How To Tune a 6 String Guitar- A Guide By Zager
Are you ready to transform your six-string guitar from a tuneless twang to a sweet symphony? Grab your tuning pegs d-string, and get ready to rock and roll! Tuning your guitar is the first step in creating beautiful music, and it’s a simple process that anyone can do.
Think of your guitar like a finely tuned sports car – you wouldn’t take it out for a spin without ensuring it’s running smoothly, right? The same goes for your guitar. You want to ensure each string is in tune, so your chords sound harmonious and your riffs are on point.
Let’s face it. There’s nothing worse than playing with an out-of-tune guitar. It’s like trying to sing with a sore throat – it just doesn’t sound right. So, let’s get your guitar tuned and sounding like one of a kind.
A Brief History of the Guitar
The earliest version of the guitar resembled a primitive banjo or an ancient Egyptian tanbur, dating back 5,000 years. Over time, it underwent numerous transformations and phases, evolving from a lute to a vihuela (a flat-back lute) and eventually into the classical gut/nylon-stringed Spanish guitar, which was introduced in 1859. The number of strings gradually increased from 4 to 5 and then 6, leading to the current order of guitar strings: EADGBE.
As the demand for more extensive and louder guitars grew, modifications were made to the guitar body, and the bracing system was changed to accommodate louder, more vital steel strings. Other innovations included the development of pickups and amplifiers, effects pedals, and the divergence of acoustic and electric guitars.
While electro-acoustic guitar enthusiasts pursued one path, their electric counterparts embarked on another, creating new sub-genres of music and the evolution of guitar technology as we know it today.
Difference Between Tuning the Acoustic Guitar and the Electric Guitar
Let’s talk about the difference between tuning an acoustic and electric guitar! While both instruments may look similar, their tuning methods couldn’t be more different.
So whether you prefer strumming an acoustic 6-string or shredding on an electric guitar, you must know how to get those strings in tune.
Acoustic Guitar Tuning
Acoustic guitars are popular due to their versatility, ease of learning, and great sound, whether amplified or unplugged. However, before playing, it is essential to learn how to tune the guitar, which can be done using a pitch pipe or electronic tuner.
While there is no “correct” way to tune a guitar as different players prefer different tunings, the most common method is tuning to standard tuning: E, A, D, G, B, and E from lowest to highest. It is essential to avoid common mistakes, such as not memorizing the string order or not hitting the strings hard enough while tuning.
Electronic tuners come with various tuning options, such as chromatic, standard guitar tuning, or bass, and will indicate if you are sharp or flat with a red or green LED light. Chromatic mode displays the nearest note of the chromatic scale.
Tuning can be done without a tuner using various methods. The most common one is the fifth fret method, also known as relative tuning. Tuning forks vibrating at 329.6 Hz, representing middle E, can also be used. Harmonics, which are overtones multiples of the fundamental tone, can be used for tuning, and this method does not require the hand to be on the fourth fret-board.
Understanding standard tuning and concert pitch is essential before attempting alternate tunings. It is also recommended to replace strings even if the guitar is in tune, and how often to change strings depends on how frequently one plays.
What Notes To Tune Acoustic Guitar?
Image source: https://www.ovationguitars.com/
For beginners, learning how to tune an acoustic guitar is crucial. Standard tuning involves tuning the strings from low to high. It’s important to know which tuning pegs correspond to each string and to ensure that each string plays correctly before turning it to the correct pitch.
One can play a G chord or another first-position chord to confirm that the guitar is in tune. Using a high-quality chromatic guitar tuner can help achieve optimal tuning. When tuning acoustic guitars, it’s better to tune from flat to sharp. Using fresh strings is advisable because old ones may not hold the tune as quickly. Tuning requires both good hearing and the ability to detect problems.
Acoustic Guitar Tuning Notes
Image Source: Pinterest
There are multiple ways to tune an acoustic guitar, including using an electronic tuner or a tuning fork. To tune by ear, start with the low E string and work your way up to the high E string, adjusting the tuning peg for each string. Zager Guitars offers a guide for quick tuning.
