Manually Tuning a Guitar the Lost Art

With the advent of technology, and the perennial progression of the digital age, manually tuning a guitar is steadily becoming a lost art.  It has become so simple, and inexpensive to just run out to your local music store and purchase a pocket sized digital device for under $30 to do the job for you.  And don’t get me wrong, it is very nice to have that convenience especially when you need to tune up quickly and accurately.  Every guitarist should own one.

But how can one call themselves a true guitar player, if they can’t even perform the simplest of tasks on their instrument? In my opinion they can’t. That is why I am going to walk you through the process of manually tuning a guitar.

Manually Tuning a Guitar

Manually tuning a guitar walk through

Your guitar has six strings as follows: E(1) B(2) G(3) D(4) A(5) E(6)

The first string (E) is the smallest (or thinnest) string.  The sixth string (E) is the largest (or thickest) string on the guitar. So as we look at our guitar we will notice a bunch of vertical lines along the fret board.  These are called “frets” and they are appropriately placed along the “fret board”. We refer to them in numerical order which means the fret closest to the tuning pegs is called the “first fret”, the next one is the “second fret” and so on. Most standard six string electric guitars have either 22 or 24 frets.

For this process we need to locate the fifth fret on the sixth string (the top E string). By playing the note on that fret you will be playing an “A” note, which is the same note as the fifth string (the next string down). So when you play the fifth fret on the sixth string, it should sound exactly the same as the next string down. In other words you are comparing the two sounds, and adjusting the next string down until they sound the same.  Once they are the same, you are going to repeat the process with the fifth string on the fifth fret and the fourth string.

The only exception to the fifth fret is going to occur when you get to the third string (G) where you will play the note on the fourth fret of the third string and compare it to the second string.

Manually tuning a guitar our conclusion

So before you go running out to your local music store to buy the newest gadget, take the time to learn and understand your instrument.  It will only make you a better guitar player in the long run.  Remember this;  it doesn’t require a power adapter or batteries to implement your artistic skills! So start focusing on what matters the most.

I hope you learned something new here, and realized the importance of mastering the fundamentals of your guitar.  Take the time to practice manually tuning a guitar, and you will be well on your way to becoming a true guitarist.

Related posts

• No related posts.