Basic To Advanced Tuning

This lesson will assume you know nothing about tunings. It will begin by explaining steps and notes, onto the basics such as standard tuning and step tunings, and then when you feel confident about relative tuning, I will go onto introducing and explaining the theory and logic behind relative resonant tuning, which is basically being able to hear inperfections based on two or more notes being played at the same time. I hope this lesson covers everything you need, but if it doesnt, feel free to email me at the email address at the bottom of this lesson!

1. Notes And Steps
2. Standard Tuning
3. Fretboard Patterns
4. Finding The Notes And The Logic
5. Changing Individual Strings
6. Matching Up Notes
7. Advanced Tuning (exceptional trained ears needed)
8. Harmonic Tuning

1. Notes And Steps.
Before learning to tune, you should be able to name every note, and understand steps. There are 7 full notes. A B C D E F and G. You then, get sharps and flats for each note. A sharp (#) can be explained by saying its pitch is increased slightly than the note before it. So a flat is a notes pitch, lowered slightly than the note which comes next. The only exception is B to C and E to F. B does not have a sharp, and C doesnt have a flat. The same with E and F. So using this knowledge now, you can build up the whole 12 notes, sharps and flats there are:

A -> A# or Bb -> B -> C -> C# or Db -> D -> D# or Eb -> E -> F -> F# or Gb -> G -> G# or Ab

Where it says "x# or yb", that means they're enharmonic. Enharmonic means two names for the same thing, so basically, A# and Bb both sound exactly the same.

- Steps.
A step consists of two things. A whole step, and a half step. A Whole Step is going up two pitches, for example, going from A, through A# and onto B. So that process is a whole step. So, from that, its obvious what a half step is: from from one pitch to half a pitch ahead or behind. For Example, going from A, to A#. If you think "but, is a whole step up from B, C?" then no, because if you think of it as C being enharmonic to B#, then you would go, B -> B# or C -> C#. So, a whole step up from B is C#. Half a step up from B is C. The same goes for E and F.

2. Standard Tuning.
Now, moving on to standard tuning. When you tune your guitar, you will most probably tune it to Standard tuning. The notes for standard tuning are EADGBe. When naming notes from a tuning, you always start with the thickest string, and end on the thinnest. So, if you were to play the thickest string open in standard tuning, then you would produce an E note. If you played the one next to that open, you would produce an A note and so on. So, now you have your first tuning. Standard tuning, you know what the notes are for it, and its name. You also know how you find the notes! (By playing the strings open, and finding the notes out on a tuner or by ear).

3. Fretboard Patterns.
Now that you know standard tuning, there are some patterns which you need to know in order to retune your guitar. I'll start with the easiest to remember, the frets. Each fret represents a half step. So, theres a half step difference between the 1st fret and 2nd fret. Theres a half step difference between 5th fret and 6th fret and so on.

The 12th fret.
As stated in the notes chapter, there are a total of 12 full notes, sharps and flats. So what happens when you reach the 12th fret and you've run out of notes?! Easy, you start over again. So, using this knowledge of the notes, frets and 12th fret, you can build a diagram of the fretboard.

      1           2         3           4         5           6       Frets
e|----F-----|-F# or Gb-|----G-----|-G# or Ab-|----A-----|-A# or Bb-|
B|----C-----|-C# or Db-|----D-----|-D# or Eb-|----E-----|----F-----|
G|-G# or Ab-|----A-----|-A# or Bb-|----B-----|----C-----|-C# or Db-|
D|-D# or Eb-|----E-----|----F-----|-F# or Gb-|----G-----|-G# or Ab-|
A|-A# or Bb-|----B-----|----C-----|-C# or Db-|----D-----|-D# or Eb-|
E|----F-----|-F# or Gb-|----G-----|-G# or Ab-|----A-----|-A# or Bb-|

     7          8           9         10         11         12       Frets
|----B-----|----C-----|-C# or Db-|----D-----|-D# or Eb-|----E-----|
|-F# or Gb-|----G-----|-G# or Ab-|----A-----|-A# or Bb-|----B-----|
|----D-----|-D# or Eb-|----E-----|----F-----|-F# or Gb-|----G-----|
|----A-----|-A# or Bb-|----B-----|----C-----|-C# or Db-|----D-----|
|----E-----|----F-----|-F# or Gb-|----G-----|-G# or Ab-|----A-----|
|----B-----|----C-----|-C# or Db-|----D-----|-D# or Eb-|----E-----|

What this diagram is showing is the strings, and the notes on each fret. The bottom line is the thickest string, the top line is the thinnest. Remember what I said about the 12th fret? If you play the E string open, the 12th fret also becomes the E note. Then just start the cycle over again. So the 13th fret is exactly the same as the 1st fret, just an octave higher. The 14th is the exact same as the 2nd and so on. Now you know the 12th fret, there's the 5th fret rule.

The 5th fret.
This, in standard tuning is invaluble. It's used to retune your guitar, a lot, as long is it stays in a variation of standard (IE tuning all the strings half a step down or a whole step down etc). Basically, the 5th fret note of any string (except the G string) is the note of the string below it open. Take the Low E for example. The 5th fret is an A note, so is the string below it. The A string's 5th fret is a D note. And so on.

The only exception is the G string, in which case it's the 4th fret. Using this information, you can now find out how to tune to a variation of standard tuning, as long as one of your strings is already in tune. (I'll explain later on in the lesson).

4. Finding The Notes And The Logic.
The very basics of retuning is to be able to relate two notes of the same pitch on different strings to one another. Basically translated, if your retuning a string to the note B, look for the B note on the string before it. Therefore, you need to find the notes in order to retune! We've covered the 5th fret rule in the chapter above, so this is how you use relative tuning. If you want to tune to standard, or a variation of it, its simple. The first step is to get or find at least one string thats already in tune.

