Tuning Insanity
 

:D Hey friends,

A long time ago when I would sit around home and play guitar, I would tune entirely by ear. I used to work at music stores and tuned many guitars. In recent years I've come to rely on electronic tuners, such as a clip on. I'm currently using a TC Electronics Polytune Clip. Recently I've found myself going bonkers when tuning my guitars. It never seems like their perfectly in tune and it doesn't' matter which guitar I'm playing. I never used to notice this. Could it be that over the years we become more sensitive to pitch? Could my reliance on an electronic tuner hindered my ability to tune by ear? After using the tuner, I sometimes go back and adjust while holding a chord and that seems to remedy it. Anyone else encounter this annoyance?

Aaron

Electronic tuners are not perfect, and you play an instrument onto which equal temperament has been forced. You can "sweeten" your tuning, but even this is not ultimately satisfying. I had to learn to "deal with it" in large jams. I was always the guy retuning my instrument in the middle of songs and telling people that their a string was flat. for reasons I don't understand, people did not seem to appreciate my habit of pointing out that their instruments were poorly tuned.

Yes, Aaron. I've been going back to the tried and true method of tuning guitars.

I'll use a tuning fork to get the low E then do the rest by ear. This comes from many years playing and re-stringing a Martin 12 string.

I think the slightest variance in a digital tuner is almost imperceptible to the human ear. Just my opinion.

I have the exact same issue. I feel like my guitar never seems in tune and spend way too much time fixing it. Never used to have that issue at all. Seems like something when I got older like you said. If you find a cure let me know. I sometimes give up and change guitars and that doesn’t always work.

Guitars are not perfect, I don't care who builds them. Just not a perfect instrument at all so you get as close as you think you need to be.

If you think your electronic tuner is a bit off, this should be pretty close to right on:

Every tuner I've ever used has required me to 'tweak' the tuning by ear - usually the 2nd and 6th strings. Easy to do in a quiet environment - at home, or between songs at a gig when the audience are listening (I don't do pub or café gigs!) - but in a session it's too noisy to do that, so I just go with the tuner's judgment. No-one has ever told me my guitar's out of tune.

Back in the day I couldn’t tune a guitar for diddly. Pitch pipes, tuning forks, nada. It sounded best when a friend came over and tuned it by ear. Eventually it would lose tuning and I sounded like a bag of sour patch kids using my own methods.

One day I forget how, I acquired a beginning guitar 45rpm record. Some guy in a southern drawl welcomed you to guitar and said let’s tune up. He then played the notes much like that above video. Viola! I could at lt least get in tune without visitors.

Honestly I used that 45 literally for decades (about 1972 to 1995 roughly) until they came out with affordable meters, those kind that were as big as a 2x2 with needle meter. Good thing or maybe why I didn’t play out any.

I use a phone app called PitchLab now. It’s just great. But every once in a while I’ll earball it just to see how it went. I’m better than I used to be. But not great.

The only time I use an electronic tuner is when doing setups on electrics. Otherwise it's an A=440 fork and my ears. Unless one is performing and has to tune quietly I regard them as an excuse for not learning how to tune one's guitar. This tends to happen more with beginners who assume their tuner is telling them the truth. As mentioned, they only tune each string to a given pitch and the guitar will not be as in tune with itself as it could be. On the odd occasion when I have been asked to teach someone my favourite trick is to put their guitar horribly out of tune, tell them what to do, hand them a fork and let them get on with it. They soon learn!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl3mcHixAKM

You're doing better than the tuner and Martin Taylor tells you why.

Last month I purchased the "new" Peterson Stroboclip and have been very satisfied with its accuracy.

But along the way (and many tuners later), I found one trick that has helped: not only do I tune the open strings, but I quickly check the first five frets and get an idea of where the intonation may be off. Then I can tweak the tuning to be in between.

Also, I can initially tune by fretting at the fifth fret and then tweak the open strings.

I have often toyed with the idea of a compensated nut as a way to correct this, but suspect that except for the most discerning ear it would never be noticed.

best,

Rick

PS: make sure that the battery in your tuner is fresh. I can't tell you how many times that has screwed me up.

I’ve been playing since the 1960’s so I’m able to tune without an electronic tuner. I used to be the guitar guy at a music store so I’ve tuned thousands of guitars without one. That said, I love tuners, especially in a noisy environment.

The only time I use a tuner is when I'm on stage before a set. Other than that I haven't used one in years. All ears for me.

The TC Electronics Polytune Clip is an excellent tuner, but it will give you perfect equal temperament and your ear is calling for just intonation. Blame the piano players who didn't want to retune for every new key.

Without going into a long deal, your ear is right and I think you'll find that if you slightly flatten the third of the I chord you'll be happier. If you're a hard strummer you will probably want to slightly flatten the low E string as well.

The joys of having wonky hearing.... I have about 20% loss in my right ear from a combination of age, childhood inner-ear infections, and shooting.

Tinnitus as well.

Needless to say, I do not have “absolute pitch”. To me, the invention of the reliable electronic tuner was a godsend as I struggled for years in the beginning (70s) with tuning forks, pitch-pipes, and similar devices.

If my little Snark is not “perfect”.....Doesn’t bother me in the slightest. Can’t hear such niceties. “Sounds good to me” is my criteria.

Same with the 440hz vs 386hz “controversy”. Can’t hear it.

Really rather a blessing. We knew a fellow years ago, massively talented songwriter who also was gifted (or afflicted?) with absolute pitch. He’d do gigs and spend endless minutes tuning and re-tuning while the audience fidgeted or walked out... Definitely hurt his performance.