Tuning a guitar by a tuner

The guitar is a musical instrument loved by millions of musicians and their fans, which requires regular tuning. Depending on the tension, the guitar strings produce sounds that correspond to a specific scale. When the tension of the strings changes, the tuning changes, the guitar stops sounding, and it is impossible to play the out-of-tune instrument.

This happens for the following reasons:

• changes in temperature and humidity, which is important in cases of transporting a guitar from point A to point B or playing on the street;
• poor quality strings or long simple guitars, string pulling over time;
• vibrations and shocks;
• other guitar malfunctions that can be identified during inspection by the master, as well as personally.

There are many ways to tune a guitar: professionals can do it by ear, someone tunes their favorite instrument by a beep in the telephone receiver, you can tune a tuning fork. There are special devices for tuning the instrument - guitar tuners that allow you to determine the note or deviations from the sound by sound, which greatly helps a beginner in mastering the instrument and music in general.

We'll look at one such method - tuning your guitar using a clip-on guitar tuner. Such a tuner clip is attached with a special clip to the neck of the guitar. The piezoelectric pickup is built into the holder foot.

The way of attaching and connecting the tuner depends directly on its device and environment. Usually a tuner with a clothespin (sometimes called a clip) is equipped with a piezoelectric pickup and microphone. The backlit screen allows you to use the device in the dark.

The microphone picks up sound waves and compares them to a reference frequency.This method has its drawbacks - the impossibility of using it in a noisy environment (for example, a noisy event, playing in a passage or other crowded place) and high sensitivity, capturing even quiet sounds.

A piezoelectric pickup picks up vibrations from the body or neck of your guitar and converts it into an electrical signal. This allows the tuner to be used in noisy environments and to achieve good results. With such a pickup, you can tune an electric guitar, while it is not at all necessary to connect it.

Turning on the tuner is simple: usually by pressing or pressing and holding the Power or On / Off button. Buttons and various settings, such a device contains the necessary minimum, and also has a small size and weight, which allows you to carry it with you in your pocket and not waste a lot of time turning on the device.

On sale you can find devices with two modes of operation - "guitar" and "chromatic". The guitar is guided by the standard tuning of the guitar and automatically selects the frequency to match the sound of the open guitar string.

To begin with, there are several basic types of guitars and many different tuning scales depending on which tuning is done. Let's consider a number of rules using the example of a standard tuning, which is most often used in amateur practice: a six-string guitar with the Spanish tuning we are accustomed to. The Spanish system is classic. Fine tuning is done using the tuner.

The strings are numbered in this order: the first is the thinnest, the sixth is the thickest. The strings are tuned in order from sixth to first - thick string to thin string. We rotate the tuning pegs (devices that allow for adjustment) on the guitar gently and smoothly. This is done so that the string stretches evenly and does not break.

Each string produces a note, which is indicated by the corresponding letter. The letter order of the strings will be as follows:

• 1 - E (Mi);
• 2 - B (Si);
• 3 - G (Salt);
• 4 - D (Re);
• 5 - A (A);
• 6 - E (Mi).

Each device is individual. Before starting to work, carefully read the instructions. The devices may not represent something complicated, but this is compensated by a wide variety of models. Install the tuner on the guitar neck and turn it on.

We turn on and look at the screen: most often we see a scale in the middle and an arrow deviating from it, depending on the frequency of the sound. Above is a scale indicating the frequency of the sound. The display also indicates the sounding note, indicated by a letter, which the tuner detects automatically. Let's start setting up.

If the arrow deviates from the scale to the left, the string sounds low and needs to be pulled. We are looking for the peg we need and begin to stretch the string, at the same time checking its sound. If the arrow is deviated from the scale to the right, the string is overtightened, sounds too high, in this case, the tension must be released. Adjustment should be made until the arrow coincides with the scale. Then we repeat the operation with other strings.