So pretend for simplicity, the Low E is already tuned (You can tune it to a piano, or a song etc). The other strings are completely out of tune, but you know already, from the 5th fret rule, that the string next to it, played open, is the same note of the 5th fret OF the Low E. Basically, the 5th fret of the Low E, is the same as the A string open. So to tune the A string, play the 5th fret of the Low E string, and the A string open, then retune the A string till it sounds exactly the same as the 5th fret of the Low E:

e|---|
B|---|
G|---|
D|---|
A|-0-|
E|-5-|

Now, you have two strings tuned, you want to tune the string next to the A string, (the 4th string). So, again, the 5th fret rule says that the 5th fret of the A string will be the same as the D string open. So, to tune the D string. Play the 5th fret A string and the D string open:

e|--------|
B|--------|
G|--------|
D|-----0--|
A|-0---5--|
E|-5------|

Continue this until the G string, where you match the B string with the 4th fret of the G string. In the end, you'll get something like this:

e|------------------0--|
B|--------------0---5--|
G|----------0---4------|
D|------0---5----------|
A|--0---5--------------|
E|--5------------------|

There, now you can tune to standard, and hopefully you can understand the logic behind it. Basic summary of tuning to standard:

1) Remember the 5th fret rule
2) Play the 5th (or 4th) fret and the string below it open
3) Retune the Open string.

The logic behind tuning is this: Find the notes you want to tune to, then find them on the string below it. And that's basically it.

5. Changing Individual Strings.
Ok, now we've got standard tuning out of the way, it's onto changing individual strings. You may have heard people talk about Drop D. Basically, it's dropping the low E string to a D note. So like above, you have to find the same note on another string (this isn't always the case, as you'll see in a minute). But, the Low E is the lowest string on the guitar, theres no string before it to tune!

This problem is easily overcome by looking at the D string. Now, you want to tune to drop D, which implies you need the Low E to be a D note. So why not, play the D string open, making a D note, and also playing the Low E to be able to retune it! However, the pitch is alot different, by around an octave. So, to overcome this, play the 12th fret Low E, and the D string open. That way, when the 12th fret sounds like the D string, you've achieved drop D! So if you look at what we did:

e|--F--|-----|--G--|-----|--A--|-----|--B--|--C--|-----|--D--|--|--E--|
B|--C--|-----|--D--|-----|--E--|--F--|-----|--G--|-----|--A--|--|--B--|
G|-----|--A--|-----|--B--|--C--|-----|--D--|-----|--E--|--F--|--|--G--|
D|-----|--E--|--F--|-----|--G--|-----|--A--|-----|--B--|--C--|--|--D--|
A|-----|--B--|--C--|-----|--D--|-----|--E--|--F--|-----|--G--|--|--A--|
E|--F--|-----|--G--|-----|--A--|-----|--B--|--C--|-----|--D--|--|--E--|
    ^     ^
    1     2

1) The note which needs to be moved
2) The place it needs to be moved too.

The note (1) needs to be moved 2 frets to the right. The other way, is where you don't need to find the note you want to tune to. For example, you want to tune to Drop D, but you don't need to use the D note. You know from the 5th fret rule that the 5th fret of a string is the string below it's open note, so you know the 5th fret A string is the same as the A string open. Also, the D note on the E string is two frets from the 12th fret, so just add two frets from the A note, which gives you the 7th fret.

So, all you have to do, is retune the 7th fret Low E to match the A string open. That way, your making the 7th fret an A note! You can do this with other notes too, for example, you want to tune the Low E to a B. The B is 2 frets from the A note, so, when you theoritically move the B note to the 12th fret, take two frets from that and you get the 10th fret. So, play the 10th fret Low E and the A string open, then retune your 10th fret Low E to match the A string!

6. Matching Up Notes.
So, the basic logic behind tuning is to match up notes as best as you can. These are the things to take into consideration:

- Matching up notes - whether it be the note you want to tune to, or a note relative to another string.
- Try to always match notes to open strings where possible.
- Try to match the same pitch notes to make it easier for untrained ears.
- Remember how many frets difference there is between notes.
- Try work out what the notes on the fretboard should look like in the end.

Now, we can move onto more complex tunings. If you bare all this in mind, you can tune to anything with ease. And I mean anything. For instance, I'll take DADADD - Open D5. So, we'll look at the first three notes: DAD. The A and D strings don't need tuning, so they can be your start point for the other strings. Basically, all you're doing in this part is Drop D. So, you can match the 12th fret Low E to match the D string open, or the other method I mentioned. So, your halfway there!

The next part: ADD. The G string needs to be tuned up an entire step, so thats going from G -> G# -> A. So, going back to the 5th fret rule, the A note on the D string is the 7th fret. So all you have to do, is play the 7th fret D string and the G string open and retune the G string! So now you have DADA, and you need the other DD. Now you have your G string tuned to an A, dont forget to rearrange the notes on the G string, they all move towards the nut by two frets, so, the D note is note located on the 5th fret. So, all you have to do, is match the B string open, to the 5th fret G string.

And the last string is easy, because you already have the B string tuned to a D, simply play the two strings open, and retune the High E string! Now you're in DADADD tuning! I hope that was clear to everyone.

7. Advanced Tuning - not need for basic tuning.
This chapter assumes you know how to tune and have a good trained ear. This part will teach you how to further develop your trained ear, and how to physically feel the inconsistancies within two strings. I aim in this chapter to make your tuning perfect, and when I say perfect, and I mean perfect, it'll sound even more amazing.

