JPF Home Page Forums Musician Gear and Techniques Guitars and Guitarist Forum Can You Tune Your Guitar By Ear After Changing Strings?

It's a good challenge. I've tried it a couple of times and came very close to being in standard tuning.

Electronic tuners and other gizmo's can become dependant. I stopped using my meter tuner and use an Internet tuner that uses pitch instead of a needle. Don't want to lose my ear.

I think that the dial tone on your phone is A440, if'n you needs a little help...

One of my neices had a boyfriend who had perfect pitch. He wasn't musically inclined at all, but could hear individual notes and name them.

Hi Ben,

There's perfect pitch and then there's the ability to hear intervals. The latter can be taught. Very few people have perfect pitch.

Being able to tune the guitar to itself is being able to hear intervals. Being able to tune the guitar to perfect pitch is a different matter. Don't know if it can be taught.

It's more important to hear intervals. If you can hear the difference between a 6th chord or a 7th chord then you're hearing an interval. Being able to identify that it is a G6 chord or G7 chord is perfect pitch (at least to some degree).

I can tune a guitar to itself, but I'm sure I'd be off a few vibrations in pitch.

Now, what was the question? I seem to be floating away from topics lately.

Best, John

That's OK John. Do they ever let you out of the cell to walk around?

Remember the question is can you tune the guitar by ear after changing strings when there is no reference point to use.

I haven't been out since 1969 Ben. That was year I married Sandra. Been locked up ever since.

Yeah, I can tune the guitar to itself but not in perfect pitch.

No. I am tone-deaf. I have no idea what a "right note" is supposed to sound like. Give me one string--doesn't matter which one--and I can tune the rest of the guitar to it, using laws of physics. But I have to have at least that much help. That's why I broke down and bought a cheap electronic tuning gizmo some years back. Neat feature of the gizmo: because it's cheap, it picks up ambient noise, so I can sing at it and it'll tell me what note I'm singing. So I can tune my voice, too. *Really* helps someone like me.

I understood "perfect pitch" was when the banjo didn't hit the sides of the trash can going in.

Joe

I can get the high E string pretty close and tune the rest from it.....maybe with in a half step.

I tuned pianos, along with guitars. I have good relative pitch.

So, for guitar, I use the notes on a keyboard and go from there. I can get it in the area after restringing, (the E, but without perfect pitch, it's only an educated guess).

For the piano, I use one tuning fork for the first middle C note, (C 523.3). Then use octaves, thirds, (major and minor), fourth and fifths to do all the checking by ear as I go. The interval beats, not just knowing what intervals they are, and the sound of any particular piano being combined factors to take into consideration.

Today, a TV show featured a tuner I know in Philly, who works at an old factory/retail piano store. Maurice is blind, and has perfect pitch. Two great things to have if a tuner. NO sight and perfect pitch! Really! He is the happiness person I know, and the best active tuner there is. Pros call the store to get him out to their shows in Philly. He can tell if a note is "any" cents off. A Cent is 1/100 of a tone! Count them puppies! He can tell if a note is 2 or 23 cents off! We went through that with him at the store, (some tuners). Blown away!!! THAT is how great Maurice is as a tuner. No fork needed even for the first note. All him!

Wonder if he could tune a fish!!!! LOL....I heard that a million times of course.....But really, wonder if he can tune a guitar from scratch! YEAH! Much easier. No temperament to think about. Just get it even for where you're playing if not having great intonation.

I only tune a few pianos a month now. Just tuned up a guitar,,,,needed the keyboard. Always have. Glad I don;t have perfect pitch, for me being an in house tuner, there are many pianos not able to be tuned in pitch,,so relative pitch helps me not go more nuts, if it had to be a 1/4 or more down. Once I start with one note,,,,it all sounds good to me if tuned right to that note and so on.

I have an "A" fork that I used before electronic tuners. Tune the A string first.

I can get close, but not dead-on. I can "hear" an A or a D in my head, and I'll get to within a quarter-tone or so, and get the rest of the strings to match. But I sure don't have perfect pitch.

I once knew a guitarist who could not properly tune in a guitar even with a gizmo. It was always off and I had to tune it for him. Strange thing was that he could play though. It drives me mad listening to an out of tune guitar. I still prefer listening to the notes whilst tuning rather than relying on a gizmo.

It has to be perfect when recording. Especially when overdubbing.

We can rely on our own ears when we jam with others. That's usually close enough. I agree with Big Jim. Proper tuning is the basis. Anyone who is learning how to play the guitar has to learn how to tune it first.

I can use a tuning fork and tune the strings to each other but I would rather use tuner – it's faster. I remember seeing a documentary about a band one time (can't remember the band) but one of the guys was tuning his guitar with a tuner and laughing about how all those years they had been playing out of tune.

I cannot just do it by memory. I do have to have the starter note.

You're asking for perfect pitch.. the answer is simply "no" :-)

I used to be able to tune a guitar without any fretting, probably after the bottom E-string was tuned. All I had at the time was a pitch pipe. I would simply play the next string against the last string until it was in tune. You can tell when the next string is in tune. Today I, (Gasp!) have an electronic tuner. Even electronic tuners can give you fits. So a bit of cross checking is still needed.

Electronic tuners are good. They serve a purpose. I just don't want to be too dependant on them. I still carry my A fork in my guitar case.

Try this. Strike a tuning fork and place the ball or end of the fork against your teeth. It rings in your head. Thomas Edison was nearly deaf when he invented the phonograph. He bit down on the cabinet with his teeth to listen to it. His teeth marks are on the old phonographs here at the museum.

If anything, I perhaps could tune my strings after changing ears!

In regards to "perfect pitch", I wonder what folks did before the standard of A = 440Hz was adopted: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_pitch_standards_in_Western_music .

If I am recording I use an electronic tuner 100% of time -- although I often have to fine tune and split differences at the end. I don't trust my ear enough to tune without one, so I really don't try.

Kevin

Back when I was first learning how to play guitar, I was taking lessons at one of the local music stores. It was a group lesson with about 5 or 6 kids in the class. At the beginning of the first class the instructor took the time to tune everyone's guitar.

He used one of those tuners that makes that annoying reference tone at A = 440. Since he had to tune 5 guitars it took him a while, and he just left the thing on.

That tone got implanted in my brain, and ever since, I can hear it any time I want, and accurately tune the A string. Then it's easy to tune the rest to the A.

Though in a noisy situation like a stage, it's a lot faster and easier to use an electronic tuner.

Intonation is a contributing factor to accurate and easy tuning. I'm a firm believer in using the technology available to succeed. Don't forget to retune after applying a capo.

The next time I change strings I'm going to try it and see how far off I really am. With a chromatic tuner I should be able to figure out how far off my ears are.

Way off, high E string was a sharp B. Back to the tuner for me..

I have a acoustic electric with a built-in tuner. Solves any tuning problem.

Rick

I have a soundcard with built in tuner, works with everything!

I have a guitar. It only works when I work.

I don't know why everyone here is so obsessed about tuning your guitars. Mine was in tune when I bought it.

I agree Kevin. I mean, when Jimmi Page wrote "Black Mountain Side" and Joni Michell wrote "Big Yellow Taxi", I think they were more concerned with the fact that there guitars WERE in tune (standard tuning, that is)!