Electric guitars can also be tuned using electronic tuners, faster and more accurate than manual methods. These tuners come in three varieties and can be found as pedals or smartphone apps. Playing your guitar frequently helps the tuner detect the note easier. Our Sonic Tuner is great for this purpose.
Electric Guitar Tuning
Imagine picking up an electric guitar and plugging it in, ready to unleash your inner rockstar. But wait, your guitar is horribly out of tune!
Don’t worry; tuning an electric guitar doesn’t have to be a daunting task. It’s a crucial step towards achieving a clean and powerful sound that will make you sound like a pro.
So, let’s dive into electric guitar tuning and get you ready to rock!
How To Use The Tuning Pegs
Tuning an electric guitar can be intimidating for beginners, and there’s no need to feel ashamed if you’re unsure where to start. Understanding the basics is crucial, starting with the tuning pegs on your guitar’s headstock. These pegs are responsible for loosening or slightly tightening the guitar’s strings, affecting the tune. By adjusting the length of the strings, you can alter the tune from flat to sharp and vice versa.
Don’t forget to keep playing the string while fiddling with the pegs to ensure it continues generating a tone, so your tuner has something to react to. It’s also important to tune one string at a time to avoid creating a messy sound when the tuner tries to pick up all six strings simultaneously.
How To Tune an Electric Guitar With a Tuner?
Tuning an electric guitar with an electronic tuner might seem daunting, but it’s pretty easy once you understand how it works. The tuner typically displays the note you’re closest to and whether you’re flat or sharp. It uses a dial similar to a car’s speedometer, with the left indicating flat and the right indicating sharp. There are various methods of using an electronic tuner, but generally, it uses a built-in microphone to pick up the sound and guide you in adjusting the strings.
To use the microphone in the electronic guitar tuners for tuning an electric guitar, there are a few things you need to keep in mind.
- You must ensure that your guitar is amplified adequately, as the tuner won’t be able to pick up the pitch if it’s too quiet.
- Ensure you have turned off any effects on your guitar that can interfere with the tuner’s accuracy.
Another option for tuning electric guitars is connecting them to the tuner using a jack cable, which provides a more reliable method than the microphone. By doing this, the tuner can sense the vibrations and give an accurate reading for tuning.
It’s essential to check if your new electronic tuner has an automatic string detection feature, as it can save you time and effort in tuning musical instruments. In case it doesn’t, you will have to manually adjust the settings on the tuner to identify which string you are about to play before tuning each of the six strings.
So What’s With the Guitar Strings’ Order?
The reason why the guitar’s strings are tuned the way they are is a subject of great interest and debate among guitar enthusiasts. However, historical evidence and common sense suggest that it arose from practical considerations based on musical necessity.
As the guitar evolved, the neck lengthened, fret quantity increased, and string count rose from 4 to 6. The tuning of the guitar notes to the major 3rd intervals between the G and B strings, which deviates from the otherwise consistent perfect 4ths, made it easier for players to achieve runs and chords on the more oversized guitar neck, thus avoiding hand strain and cramps. Additionally, it resolved some harmonic issues that would have arisen if all the strings were tuned to perfect 4ths.
Playing and learning the guitar would be much more difficult without this tuning pattern. So, the current standard tuning pattern and order of EADGBE have evolved and proven to be practical and effective.
Guitar Tuning Basics
The musician must adjust the instrument’s six strings to tune a guitar. The standard tuning for a guitar starts with the thickest string, which is the lowest pitch and located at the top of the neck. The order of the strings from top to bottom of the guitar string is E – A – D – G – B – E. The thinnest string, located at the bottom of the neck, is referred to as the 1st string, with the others following in sequence.
A mnemonic for remembering the names of the guitar strings, from the highest-pitched small “E” string to the lowest-pitched big “E” string, is “E-very B-oy G-ets D-onuts A-fter E-ating.”
So, on a typical six-string guitar, the numerical string order goes like this:
- E – 1st string
- B – 2nd string
- G – 3rd string
- D – 4th string
- A – 5th string
- E – 6th string
How to Tune a Guitar with an Electric Tuner?