First of all, I'll start with being able to hear the inconsistancies. This is a branch off harmonic tuning, which I will discuss later. Basically, when you get a string vibrating it produces a frequency. As you may or may not know the frequency is like a wiggly line which goes up and down. Now, this wave determines what the vibration is going to sound like, otherwise known as its pitch. Imagine you take this frequency, and another one the exact same. If you over lap them perfectly, it'll only look like one frequency, right? This is what you are aiming for and is refered to as two frequencies being in phase. If you were to theoretically "stretch" one of these wiggly lines, it would not be able to fit behind the other one perfectly. This is refered to it being out of phase.

Now, you may be wondering, what's this got to do with anything? Well the answer is, these frequencies, like E said before, give off different sounds and pitches. Now, do this. Turn the tuner of the Low E string slightly. This will make your Low E out of tune, obviously. Now, play the 5th fret of the Low E and the A string open, as you would in standard tuning with a lot of distortion. It sounds horrible right?! That's because those two frequencies have different wavelengths, and this makes it easy to recognise by producing a horrible noise! Now, it may just seem like a nasty noise to begin with, but do this, turn the tuner slowly in different directions. Now, you can hear that nasty wobbling noise get faster and slower right! This is two vibrating strings being at different wavelengths, and as you change the tension in the string by altering the tuner, that wavelength adjusts accordingly.

So, think about it, if that fast wobbly noise is nasty, then an extremely slow, or non existing wobbly will be nice! So all you have to do is retune your E to Standard, but listen to this resonating. As you re-tune, you are aiming to get the wobble or the resonance to completely dissapear. If you listen closely, you'll be able to hear when it stops, and then you will have two completely, perfectly in tune strings. You can do this with any fret, anywhere on the fretboard. It doesnt matter where harmonic points are or anything. As long as you have distortion, you'll be able to easily hear this resonance. Now we have covered being able to hear this resonance, we can move onto being able to feel it.

When you play the guitar, you may feel it wobble slightly. This is because the wood absorbs the shockwave created by the string, and turns it into energy in the wood. This energy is dissipated by making the wood shake slightly. You can use this to help aid in resonant tuning (mentioned above). Play the slightly detuned 5th fret Low E and the A string open again. You can hear the two frequencies resonating out of phase. Now, pay attention to feeling it. The wobble in the wood will be the same as the wobble you can hear. When you retune the guitar to perfect standard, this wobble in the wood will slow down too. And that concludes Advanced tuning! That's as perfect as you can get it with the ear (if it's a well-trained ear! ). This type of resonant tuning will also greatly improve your trained ear.

8. Harmonic Tuning.
This is another type of resonating tuning. And as the name of the chapter suggests, it utilizes natural harmonics. This is ideal for acoustic guitars. It works on the principal of getting two natural harmonics to resonant clearly together. To do it, you play two natural harmonics, on two different strings located next to each other at the same time. For instance, if you want to retune the Low E string, play the 5th fret harmonic on the Low E, and the 7th fret harmonic on the A string. You'll hear that resonating again, and like above, just retune till it stops!

Now, it gets a bit messy on the B string because in normal tuning, you dont use the 5th fret of the G string to retune the B string, you use the fourth. The 4th fret G string doesn't have a harmonic that you can match up to with another to create a sustainable tuning guide for the B string, so you need to find a relative one to use on the 7th fret B string. It can be overcome, by playing the B string open, and playing the harmonic on the Low E string at the 7th fret. So, for harmonic tuning, you match these harmonics:

e|----------------------7*--|
B|-----------------0----5*--|
G|------------7*------------|
D|-------7*---5*------------|
A|--7*---5*-----------------|
E|--5*-------------7*-------|

A * (asterisk) indicates a natural harmonic.

Well, that concludes my lesson on tuning, hopefully now, you should know the basics of alternate tunings, how advanced tuning works, for example resonant tuning and harmonic tuning, and so on. Just one more thing. A copy of the complete fretboard with notes!

      1           2         3           4         5           6
e|----F-----|-F# or Gb-|----G-----|-G# or Ab-|----A-----|-A# or Bb-|
B|----C-----|-C# or Db-|----D-----|-D# or Eb-|----E-----|----F-----|
G|-G# or Ab-|----A-----|-A# or Bb-|----B-----|----C-----|-C# or Db-|
D|-D# or Eb-|----E-----|----F-----|-F# or Gb-|----G-----|-G# or Ab-|
A|-A# or Bb-|----B-----|----C-----|-C# or Db-|----D-----|-D# or Eb-|
E|----F-----|-F# or Gb-|----G-----|-G# or Ab-|----A-----|-A# or Bb-|

      7          8           9         10         11         12
e|----B-----|----C-----|-C# or Db-|----D-----|-D# or Eb-|----E-----|
B|-F# or Gb-|----G-----|-G# or Ab-|----A-----|-A# or Bb-|----B-----|
G|----D-----|-D# or Eb-|----E-----|----F-----|-F# or Gb-|----G-----|
D|----A-----|-A# or Bb-|----B-----|----C-----|-C# or Db-|----D-----|
A|----E-----|----F-----|-F# or Gb-|----G-----|-G# or Ab-|----A-----|
E|----B-----|----C-----|-C# or Db-|----D-----|-D# or Eb-|----E-----|

If there's anything you want to talk to me more about, feel free to email me at spatulator@hotmail. com, or PM me on Ultimate-Guitar! Anywho, best of luck with your alternate tunings!

Comments

[TaongGumigitara]

1st... i didn't know that... crazy!

