Tuning Your Guitar by Ear

There are many ways to tune a guitar without an electronic tuner. These methods should only be used for quick touch up tunings or for situations where your guitar doesn't have to be tuned to concert pitch.

If you are a beginner, you should learn these only after you have tuned with an electronic tuner for a while. Even then, using a tuner is recommended. All of these methods will produce a tuning less accurate than a tuner. However, they work well for getting the strings in tune with each other even if they aren't tuned to concert pitch (E A D G B E).

Tuning to Notes on a Separate String

Tuning the Fifth String

The most common method is to fret a note on one string and tune another string to that pitch. Comparing the pitch of a fretted note and open string allows you to tune the open string to the fretted pitch. An open string is when no notes are fretted. The steps below walk you through this approach string by string.

1. Fret the fifth fret of the sixth string.
2. Play the sixth string and then the open fifth string.
3. While both strings are still ringing, tune the fifth string to the pitch of the fifth fret on the sixth string. You can keep your left hand on the guitar neck while your right hand reaches over to tune the fifth string. An alternative is to try to keep the pitch of the fifth fret on the sixth string in your mind as you tune and use your left hand to tune. You may need to play the strings several times to get them in tune.

Beats

If the string is not perfectly in tune, you will hear 'beats' with both strings ringing. These beats are a slight pulsing in the sound that occurs when two pitches are close to each other. The beats will lose intensity as both strings get closer to the same pitch. It may be difficult to hear these beats at first, but you should start to perceive them as your ear develops.

Tuning the Rest of the Strings

You need to follow a similar procedure to tune the other strings. Below is a list of which note to use to tune each string:

tuning the fourth string: tune the fourth string using the fifth fret of the fifth string
tuning the third string: tune the third string using the fifth fret of the fourth string
tuning the second string: tune the second string using the fourth fret on the third string
tuning the first string: tune the first string using the fifth fret of the second string

If you were paying attention, you should have noticed that the only string where you use a fret other than the fifth fret is when you tune the second string to the pitch at the fourth fret on the third string.

Tuning with a Piano

A guitar can be tuned by using specific pitches on a piano or keyboard. This will only work if the piano is in tune. You can use the piano to tune each string or just tune the low E string and tune the other strings to the E string using another method. The chart below shows how the pitches of the open strings correspond to pitches on the piano:

Pitches on the piano that correspond to the open strings of the guitar

Tuning with Harmonics

There are a number of ways to tune with harmonics. Some don't work very well because they get the harmonics in tune, but not the fretted pitches. Below are links to explanations of several of these methods:

http://www.precisionstrobe.com/apps/guitarharm/guitarharm.html
http://stagepass.com/tuning.html (this is the best method I've found)