How to Tune a Guitar by Ear - What to Listen For

I'd like to share a little guitar playing story with you and I'll understand if you don't believe it, I know I'd have trouble believing this story if I had not seen it with my own eyes.

After I had been taking guitar lessons for about six months my teacher asked me if I would like to go to a concert he was playing in that night; I always jumped at the opportunity to see any live music so I immediately said yes. This was back in the days when picture theaters and concert halls featured live music at the beginning of the performance often the band would also play during intermission.

As it turned out his band was on first that night so he had go to the hall and tune up his banjo; yes, I said banjo but stay tuned (pun intended) and you will see how this relates to guitar.

Since I was his last lesson for the day he asked if I'd like to go to the hall and watch him "tune up"... I agreed and waited for him out the front of his home while he locked up.

After a few minutes I received my first two shocks of the day: (1) I noticed my teacher didn't have a car; (2) I also noticed he did not have his banjo!!! Sooo, being the newbie student I decided to overlook these issues (particularly the bit about not mentioning he had forgot his banjo) and trotted off 'on foot' and 'banjo less' in search of the concert hall (which I hoped was not too far away).

Twenty minutes later we arrived at the hall... here was shock number three...

My teacher when up to the piano. lifted up the lid, played a note... listed carefully, closed the lid and preceded to head back home (with me following close behind, puzzled as to what was going on... hadn't he noticed that he had forgot his banjo?)

Back at his home shock number four was waiting for me... he open his banjo case (obviously he had intentionally left it behind) and began tuning his banjo; now remember, we had been walking and talking for twenty minutes with cars whizzing past us on our way back from the hall.

Shock number five of a day I will never forget... at the concert without any further adjustment to his instrument the bandleader counted in 1...2...3...4... "bang" to my amazement everything sounded great!

I relating this true story to you because I want you to understand how powerful our mind is and what a musician can do if they train and develop their memory for sound.

My teacher grew up in a time when electronic tuners had not been invented and the musicians 'ear' was a much sort after skill (it still is); in fact in the early days the ability to tune your instrument was one of the distinctions between amateur and professional. The fact that amateur players could not tune their own instrument prevented them from getting on the bandstand with the professional players.

Tuning by ear - what to listen for:

You probably know where to place your fingers to tune your guitar but are confused as to exactly what to be listening for, here are a few ideas to help you get started.

Listening tip #1: It's essential to understand that there is a difference between 'tone' and 'pitch'.

Tone refers to how bright or dull the note is. Everyone has their own way of describing tone; I might say a note has a mellow tone and you might disagree and describe the note as having a dull or dark tone.

Pitch refers to how high or low a note sounds, it's the pitch of a note we are listening for when we are tuning our guitar, we want to adjust the pitch of the note so that it is vibrating in agreement with the note we are comparing it with; both notes are vibrating in agreement with each other because they are at the same pitch.

Often the beginning guitarist hears a 'mellow' tone as being 'flat' and a 'bright' tone as being sharp, take your time a listen carefully to each note to mentally separate the tone of a note from the pitch of a note.

Listening tip #2: listen for "the pulse" when you are comparing the pitch of two notes; if you listen carefully you will hear a "pulse" or "beating" created by the two notes; what you are listening for is the slowest pulse between the two notes this is when your two notes are in tune.

As you get closer to the correct pitch will hear fast beats or pulses; turn the machine heads (tuning gears) slowly while listening to the pulse rate; if you go past the correct pitch you will hear the pulse rate increase.

Important: When the pulse between the two notes is the slowest, when it almost disappears... that's when your two notes are in tune.

Listening tip #3: record your open string notes - it's a great idea to use your electronic tuner to tune your guitar then record the correct pitch of each open string, don't forget to identify each pitch with a reference ID on the tape i.e., string six... "E" then play the sixth string slowly three times, string five... "A" then play the fifth string slowly three times, string four... "D" then play the fourth string slowly three times etc.

Bonus listening tip: practice tuning 'by ear' daily - it's easy to take the easy way out and rely on your electronic tuner, but remember your greatest asset as a musician is your 'ear' practice tuning 'by ear' every day just like any other aspect of your guitar playing and you will so overcome the 'lazy ear' syndrome.

And now I'd like to invite you to get free access to my "How To Remember 1,000 Songs" eCourse. You can download the course for free at: http://www.guitarcoaching.com

You'll learn about hit song templates, easy chords, simple scales, red hot rhythms, and successful practice strategies in text, audio and video.

From Mike Hayes - The Guitar Coaching Guy & the Express Guitar System

Article Source