[Abyssal]

Nice

[ctb]

WOW! It's better than my tuning one Good job

ty

Iforgot to mention in the lesson, thatin the resonant tuning, to get two strings perfectly in tune, you dont have to always use the 5th fret and the open string below, you can also tune it using powerchords without the octave.

and also, its not always used for just standard tunings. You can use this method to perfect your tuning to anything.

[RYANSG]

nice lesson

[lespaulbuddy]

nice work logs, i guess what your saying ^^
is that like

---..12----
---..17----

right?

[lespaulbuddy]

oh sorry

its
e---..12
B---..17

^ Well, for example, just say you wanted to tune the A string, you can tune it using a powerchord which overlaps on the A string. So...

Just say, you use this powerchord:

D|---..
A|--12--
E|--10--

If you play that, and your A string is slightly out, you'll be able to hear a resonating... like what i was speaking about in the 7th chapter. You can just then retune the A string tuner slowly, and the wobble in the sound will eventually slow down and go, then you know your guitars in tune.

[GuitarAj]

You obviously have to much time on your hands! Hey hey just kidding great article taught myself, an intermediate, great things! Nice job bucky, *click*

[ckellingc]

nice logz

ty ckell

[Charlie90]

cheers

[mesaboogieman]

nice one, that really helped me out alot, cheers

[guitar14]

uh how do you drop c and b

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=3636975

Ask on that URL, id reply how to here, but i cant write it all out here.

Ill reply in there



Dont forget to vote please!!

[arsonite]

Good one Logz.

thanks arsonite

[abigape]

i like it

thanks

[The Big Irish]

Already knew all this stuff cause we studied acoustic sciences last year like the wavelength stuff and the science of music but the lesson was well put together and very clear. Maybe you should explain to noobs what a natural harmonic is though.

Thanks the big irish for the input!

Ill make a note of that so when i update it next, i will add it

Thanks!

[slashdude666]

ace lesson, nice one logz

[mike45391]

hey can someone help me out? i need to tune to drop C.
i can get my guitar to drop D cause thats pretty easy. but the problem is that my tuner doesnt have a C note on it and im guessing that most tuners dont have that so i was wondering if anyone could help me out with that one keeping in mind that im not very good at tuning by ear cause i dont really try that much ..

if anyone has any advice please tell me.
thanks a lot!

Drop C (Drop D down a whole step): C G C F A D


1) Play the 3rd fret Low E string and the A string open. Retune the A string to match the 3rd fret Low E string.

2) Play the 5th fret A string and the D string open. Retune the D string to match the 5th fret A string.

3) Play the 5th fret D string and the G string open. Retune the G string to match the 5th fret D string.

4) Play the 4th fret G string and the B string open. Retune the B string to match the 4th fret G string.

5) Play the 5th fret B string and the High E string open. Retune the High E string to match the 5th fret B string.

6) Play the 12th fret Low E string and the D string open. Retune the 12th fret Low E to match the D string open

[mike45391]

well yea i figured that one out but as i said im not very good at tuning by ear cause i havent really had much practice so is there any way that i could do it with my tuner for examle i was thinking of tuning the low E string by playing a d note on it and tuning that with my tuner . do you think that would work?

I only know the basics of tuning with a EADGBE tuner

[mike45391]

oh ok well thanks anyways logz u've been a help already ! btw do you think i can just transpose the notes to different places on the fretboard but keeping the same notes just changing it to normal tuning?? or would that not work for some reason?

[Mr Fevpump]

there are tuners where you can adjust the "tuning" like most read tuning as Standard by default but some espcially by Korg you can set it to read like so many half-step downs all the way up to one octave down... its really handy doesnt go up tho but it doesnt need to... other then that Great lesson dude! I can harmonically tune my accustic now =D!

[Mr Fevpump]

o and one more thing cant you just tune to drop-d by matching the "lowerd" 7th fret of the E string to the open A string... i mean i do that and it works... so... yea...

mike45391:
oh ok well thanks anyways logz u've been a help already ! btw do you think i can just transpose the notes to different places on the fretboard but keeping the same notes just changing it to normal tuning?? or would that not work for some reason?

You can change the notes from the original songs, and put them into normal standard tuning, but for some fingerings of chords etc, it can get particularly hard.

Mr Fevpump:
o and one more thing cant you just tune to drop-d by matching the "lowerd" 7th fret of the E string to the open A string... i mean i do that and it works... so... yea...

Thanks Mr , And yea, there is more than one way to tune to Drop D. I used the 12th fret Low E and D string method because it makes newbies to tuning recognise easy notes.

But yea, the 7th fret low E matching to the A string works 2!

[brad_guitar_123]

Aight!

[sidoody]

this is teh bestzors thank lot

[boone450r]

wow!!! Thanks,, I learned a lot...much respect. What is the easiest way to tune down 1/2 or whole steps from standard?

^ the best way to tune half a step and a step down in standard is;

for half step down:
1) Play the 4th fret Low E and A string open, retune the A string to match 4th fret Low E.

2) Tune to standard around the A string

for whole step down:
1) Play the 3rd fret Low E and A string open, retune the A string to match 4th fret Low E.

2) Tune to standard around the A string

[boone450r]

you rock!!!! Thank you

Thanks

[ILoveHarmonics]

Nice lesson Logz. Knew most of it but I liked the woodwoble part.

Lol, thanks harmonics

[xick]

u copied and then pasted it here..

^ wtf? I wrote everything out. Nothings copied.

