How do I tune my guitar to a tone and semitone lower?

The uniqueness of stringed instruments, in addition to their sound, also lies in the fact that they lend themselves to restructuring. Sometimes they rearrange individual strings to a different sound (higher or lower than the standard), or even all at once, thereby changing the tuning of the instrument. This is possible on both mandolin and domra, and on the guitar, such alterations are not uncommon. This article describes what methods are available for lowering the guitar tuning and changing the key, as well as why this is done.

The guitar is a versatile musical instrument.

It is used:

• as a solo instrument;
• as an accompaniment in an ensemble;
• as an accompanying instrument for singing and dancing.

No wonder the guitar is called a "small orchestra". Solo pieces performed by just one guitarist are saturated with polyphony: the bass line is clearly audible, with which the arpeggiated middle voices echo, the main melody in the upper voice moves beautifully and somehow romantically, forcing the listener to submit to it. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that all this is played by one guitarist.

However, the guitar's range of sounds is not as wide as that of the piano.

Besides, many of the keys in the original are not very playable on the guitar. In such cases, if possible, guitarists try to change the key, as well as slightly expand the range of sounds. It often happens that one or two or even half a tone is not enough to fit into the original work in terms of the range.

Based on this, it can be considered that changing the key in order to perform a piece written by the composer, for example, for a piano, in the original sounding is the first reason that leads to the need to lower the tuning of the guitar by a tone or semitone.

The second common reason for the need to lower the tuning of the guitar is the artificial tuning of the instrument to the voices of singers or singers.singing in a certain key. For example, many bards tune their guitars not by a tuning fork or tuner to a standard sound, but to the key they need for their voices, which is not only convenient to sing, but also convenient to play.

The third reason why sophisticated musicians lower the pitch by half a step is for early music performances that require some authenticity in the instrument's sound. This sound does not correspond to the standard E-minor tuning of a classical guitar, but to D-sharp-minor (one semitone lower).

The fourth reason forces to loosen the tension of the guitar strings by half a tone or tone, mainly for novice guitarists. It is a pain in the fingers gripping the strings at the frets.

The reasons have been clarified, now it remains to find out about the methods that can be used to lower the tuning of the guitar by half a tone or tone, if the need arises. Now it is quite easy to do this with the help of modern electronic devices or special computer programs and applications for a smartphone. It is also easy to tune the guitar to a lowered pitch using a guitar capo. Let's consider each named method in more detail.

The most accurate way to tune your guitar to the desired pitch is to tune with a clip-on electronic tuner on the headstock.

Such a device is used by guitarists performing on stage, as they sometimes have to tune the guitar after each number. This tuner is chromatic, that is, it outputs the result to sound in fact. Releasing, for example, the first string (E) one semitone lower, you need to wait until the display shows the desired sound with the letter E with a flat sign (Eb) or a D with a sharp (D #).

All strings are tuned in the same way. With a standard tuning (EADGBE), a semitone lowered tuning should look like D # G # C # F # A # D # (or EbAbDbGbBbEb). When the tuning is lowered by one tone, it will look like this: DGCFAD.

In addition to tuners on a clothespin (clips), there are desktop versions of the device, but their readings are not as accurate as those of the former. And they are usually only tuned to the standard tuning. There are exceptions though.

Along with the desktop tuner, you can use dedicated computer online tuners or smartphone apps. For example, in the latter case, the GuitarTuna application is very convenient, which can help in tuning almost any stringed musical instrument.

It also has a chromatic guitar tuning function, but this function, unfortunately, is paid. Free tuning of the instrument is provided only for the standard sound, but it is quite possible to use this to lower the tuning of the guitar by a tone and semitone, if you call on the capo for help. Next, let's look at a way to change the tuning of a guitar using a capo coupled with a tuner that has a standard guitar tuning function.

To lower the tuning by a half step using a capo and a standard guitar tuner, you need to:

• tune the guitar to a standard tuning with the tuner;
• fix the capo on the first fret of the instrument, while not gripping the strings too much, the main thing is that the strings lie tightly on the threshold of the first fret and change their sound to a higher one (as a result of this action, the tuning will change by a semitone higher than the standard one);
• tune the guitar back to the standard tuning with the tuner (you will have to weaken the strings);
• after receiving the standard tuning with the capo fixed to the first fret, the latter must be removed.

The process is over - the open strings of the guitar will sound half a step below the standard tuning.

By setting the capo with the standard sound of the guitar in the second fret, by the same actions you can get the tuning of the instrument, which will be exactly one tone lower than the standard one.

In the practice of playing the guitar using the Fingerstyle method, the key of the instrument is often lowered to D major or D minor, for which it is necessary to change the sound of four of the six strings (except for the fifth and fourth). All of this can be easily done with the chromatic tuner.

There are some helpful tips on tuning guitar tuning.

• Whenever you rearrange the sound of the strings, try to make sure that the last action is to stretch them. That is, in our case, when the pitch is lowered, the strings must be weakened by a greater degree than required, in order to then gradually achieve the desired note by gradually stretching. This will prevent the strings from breaking.
• The most accurate device for tuning a guitar from the ones listed above is a clothespin tuner, since it is placed closest to the strings of all other tuner devices.
• To tune the strings using an online tuner, you need to get a high-quality microphone, otherwise the work will turn out to be of poor quality.

You should definitely learn to tune the instrument by ear. It is not always possible to use electronic means.

How to tune your guitar to a tone and semitone below, see the video.