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Electronic
Guitar Tuners
In the last few years the price of electronic
guitar tuners has dropped drastically. At the same time, the reliability
has gone up. Currently you can buy a decent electronic tuner
for under $25 (US). Tuning by ear takes some practice, so a
good option for tuning your guitar when you are first starting
out is to buy an electronic tuner. Below we are going to take
a look at some things to look for in a tuner, and then how to
use it.
There are good tuners and bad tuners, just like
everything else in this world. I would suggest getting a digital
tuner, with both a needle indication, and some sort of lights
to tell you that you are either to high or to low.
Electronic tuners that you can use for guitar
come in two varieties. The first is one that allows you to tune
the 6 strings of the guitar to standard pitch. The other is
a chromatic tuner, which will allow you to tune to any note,
not just those in standard tuning. Of course in this day and
age songs are often tuned down a 1/2 step (like there was one
fret lower). There are also many alternate tunings in use, therefore
the chromatic tuner is the way to go. Chromatic tuners are also
easier to use even if you are just tuning to standard pitch.
How
to use a standard guitar tuner
Using an electronic tuner should be self explanatory,
right? Well, not really. Here is something to remember about
using a standard guitar tuner. Unless the string that you are
tuning is within a 1/2 step of the correct pitch, the tuner
will not know what to tell you. For instance, if you are tuning
your 6th string (E) and it is tuned to an F (which is a 1/2
step to high), the needle will not register anything. Worse
yet the default position of the needle is to the left, so many
people think that this automatically means that they are to
low. Then they proceed to tune the string up, and up, until
the string breaks. A standard guitar tuner is only good as a
fine tuning tool, and unless you can tune by ear enough to get
you within a 1/2 step, it is useless.
Here is a standard electric guitar
tuner that I recommend to my students. It is cheap, and it is a good tuner.
Korg GA-30 Guitar/Bass Tuner
Of course, I would really recommend getting a
chromatic tuner. That way you have the option of tuning to any
note. Another advantage is that you do not need to be within
a 1/2 step of the correct pitch, just somewhere in the area
of the right octave. If,
for instance, you were tuning your 6th string (E) and it was
tuned to an F, you would see that it was it was an F and know
to tune it down. You will need to have a basic knowledge of sharps and flats and the names of the notes
on the guitar.
All
of the chromatic notes
| A |
A#/Bb |
B |
C |
C#/Db |
D |
D#/Eb |
E |
F |
F#/Gb |
G |
G#/Ab |
When you are tuning, try and think about whether it would
be closer to go up, or down to the note that you are trying
to tune to. If you were trying to tune your 4th string to D, but your electronic
tuner was registering a C,
you would need to tune up.
Here is the chromatic tuner I would recommend. In fact this is the tuner that I personaly use.
Korg CA-40 Electronic Chromatic Tuner
 Page 4, using a pitch pipe to tune a guitar
Page 6, using a tuning fork to tune a guitar 
Basic
guitar tuning jump zone
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