[alttunner96]

yeah great lesson on tunning but i wanted to learn how to get to drop C tunning

^ For actual tunings, and how to tune to them, view this thread i wrote out:
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=235483

It had loads of alternative tunings, Drop C is the 7th tuning down in the first post. The notes are C G C F A D

[ironman316]

i may be a little late for this, but the easiest way to tune to drop D is to pluck the D string and then pluck the E and tune the E down slowly till it sounds like the D and voila. lol. it really doesn't take much to hear that they both sound the same.

[ironman316]

the easiest way for me**

^ You can do it that way, althought they wont sound exactly the same because the Low E string open will sound an exact octave down from the open D.

The reason i stated playing the 12th fret Low E and the D string open is because then both the notes are in perfect unison.

[.:*§c@rY*:.]

Great lesson, I'm looking for a way to tune to CGCF on guitar though, I haven't been successful enough though Someone please help.

^ CGCF on a guitar?

Well, that tunings Drop C on a bass guitar, so the guitar equivelent would be Drop C: C G C F G D

That tuning can be found at this link:

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/forum/showthread.php?t=235483

And i wrote the tunings on that page too, so they should all be right.

[Pipz]

how do you recognize a half step lower & a whole step lower???

^ By ear?

Half a step is the difference between one fret, IE Fret 5 and 6

A Whole fret is the difference between two frets, IE fret 5 and fret 7

[belliman]

question, how do you tune CACGBE? i GOT NO CLUE!

[.:*§c@rY*:.]

Tyvm Logz, I have been looking for that tunning forever aye. Thanks bro.

[j-bird7684]

Dude, your lesson friggin rocked. Alternate tunings were one of the main things holding my guitar playing back. Thanks a lot man.

[snuffaluffagus]

Q. what does it mean when something resonates?

[clifford13]

hi my name is clifford.....

[clifford13]

hi again my name is clifford.....

[clifford13]

hi my name is clifford.....olease teach me how to plat a guitar [e-mail]

snuffaluffagus:
Q
. what does it mean when something resonates?

This is a definition from dictionary.com:
Acoustics. Intensification and prolongation of sound, especially of a musical tone, produced by sympathetic vibration.

Physics. The increase in amplitude of oscillation of an electric or mechanical system exposed to a periodic force whose frequency is equal or very close to the natural undamped frequency of the system


Basically, it means a contiued vibration or "ripple".
Imagen you throw a stone into a small pool. ripples go the edge of the pool. Once the ripples reach the edge of the pool, they go back to where they started, and repeat that action untill the energy has been depleated.

Same thing in guitar. When you pluck a string, you can feel the vibrations it gives off through the wood of the guitar. You can use this vibration to check notes against each other. For example, if you were to play two C notes on different strings, the vibration will be the same. If you listen closely, you will hear the note being played, and it will sound very nice.

However, if you play a C note and a D# note at the same time for instance, because those two vibrations are not the same, and both notes resonate at different frequencies, the two note frequencies do not fit in with each other and therefore will make a nasty "wobbling" noise. If you listen carefully, you can hear the "wobble" in sound.

You can use resonance to retune this string. You would retune one of the strings so that "wobble" noise slows right down, until its none exisitant.

hope that helps

[leenllamas]

nice

[Gerard_grr]

How do you drop C ?????

[Gerard_grr]

How do you drop C ?????

[Gerard_grr]

How do you drop C ?????

[seasofcheese]

I havn't even read it yet but this much info on tuning must be somthing worth reading....Right on, 10!

^^ thanks

[Discouraged]

Dude, I started playing not long ago, so im just starting to get into the swing of things. You make the basics really easy to understand. Its hella clear. So thanks a bunch for helping me to get started, you clearly know your stuff. =D

[ac-jc]

woah.. why are there so many ppl who still cant drop C after the lesson?! pay more attention dudes(no hard feelings).. tune enharmonically.. that wuld help..
oh, and logz, great lesson(though i already know these stuff).. this would provide great teachin material..

[LeftyDave]

Logz, I'm amazed that nowhere in your writeup of tunings and alt. tuning did you mention a thing about "Chromatic" tuning. Here then is a very simple fix to everyone's problem with tuning either standard or to alt. tunings. Everyone needs one of these things anyhow, as it just makes the entire process all that easier and is very, very accurate. Not to mention fairly cheap too! Go out to your local music store or go on line and buy a Korg CA-30 Chromatic tuner. It has all notes A-G with sharps and flats as well. You can also tune up or down by a couple cents a shot if you so desire! It totally takes the guesswork out of any tuning. Want to tune to open C? This baby'll get you there no hassle.
Enjoy!

[LeftyDave]

Oops, I rekon I should have posted the price too. It's around $35.00 US.

thanks ac-jc

Lefty, although a chromatic tuner is a good tool to have for alternate tunings, the point of this lesson was to not only learn to tune, but also involve numerous other subjects, such as learning where notes are, how they can be related and learning to improve your sound and tonal recognition.
Chromatic tuners are great for this stuff, however, instead of letting your ears to the work, your letting a peice of electronic equipment. In my opinion, letting your ears work hard trying to match sounds leads to being a better guitarist.

However, i see, and recongise your point. They are good to have handy, however, im merely trying to stress the point that tuning your guitar by ear leads to more than just being able to tune

[lucas_22]

how do you tune like this?
Eb
Bb
Gb
Db
Ab

Db
?

^ Every tuning i could possibly think of is in this thread myself and silentdeftone wrote. It tells you how to tune step by step to any of the 68 tunings we have collected.

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/forum/showthread.php?t=235483

[alex-aka-tezza]

THNX

[Wasted_Sorrow]

Very nice lesson! One year guitar player, and I still learned so much out of this.

