How To Get More Out of your Acoustic guitar tuner
When I first started playing your guitar I had been completely against utilizing an acoustic guitar tuner. This was on the basis which i could use my ears to understand pitch. It could also have been because I had no money, but that is another story. However, things i discovered was which i was far more thinking about playing and trying to write songs as opposed to the actual mechanics of theory. A lot of you will see where I’m coming from with this and have either purchased or have been in the process of purchasing a guitar tuner as opposed to trying to learn by ear.
So how do you actually tune an electric guitar? Well, you would normally use standard tuning EADGBe, however, you can also use different tunings through getting either a Chromatic, Clip on or Digital tuner. What you would then do is merely plug your guitar in to the tuner with a lead, take part in the string you want to tune ‘open’ after which look at the read out because the arrow or lights move. After this you turn the tuning peg about the head of the guitar before guitar string vibrates in the desired pitch and also the indicator confirms that. This could then be repeated for the other 3, 5 or 11 strings based on what guitar you’re playing. Tuning an electric guitar could not be simpler!
Obviously, you may have an acoustic guitar that does not have a pick up, therefore you will need to buy a guitar tuner which has an onboard microphone so that it can pick up your guitar’s sound.
There are thousands of guitar tuners available on the market so to try to say those are the best and which ones are the worst wouldn’t be right, as they all have different qualities. So as a guitar player there are a few things that I have found out about tuning a guitar with a guitar tuner that you might find useful:
For instance, did you know that if you hold your clip-on tuner for your throat, and hum notes, the tuner reacts and tells you when you’ve hit the pitch you’re trying for? You will, however, need a mirror to determine the read out!! If you are a singer then you can sing right into a normal non-clip-on tuner and it’ll tell you the note – you don’t need to hold those to your throat!
I’ve discovered that the cheaper acoustic guitar tuner will generally be fine and probably good enough for most of us depending on the type of tuning you require and maybe how good your ear is!
For individuals who get frustrated by guitar tuners generally I also discovered the next fact:
If, when guitar tuning, you find the tuner needle wavers between two different pitches you can avoid this by picking at the string right above the twelfth fret. The harmonics then visit zero and the needle becomes rock solid. Anyone who has experienced that will realise just how useful that nugget of knowledge is.
In summary, you should use your ears or you can concentrate on playing and writing music. I understand which one I prefer.
The internet opens up whole new world for those wanting to buy a guitar package by giving them access to a vast number of new options and resources. Buying an acoustic guitar tuner should be an easy thing to do there are many places on the internet that will help you to get the best experience possible. At Legend Guitars we try to do this.
We have additional information on this subject you may be interested in reading: acoustic guitar reviews and best acoustic guitar.
