How to Tune Your Guitar by Ear

Tuning a guitar is a critical skill for the beginning guitarist to learn. There are several ways to go about this, the most popular one being the use of an electric tuner. Although they are a great convenience and are simple to use, that $20 could be put to better use into something like tab books or strings. The skill I'm going to teach you is absolutely crucial to master but even easier to do so. When you strike the 6th string (the thickest one closest to the celing when playing) with no frets pushed down, or open, the instrument produces the note E. Once you learn to recognize this note's tone and have mastered the following simple technique, you can essentially prepare any guitar with standard tuning in seconds.

Strings are numbered 1 through 6. The thinnest string closest to the ground that produces the highest note when playing is the first string, and they are counted in succession to the ceiling. In Standard Tuning the notes you need to produce from strings 6 to 1 are as follows: E-A-D-G-B-E

1. Start with the 6th string, the thickest and lowest sounding string. If you have just put new strings on your guitar, then this string will obviously not be in tune. However, once you've tuned this string, its thickness makes it the least likely string to get out of tune. If you have a piano handy, which stays in tune for years, you can tune this string to the first E below middle C. However, you are more likely to have the Internet nearby, so if you need to, search for a soundbyte of the 6th string's E note to tune this string. Eventually, you wil be able to recognize this note easier.

2. Now move on to the fifth string. Simply hold the sixth string down at the fifth fret and compare that sound with the sound of the open fifth string. Now tune the fifth string until these two sounds are the same.

3. For the fourth string, do the same thing. Hold the fifth string at the fifth fret and make the open fourth string sound the same.

4. For the third string, do the same thing. Hold the fourth string at the fifth fret and make the open fourth string sound the same.

5. Now for the second string, you want to hold the third string at the FOURTH fret and make open second string sound the same.

6. For the first string, you go back to the fifth fret, holding the second string down at the fifth, and making the open first string sound the same.

So the frets you push down on strings 6 through 2 are as follows:
6 - 5th
5 - 5th
4 - 5th
3 - 4th
2 - 5th

The tuning doesn't have to be perfect, for example, in the sixth string. The important thing is that the guitar is in tune with itself and any other instruments being played with it. This is an essential skill for the beginning guitarist to learn. Master this and you'll soon be on your way to much bigger things, like songwriting and groupies.