Good job =)

thanks wasted

[~A7x~]

thanks Logz, your drop C tutorial helped me out more than this lesson which tought me nothing whatsover, thankyou, time to go play some Killswitch

[l0stnmyown]

Nice post bro. You saved me money and kept me from going to the local shop and buying a book on alternate tunings. Thanx Keep rockin

[ourlastday]

wow, pretty good lesson

[black_rose81090]

It would be awesome if you would have shown how to do standard D tuning!

black_rose81090
wrote:

It would be awesome if you would have shown how to do standard D tuning!

The point of the lesson was to try get you to learn how to tune yourself by working it out yourself.

If you want the easy way out, the actual tunings, which i have posted loads of times, can be found here:
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=3636975

[Mikinzo]

Not bad, no Half Step dDown tunig

[gander93]

so can you only do the first type of resonating tuning(not the one with harmonics) on an electric guitar? and also, how do you play a natural harmonic? and whats the difference between natural and.. wutever else? sry for all the Qs but im just starting

gander93 wrote:

so can you only do the first type of resonating tuning(not the one with harmonics) on an electric guitar? and also, how do you play a natural harmonic? and whats the difference between natural and.. wutever else? sry for all the Qs but im just starting

Nope, the point in resonant tuning is that you dont need an electronic tuner to help you

Take a powerchord for example, but take away the octave.

Play that anywhere on the neck, and it should sound perfectly in tune. If you play the powerchord, and as its still ringing, downtune one of the strings slowly.
Notice how the sound wobbles? and the more you downtune it, the faster it wobbles?
You can use this to work out, then when its perfectly in tune, there shouldnt be any wobbles at all. And you can do this just by a powerchord!

You can also do it with more than powerchords.
Octave notes, normal chords etc etc.


I dont understand what you mean by whats the difference between a natural harmonic and "whatever else" sorry.

[metalknot689]

hey how do u tune your guitar when it says drop c for example?

^ Learn the notes of the tuning.
Drop C = C G C F A D

[metalknot689]

How do you know that when they say drop C, that you will tune your guitar to CGCFAD? I understand how to tune to the notes if theyre given to me, but how do you know what notes to tune to, when it says to drop a note?? Could you please explain this to me. (srry but ur last mesg didnt make much sense)

[blucrave]

ap guitar tuner, easiest way of alternate tuning

[hellraiser777]

thanks!


this really helped...

[ShizNick]

Does anyone know of a program on the internet that is a tuner, but does standard tuning, and flat tunings and all that good stuff? and is free?

[NirvanaFan101]

ShizNick wrote:

Does anyone know of a program on the internet that is a tuner, but does standard tuning, and flat tunings and all that good stuff? and is free?

Yeah I have the same question...

[coldplay082002]

[SlvrDragon50]

Very good!

[Fedex44]

esto es re loco.!

[SeanONeil]

What notes are in Drop-C? If someone could either let me know, or point me to the approprizate article that I missed... Thanks!

Good lesson, Logz.

[CatEyez]

I got this CD that just playz the notez while I just tune my guitar by ear without pressin' any fretz, iz that OK ??

[ThE cAnDyMaN]

thanks man. i can tune now

[stdxDarkmage794]

dude, thx that helped me alot

[guitardude013]

how do you do drop C tuning?

[Gbell3587]

Great lesson, very useful and easy to understand.

[Dnvnff22]

How do you tune to ADGCFAD??? Which is the tuning for basically every Korn song.

[scarfacesuit]

i knew almost all of this already, but i didn't know the harmonic tuning for the B string, so i would have to revert back to the 4th fret. thanks for that one, cause i would spend forever going over the fretboard playing harmonics and stuff.
overall, great job.

How do you tune to ADGCFAD??? Which is the tuning for basically every Korn song.

that's with a 7 string guitar, and you have to basically tune the normal 6 strings a whole step (or 2 frets) down, and i think you do the same with the 7th and lowest string... as far as i can remember the lowest string on a 7 string guitar is a B, so just go a whole step (2 frets) down, and you've got yourself a ADGCFAD tuning.

[xlukex]

please can someone pm me on how to tune to drop B??!! please!!

[SayDie123]

i think all you need to do to make a drop d tuning is pluck the E string on the 7th fret and pluck the D string open. tune the E string lower till it sounds alike with the D string.

[stephenhansen1]

Awesome article! I am discovering just how much I don't know. Thanks for putting this out there

[Ryder77]

I don't Get tuning, How would i tune a drop c?

[Kynyster_K]

Dayumm! alot of fancy words... i still dont get how 2 tune it 2 dropped D!! maybe im stupid

[CrisseaLei]

so hard for an asian girl to understand this..

[Agent-X]

Nihongo wa hanashimasu ka.

[cta-joey]

Dayumm! alot of fancy words... i still dont get how 2 tune it 2 dropped D!! maybe im stupid

Drop D is pretty easy. all the strings are the same except the low E that gets dropped down a hole step into D. so then your tunning goes from:
E E
B B
G to G
D D
A A
E D

[The Guitar King]

Thanx...

[luminousgreen]

no big deal! you can always use an electronic tuner.

[pantera767]

how do you tune down 1 step

[\m/Torin\m/]

ya i also was wondering if anyone could tell me how to do dropcand dropd tuning.

[krow222]

since you know so much about tuning could you post something about drop c

[sevenchurches]

I don't know much theory and I can tune a guitar. I just can't grasp it

[punky_deryck]

drop c..... scorpions uses drop C in humanity album..... ahh... whatever... posted in wrong place...

[punky_deryck]

Ryder77 wrote:

I don't Get tuning, How would i tune a drop c?

