Tuning a guitar seems simple enough, but as you’re beginning your guitar journey, it's not necessarily easy. While turning the tuning pegs is doable for most, the real trick is finding the right pitch. It’s rare that anyone has the ability hear the notes and tune without any assistance. That’s why most players, even the pros, have a little help—from tuners.
There are two ways to go about tuning your guitar: using your ear or using a tuner. For most players, the first method is the better answer. It's simple, requires no musical experience, and is more accurate than most beginner’s ears.
USING A GUITAR TUNER
All you need to do is clamp a tuner to your headstock or plug your guitar into it. With clip-on tuners, you just attach the tuner to your headstock (the top of your guitar where the tuning pegs are), turn it on, and play each string. The tuner will guide you with a meter or lights, which direct which way you need to turn your tuning peg and tell you when you're in tune.
Functionally, plug-in tuners work the same way. The difference is you’ll need to connect your guitar to the tuner with a 1⁄4” cable. Some electronic tuners also have a microphone, so you don't necessarily need a cable — you just close to the built-in mic. You can probably find an app on your phone that functions this way. But be aware that microphones in tuners and apps may not always be the most accurate.
A better option which also involves plugging in, is a pedal tuner. These very accurate tuners go on your pedalboard and become part of your signal chain.
TRUSTING YOUR EAR
This technique is generally used when there is no tuner available. Ideally, there will be a piano, another guitar, or any other instrument that’s in-tune. If there is, you play the notes on that instrument and match the pitch to your strings. Alternatively, you could get an app or find a site that will play the tone of each string. This is not the easiest or most accurate method of tuning, but it works in a pinch.
If you’re playing alone and really have nothing to work with, you can always tune your guitar strings relative to each other. To do so, you’d tune each string by finding the same note on the string next to it.
The issue with this method is that you're only tuning each string relative to the next. So, if you start out with a string that's not in tune (usually high or low E), all the strings wind up in tune only relative to each other, but not actually at the correct pitch. Again, this can work if you’re playing alone, without other instruments.
Tuning is a very important thing to learn when you’re learning guitar. Ideally, you should have an accurate electronic tuner at all times. But you can also practice using your ear for your own development and be prepared for those tuner-less moments you hope you don't find yourself in.
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