Guitar How-To

Posts Tagged ‘ap guitar tuner’

Guitar tuners of all kinds are basically very simple and how to use them should not be hard to grasp for the beginning guitar player. You can tune a guitar to a keyboard instrument if you have one handy or you can use one of the variety of devices that goes under the name of “guitar tuner”. First an explanation of the manual method of tuning your guitar. Using a tuning fork which vibrates at 440 Hz, you tune A on the fifth fret of the first string. The note E at the 5th fret on the second string is the same as the open first string, so you tune the fifth fret on the second string until it matches the open first string. Then you tune the fourth fret on the third string to the note B which is the open 2nd string. The fifth fret on the fourth string is the note G which is same as the open 3rd string. The fifth fret on the fifth string, which is the note D, is the same as the open 4th string. The fifth fret on the sixth string is the note A which is the same as the open 5th string.

Once you have gone through the above procedure, starting at the A note at 440 Hz, you will have your guitar tuned to “concert pitch”. This is just a standard so that guitarists can tune their instruments to the same pitch without necessarily being in the same room. This means they can simply start playing together with a minimum of delay. Of course your ability to tune your guitar with a tuning fork and your ear depends on a certain amount of natural ability and some experience at tuning.

Fortunately a beginner can learn how to use a guitar tuner to get his guitar in tune without any trouble. Many guitar tuners are available free on the internet and most have very friendly interfaces for the inexperienced and apprehensive guitar player.

One of the simplest guitar tuners is at hotfrets.com You go to the page every time you want to tune your guitar, and you simply click each string to get the correct pitch coming out of your computer’s speakers. This one is typical of online guitar tuners, and the drawback is that your ear has to be good enough to accurately tune your guitar strings to the sound generated by the tuner.

You can also buy a digital guitar tuner from your local guitar store, amazon.com or ebay. The basic way to use these tuners is to plug your guitar into the tuner’s input jack. When you pick the first string on your guitar, a light will appear on the tuner, and you will be able to read which note your guitar is playing and you can adjust it till you reach the note E at the correct frequency for the first string. You then repeat the process for the other strings.

You can also download guitar tuners from the internet which have the same interface I have described above. The AP Guitar Tuner is an excellent tuner and free of charge. With this type of tuner you do not need a good ear or any tuning experience because the graphic interface tells you when your string is playing the right note. This kind of tuner is the most user friendly and accurate of all for the beginner guitarist.

Technorati Tags: tune a guitar, how to use a guitar tuner, AP Guitar Tuner