When all strings are individually tuned, they should be checked again in this order. The tension of each string separately can affect each other, tuning can get lost. Then you should hold down a chord and run your hand over the strings. If the chord "sounded", then the guitar is "building". This method will help you tune your classical and acoustic guitar.

Guitar tuning on a guitar can be different. The classic six-string guitar tuning will be as follows:

• 1 - E (Mi);
• 2 - B (Si);
• 3 - G (Salt);
• 4 - D (Re);
• 5 - A (A);
• 6 - E (Mi).

There are guitarists, fans of such a tuning as Open G. Tuning, which sounds similar to a seven-string guitar.Alexander Yakovlevich Rosenbaum, many bards and blues performers play in such a system. There may be different variations, but the standard Open G will look like this:

• 1 - D4;
• 2 - B3;
• 3 - G3;
• 4 - D3;
• 5 - G2;
• 6 - D2.

In other words, to get the sound you want, tune a standard guitar tuning and then loosen the 1st, 5th, and 6th strings one tone. Along with the guitar tuning, the chord diagram will change.

The guitar tuning of a seven-string guitar is slightly different from the classical one - one more bass string appears. Likewise with a six-string guitar, there are tons of tuning variations on a seven-string guitar. The main system is called "Russian", the scheme will look like this:

• 1 - D4;
• 2 - B3;
• 3 - G3;
• 4 - D3;
• 5 - B2;
• 6 - G2;
• 7 - D2.

Tuning a 12-string guitar may seem daunting at first, but it is not much different from tuning a six-string. Such a guitar can be tuned in two ways - in primo (when the paired strings sound in one note) or in an octave (which makes the sound more interesting). Technically, it looks like this: first, the main set of strings is installed and not tuned, then the backup, and only then the guitar is tuned. First, the main kit is set up, then the backup one.

The guitar tuning diagram will be as follows:

• 1 and 2 - E and E;
• 3 and 4 - B and B;
• 5 and 6 - G and g one octave higher;
• 7 and 8 - D and d one octave higher;
• 9 and 10 - A and a one octave higher;
• 11 and 12 are E and e an octave higher.

This should be done with caution, as the load on the bar increases. Particular care must be taken when handling the duplicate set. In order not to break the strings, you can resort to the following technique: we stretch the string gradually, letting the string stand and stretch, then the tuning continues. If something goes wrong, and it seems that the tension is too strong, it is proposed to tune the guitar to a tone lower, and if a standard tuning is required, use a capo.

It is not possible to create such a tuning from two different sets of strings. For this, a special set is purchased. These guitars are played by acoustic musicians giving acoustic concerts. The sound of such guitars is louder, in skilled hands the sound will become richer and more varied.

Tuning the Open G tuning for a 12-string guitar is very relevant: holding the bar on such a guitar is harder, and loosening the tension by making the sound lower is very useful. This is how the guitar is tuned for the idol of millions - Alexander Yakovlevich Rosenbaum. The result is a very interesting sound: on the open strings the chord G will sound. To do this, you need to weaken the strings one tone lower along with the additional ones. The scheme will be as follows:

• 1 - D1 small octave;
• 2 - B small octave;
• 3 - G small octave;
• 4 - D small octave;
• 5 - G large octave;
• 6 - D large octave.

• To work with tuning your musical instruments, do not use tuners with LED scale reflection - this is inconvenient, since there is no reliable concept of the sounding frequency. Tuners with a backlit display are preferred as it helps a lot when tuning a guitar in dark rooms or at night.
• Protect your guitar from bumps and drops... Moisture and temperature fluctuations also do not contribute to the preservation of the setting. Sometimes you have to tune your guitar after every song you play.
• Particular attention should be paid to customization when installing a new kit. The strings stretch very well at the first tuning, and it will take longer to tune the guitar, the guitar gets upset quickly in such cases - this is normal. After a while, the strings will stop pulling and the guitar will start to keep in tune well.

More on tuning your guitar by tuner in the next video.