1st, tune the 6th string until it matches the sound of open A string on 9th fret. n then you tune the open a string 2 notes lower (A to G), so the 6th string's sound matches with open A string in 7th fret.

now you got the lower C chord. then, for the 4th, 3rd, 2nd and 1st string, just tune it just like usual. ( open D string to the 5th fret of 5th string... etc..)

i hope ya understand... good luck!

[punky_deryck]

CrisseaLei wrote:

so hard for an asian girl to understand this..

but it still doesn't really matter for asian boy like me

[King ofKumbucha]

Awesome article logz. I already knew most of this but now I understand why all of this is true (if that makes sense).

[es_kraken]

hahaha!!! part 7> physics calls this phenomenon "beats"
actually, im surprised that there even has to be a lesson on tuning- if u know how to find notes on a fretboard, this would be pretty much obvious... but GL everybody who needed help!!

[ReejectHeroiine]

maaaan i rlly dont get tuning.. i just use an electric tuner xP lawl

[Rational_Gaze]

To everyone posting here LEARN THE CHROMATIC SCALE!!

You shouldn't bother attempting to try alternate tunings until you learn the 12 notes of western music, it's not that hard.

There is a half step(one fret) difference between every note. There are no sharps or flats between C & B, and E & F.

Don't worry about enharmonics(2 theoretically different notes that sound the same ie A# and Bb) just yet, as they will probably confuse you at ths stage.

A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#

[Rational_Gaze]

And btw drop C is drop D tuned down 1 whole step(equal to 2 frets)

Standard=EADGBE
Down a whole step=DGCFAD

Drop D=DADGBE
Drop C(Drop D down a whole step) CGCFAD

[MetallicaNRoses]

it's not going to be exact with harmonic tuning (or whatever you called it) it seems like it would be but it's not.

[D-REL]

this was really helpful!!

there's lot's of stuff that i didnt' know in here... great job!

[tonsy]

nice lesson.

[readyforstardom]

Great job...
Great, great stuff for those who have not been playing too long, I definately wish I had this presented to me when I started with music... I feel like I might have even learned a thing or two, haha...
If you know someone who's never taken lessons, or never played in school, [basically no formal training], I'd certainly suggest this...
The only reason I knew this is because I played percussion in elemantary school and I have a bell set... to guitarists of all levels, having a piano or something like a bell set is very valuable...

[Angel of Grief]

SeanONeil wrote:

What notes are in Drop-C? If someone could either let me know, or point me to the approprizate article that I missed... Thanks!

Good lesson, Logz.

Drop C is: C G C F A D
C= 6TH STRING ; G = 5TH and so on

And that's how you tune your guitar from a standard tuning to a drop c tuning:

from standard tuning that you know, of course, to drop D: D A D G B E
from drop D tuning, to Drop C.
From drop d, you have to tune every note one step lower

If you have a tuner, everything gets easier...

[radaguy]

I need to know how to tune like soulfly its
C#
G#
E
B
f#
B
if you Logz or anyone knows post it please or email me at [e-mail], I can do cgcfad no prob. Im just stumped on this B tuning

[Todd 93]

a great way of getting it correct is buying an elecric tuner for an elec guitar! , simple!
tis a good way of tunin acoustic tho, im surprised there isnt any other sites this gr8!

[WarlockSlinger]

Radaguy, tune down the Low E 3.5steps(7frets), and the rest of the strings are 4 steps down from standard tuning(8frets)

[skinny g]

good job i didn't know you could do drop D like that

SG

[Cool Surfer]

Extremely helpful lession. Thanks.
Is there a piccture gallery of how to hold cords etc?

[linkrevolver]

wow
this guy should b a teacher
great article

[-Polaroid-]

This is a good tut, although there's something wrong about your wobble theory.
It's good to get strings in tune with each other, although say you're trying to tune an E string by the use of an A..
And the A is out of tune.
That means that you're going to have an E string that is IN TUNE with an OUT OF TUNE 'A' string..
It's a good concept though, and I taught myself it a while ago, but that's the only problem I've found with it.
Otherwise good tut dude.

[kenrick]

Waaaa.... nice lesson but i still don't get the drop D .....Sorry if i'm sounded dumb i'm new at this..... Peace

[northeyofvril]

radaguy wrote:

I need to know how to tune like soulfly its
C#
G#
E
B
f#
B
if you Logz or anyone knows post it please or email me at [e-mail], I can do cgcfad no prob. Im just stumped on this B tuning

This problem is easy to over come. and i only know how to do it, because my band plays in B

http://www.myspace.com/vrilband (check us out )

Tune your guitar to C, like you said, cgcfad, then tune the lowest string (6th, C note) at the 9th fret, untill it sounds like the 5th string (g note)

your 6th string will now be a B note.

Tune the rest of the guitar normally, and you will be in Drop B tuning

when in C, you frets for tuning are

|-----0----| < 1st string
|-----0---5----| < 2nd string
|-----0--4-----| < 3rd String
|---0--5-----| < 4th string
|0--5-----| < 5th string
|9--- -----| < 6th string

I hope this helps you guys.

To go to drop D, tune to standard, (EADGBE) then tune the 6th string on the 7th fret.

|-----0----| < 1st string (E)
|-----0---5----| < 2nd string (B)
|-----0--4-----| < 3rd String (G)
|---0--5-----| < 4th string (D)
|0--5-----| < 5th string (A)
|7-----| < 6th string (D)

its simple really

hope this helps

NoRthey

[northeyofvril]

|-----0----| < 1st string (E)
|-----0---5----| < 2nd string (B)
|-----0--4-----| < 3rd String (G)
|---0--5-----| < 4th string (D)
|0--5-----| < 5th string (A)
|7-----| < 6th string (D)

tuning boards should look like that lol

[northeyofvril]

oh well, it wont work, but you get the idea



hope it helps

[Astorga]

drop d
e|-----0
B|-----0-5
G|----0-4
D|--0-5
A|0-5
E|7

[Astorga]

drop c
C|-----0-5
G|-----0-5
C|----0-4
F|--0-5
A|0-5
D|9

[Astorga]

the notes behind the "|" is what the note the strings would be at before tuning.

