Learn How To Tune A Guitar With A Digital Tuner!

Now that you know the names of the open strings you can learn how to use a digital tuner. Once your tuner is on, play your low E string. The tuner should indicate a note, hopefully it is an E. If it’s not an E we need to adjust the tuning to make it an E. Let’s say that you hit your low E string and the tuner display says that you are playing a D flat. D is before E in the musical alphabet, so this means that we need to raise the pitch of the string until it becomes an E. Imagine that the tuner said that the note that you were playing was an F#. In this case, you would need lower the pitch of the note until it became an E. At this point you should use your tuning peg for your low E string to raise or lower the note until it becomes an E.

Okay, you have your E string tuned to an E note, but is it in tune? Most tuners have a needle or some light that let you know if a note is sharp or flat. If the note that you are tuning is flat, the needle or light will be off to the left of center. If the note that you are playing is sharp, the needle or light will off to the right of center. The idea is to “tune up” the note if it is flat and to “tune down” the note if it is sharp. When the note is “in tune” the needle will be in the middle of the display. If you have a tuner with lights the “in tune” light is usually green and in the middle of the display. Repeat this process for all five remaining strings. Don’t be frustrated if you break a string or if it takes you a while to really get the whole idea of tuning. That’s normal.