Tuning a Guitar By Ear

Part of the Video Series How to Play Guitar: The Basics

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Learn how to tune a guitar by ear, using a piano as a reference note, in this free video on how to play the guitar.

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Video Transcript

Tuning a Guitar By Ear
Hi, I’m Jared North and today we are going to be talking about tuning by ear. Not all of us have electronic tuners lying around. It’s recommended that you get one but in case you don’t have one, we can always tune by ear. How can we tune to low E string if we have no reference point? There’s another way we can do it if you have a piano laying around the house. Go ahead and hit the E note on your piano then hit the string. They should be in exact unison. Let’s try that one more time. They sound identical to each other and that’s your staring point. We need to count up the fret board one, two , three, four, five spaces up on the low E string. Pluck the low E string and the A string simultaneously. They should be in unison. Try the same thing for the A string. One, two, three, four, five. The A and the D are in exact unison. That’s how you know they are in tune. We are going to do the same thing for the D string. One, two, three, four, five. We’ll try the same thing for the G string. The G string’s slightly different. It is going to be set at the fourth fret, not the fifth fret. One, two three, four. As you can tell, they are both in unison. Now for the B string. One, two, three, four, five. And that is how you tune by ear.

About the Expert

Expert: Jared North is a guitar instructor for the Albertson School of Music. Read More