who the guy is, to keep google from landing here 100 times a day.

But his name is on the file when you click. If you want to hear him play, there's a YouTube link at the Box.com site. He isn't a jazz player, per se, but has recorded Nardis, Green Dolphin Street, Favorite Things, etc.

Nothing to download - just listen:

https://www.box.com/s/pa1unazozwdge28tdw78

kj

[Flat]

I love my Peterson StroboFlip. Chords just sound sweeter.

[Kojo27]

Yup, the guitar is never truly in tune, a constant war of attrition!

Compensation=Compromise.....

Check this vid. Even Wes knew this, 0.05"-0.20" for the truth!!

Oh, and enjoy the other 29 minutes

"...an imperfect instrument..." Haha - he got that right. Thanks jazzbow.

[Just_Guild]

You can tune a guitar, but you can't tuna fish. Sorry, someone had to say it.

[monk]

For years I carried a tuning fork which was retired in favor of an electronic tuner.

That said, I use a three step system for tuning.
1. Electronic tuner
2. Harmonics at frets 5 and 7. This tells me if my intonation needs adjusting or my strings are fatigued.
3. Octaves beginning at the Bb on the 6th fret/6th string. Since the tuner and harmonics don't take into account the straight line deflection of the string when it's fretted, I finger the octaves and adjust slightly if the octaves are beating.

If there's a pianist on the gig playing an on-site piano, tune to the piano.

[Kojo27]

For years I carried a tuning fork which was retired in favor of an electronic tuner.

That said, I use a three step system for tuning.
1. Electronic tuner
2. Harmonics at frets 5 and 7. This tells me if my intonation needs adjusting or my strings are fatigued.
3. Octaves beginning at the Bb on the 6th fret/6th string. Since the tuner and harmonics don't take into account the straight line deflection of the string when it's fretted, I finger the octaves and adjust slightly if the octaves are beating.

If there's a pianist on the gig playing an on-site piano, tune to the piano.

Monk, I know you're a better player than I am, so I'm not gonna argue, but it *does* seem true that the 7th fret harmonic is not reliable in an equal temperament tuning scheme. For example, if you tune your B string to match the 7th fret low E string harmonic, it's gonna be sharp, way sharp. However, if you match the low E 5th fret harmonic to the open E string, that should sound pretty good. For checking intonation, I don't know... I'm just saying, for what it's worth. : )

kj

[monk]

Monk, I know you're a better player than I am, so I'm not gonna argue, but it *does* seem true that the 7th fret harmonic is not reliable in an equal temperament tuning scheme. For example, if you tune your B string to match the 7th fret low E string harmonic, it's gonna be sharp, way sharp. However, if you match the low E 5th fret harmonic to the open E string, that should sound pretty good. For checking intonation, I don't know... I'm just saying, for what it's worth. : )
kj

Kojo,
I don't have a problem with the harmonics and step 3 with the fretted octaves at Bb helps with the final tweak. I used to use the B harmonic at the 4th fret of the third string but it was always slightly flat. I've also had the bridges on my guitars, acoustic and electric, intonated to the brand of strings I use on each one. If I change brands or gauges, I recalibrate.