[jovillartz]

hahaha,, this lessons is the thing i do everytime i am tuning my acoustic guitar.. ! amazing!

[KuRiehL]

man! now i can do it even my eyes are blind-folded, hahaha

[Zekester014]

This is awesome info, but I`m still stumped on how to tune to:

Bb F Bb Eb G C

I still need help on this tuning.

[lord-of-guitars]

i'll read more later

[lord-of-guitars]

i like cheese

[darkemphasis]

good times

[darkemphasis]

great lesson

[devilex121]

could you tell me how to get the tuning of a 7-string guitar on a 6-string guitar?

[bassetrox]

Loving the thinly veiled physics lesson in bpt 7. Its not often you hear guitarists talking about phase differences. (Except the pickups nerds)

[SakuraInjektion]

Thank you so much, this is of to be amazingly helpful of

[EldonsName24]

say i know how to tune i know my octaves (more commonly C) but anyways i was wondering i hear alot about these chromatic tuners can you use them for a gig (e.g. my 2nd song would play in standard but i want my 3rd song to play in drop-c without touching the tuners can this tuner be used for that requirement?

[EldonsName24]

devilex121 wrote:

could you tell me how to get the tuning of a 7-string guitar on a 6-string guitar?

you can the last string (biggest) is B,E,A,D,G,B,e, you want to hit fret 7 on your low-E listen for the correct pitch and your in

[thedownwardsprl]

Well I guess that is a kind of umm... in depth sounding way of saying the 5th fret is the same as the open string below it... Very good lesson though!!!

[Td_Nights]

EldonsName24 wrote:

say i know how to tune i know my octaves (more commonly C) but anyways i was wondering i hear alot about these chromatic tuners can you use them for a gig (e.g. my 2nd song would play in standard but i want my 3rd song to play in drop-c without touching the tuners can this tuner be used for that requirement?

They just show you what note you're hitting, so you can tune accordingly. I suggest the boss TU-2, good stuff.

If you want something like that, waste money on a gibson robot guitar or something.

[razzriver]

If I was to play an acoustic guitar with an electric guitar that has been tuned down, do I tune down the acoustic also. Can I play regular open chords on the acoustic guitar after down tuning? Or is it bar chords and capo time?

[vo1comania]

how do you tune down 1 full step? like what are the frets?

[snipermo]

thnx man

[Culaki]

Wow Logz...nice one. I knew the 5, 5, 5, 4, 5 fret trick for standard, but i didn't know about that for Drop D or for open D5 tuning! I just did drop D by ear and everything else w/ a tuner xD but this helps alot thx m8! 5*

[Milan Kovačić]

you write thisis few years?

[_Zazazabuza]

Execellent Article, To be honest I couldnt find the 12th Fret Drop D trick anywhere else. Good Job

[The New Guy]

great lesson, thanks alot, really help explain it to us new people =)

[jj2008]

Wow very cool. I only knew the 5th fret rule.Now I know evrything about tuning. Its weird cause once I read your guide I started hearing the vibration a lot clearly. NOw I can do perfect tuning. My friend is going to freak lol.
Thank you very much!!

[lIl Jo$hY]

hey nice job!
i was wondering, drop b is just drop c tuned down half a step isnt it??? :|

[Astorga]

I messed up on a previous post so i'm fixing it.
To tune something down, tune the E string (fattest string) a half or full step depending on what you want.

drop d
e
B
G
D
A
D (down a step, to the 7th fret.)

flat tuning (the 'b' means flat)(down a half step)
eb
Bb
Gb
Db
Ab
Eb (to make this drop d just do it as you would normally)

dropped d (all strings down a step)
D
A
F
C
G
D(tune the rest of the strings down to this string as you would normally tune.)

Drop C
D
A
F
C
G
C (drop the bottom string down one step from dropped d tuning)

Dropped C
i don't know what the open notes are.

[Astorga]

p.s. chords sound really cool on dropped d tuning or dropped c tuning.

[Hscwie]

oh thanks a lot bro . it was great help

[Bullet4Myself]

awsopme but how do i get my guitar into drop c???

[dralnu]

I have no idea how to to tune my guitar to
F# A D F# A E

[CoventryEngland]

not to be showing off but i knew this already and i found it not hard at all not even a little

[ghostbust555]

yah this would have been great a few months ago but i already figured out the wobble thing. oh well kinda dull at first but not bad

[Sams_Chizoice]

Well I thought it was a great lesson. To the people who were saying it was dull... That's the reason why its in the beginning section. I've been playing for a year exactly now(started on my B-day...guess what today is)and I figured out the fret trick and the resonating trick; but the moving off the wood...Idk how I missed it. First lesson today too... I hope all my others are as good as this!!!

[CodyConrad]

I agree Sam, This guy knows his stuff. Thanx Log.

[metal maniacX]

great lesson! it helped me alot.

[Doc5678]

Tuning Fork + Harmonic Tuning >= All

CoventryEngland wrote:

not to be showing off but i knew this already and i found it not hard at all not even a little

Then why fucking read it.

[padfootpak]

Very Great Lesson 12 out 10!!!! :>

[bod88]

would holding down the E string on the second fret and tuning the guitar into E with a guitar tuner tune it down to D when i take my finger off the fret?

if you know what i mean.