Using an electric tuner is a simple method of tuning a guitar. Unlike using the strings to determine the correct pitch for the other strings, the tuner detects and interprets the sound waves from the guitar and displays the corresponding notes. All you need to do is switch on the tuner and strum the string. The tuner will indicate whether the guitar is in tune within a matter of seconds.
How to Tune a Guitar by Ear?
To tune a guitar manually, tune the 6th string to the low E note. If you’re unfamiliar with this pitch, you can listen to samples online or ask someone to help you tune it. If you’re playing with others, having one person tune the fifth string first is a good idea, and everyone else can tune in to match.
Pluck the 6th string with your right hand (if you’re right-handed) while holding down the open fifth string at the 5th fret with your left hand. This will produce an A note. Then, pluck the open 5th string and adjust the tuning peg until it matches the A note at the 5th fret of the 6th string.
Repeat this process for the remaining strings, tuning each string to match the sound of the previous string played at the 5th fret. However, when tuning the fourth string for the B string, play the G string at the 4th fret to find the correct tone.
Finally, tune the high E string by playing the B at the 5th fret. While this method is easy once you’ve done it a few times, it may not result in being tuned to the standard A 440 pitch used by pedal tuners worldwide. Mr. Zager has a video regarding this as well.
Alternate Guitar Tuning
Guitarists should be familiar with various tuning techniques that can open up new tonal possibilities and enhance their playing. For instance, Drop D is a famous rock and metal style that tunes the 6th string from “E” to “D” for a deeper sound.
Double Drop D, on the other hand, tunes both E strings down to D, producing a drone-style tone. DADGAD, commonly used in fingerstyle guitar, is similar to Double Drop D except that the B string is lowered to A, creating a bluesy feel. Open G, frequently used in Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin songs gives a rock/blues vibe and sounds excellent when you strum all the strings to play a G. Additionally, open D and open A.
Open E is great for slide guitar methods and produces a harmonious sound when played together without fretting. Tuning is a crucial aspect of music, particularly in blues and slide guitar genres, where specific tuning techniques are employed to achieve a unique signature sound.
Famous guitarists like Jimmy Page, Dennis Zager, Keith Richards, and John Fahey used alternate tunings in the 1980s and 1990s. Adjusting the reference pitch of the saddles on the bridge while strumming the guitar is essential when tuning.
What Does Denny Recommend?
Denny Zager is part of the legendary recording duo “Zager & Evans” who wrote “In The Year 2525,” the #1 song of 1969 and the biggest one-hit wonder of any artist at any time in recording history selling over 20 million records worldwide.
You may have seen Denny featured in Time Magazine, Newsweek Magazine, and The New Yorker. Denny has been asked to make numerous television appearances, including The Tonight Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Dick Cavett Show, Top Of The Pops, The Music Scene with The Beatles, and The Rolling Stones. He was among the few musicians asked to play at Woodstock in 1969 with Jimmy Hendrix, Santana, and The Grateful Dead.
Here are his two cents; the guitar woods are still moving and settling, and this causes them to go out of tune easier. The good thing is that your guitar will stay perfectly tuned as they settle and cure. For this reason, you read testimonials from our customers saying our guitars stay in perfect tune, but those woods still need time to settle and cure.
Once they do, it will stay in tune, play more accessible, and sound much richer and more profound. Also. We run a thinner string gauge for the most playability, but thin strings can bend out of tune. Very few players notice it (even most of our prominent artists don’t), but you can occasionally hear it if you have a good ear.
For this reason, Mr. Zager uses the next gauge up on all of his guitars. I also have a few players like yourself with good ears who do the same. By simply going one gauge higher, it disappears totally, and you also benefit from a more prosperous, deeper sound. If you like, I can send you a pack, and you can see (or hear it) yourself. Get back to me on this…it’s extremely important to my father and me that our customers are happy with their guitars.
FAQs
What is The Basic Tuning For The Guitar?
The basic tuning for a six-string guitar is E-A-D-G-B-E, with the thickest string tuned to E and the thinnest string tuned to E.
How are The Strings Numbered On a 6-String Guitar?
Starting with the thinnest string is string 1, string 2, and so on, till string 6. The second string is known as the “plain string.” The three to six strings are coated in metal. During guitar playing, string six becomes the top string.
