 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
||||||
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
 |
||
Learning Tips |
||
 |
||
Tuning a Guitar : |
||
|
There are a number of ways to tune a guitar. I'll explain a couple of them then offer the only intelligent way in this day and age. By ear: place your first finger of the left hand on the sixth string between the fourth and fifth fret, closer to but not touching the fifth fret. Pluck this string. Listen to the sound carefully. Now pluck the fifth string "open." This means do not place a finger of your left hand on that string but rather let it vibrate freely. If the two string do not sound the same, adjust the tuning peg on the fifth string until it does sound the same as the sixth with your finger located on the sixth string at the fifth fret. Now the fifth string is tuned to the sixth. Now repeat the process by placing you first finger of the left hand on the fifth string at the fifth fret and tune the fourth string, open, until they sound the same. Move down so as to tune the third string open to sound like the fourth string fretted at the fifth fret. To tune the second string you must match its open-string sound to that of the third string fretted at the FOURTH fret instead of the fifth. Now tune the open first string to the second string fretted at the FIFTH fret. The catches here are: One, how good is your ear and Two, was the sixth string properly tuned in the first case. Probably not. To correct this you use a pitch-pipe or tuning fork available at any music store. Unfortunately they are probably going to provide the correct sound not for the sixth string but for the fifth. Don't ask why, it's unimportant, but it's just the way it is. I think you can see the frustrations possible with this method. Musicians fought for years with this but it is a method most commonly used until recent years. Second method: Buy a six note guitar pitch pipe and tune each string to the appropriate pitch pipe sound. Third, and the only sensible idea: Buy an electronic tuner. These range from $15.00 up. An inexpensive one will do. You turn it on (they usually operate on batteries) and play any string. The tuner will tell you what note your playing. The correct notes of the strings are: 6th= E; 5th=A; 4th=D; 3rd =G; 2nd=B; and 1st =E. Note that both the sixth and first string =E. Just like a piano has a number of E notes starting at the left end of the key-board and as you play other E notes moving to the right end of the piano each one is of a higher pitch but is still an E note. The 1st string of your guitar is an E note two full octaves higher than the E note on the 6th string. The electronic tuner does not rely on your ear, fortunately for most of us including some of the world's finest guitarists. It depends on the tuner's ability to recognize the correct pitch and light a light showing you that you've got the right result. It's the only way to go. One caution when tuning. You can tighten a string until, like the piano, your moving towards the right note but so far to the right end of the piano that it is an octave or more too high. The net result is the string gets so tight it breaks. Here an electronic tuner will zero in for you. |
||
|
||
| Buying a guitar | Tuning a guitar | Buying New Strings | Lesson One | ||
 |
|
 |
|
|||||
 |
 |
 |
|||||
