How to tune an electric guitar? [8 Easy Steps To Follow]

Owning an electric guitar may feel exciting, or exhilarating in a way. These guitars are as costly as they come and thus, their maintenance and care is of utmost importance. What makes an electric guitar different to an acoustic one?

The main notable difference between the two is the way they sound, and operate. An electric guitar is rather easier to work with. Tuning a guitar might seem like a handful, but with the right guidance? Nothing is as hard as it seems.

Advantages of owning an Electric guitar

1. The strings are relatively thinner and thus, easier to play.
2. The neck is slim which in turn helps the person playing to get a good grip on the guitar.
3. The sound quality of an electric guitar is comparatively quite better than that of an acoustic guitar. It’s clearer and crispier which makes it sound all the better.
4. An electric guitar never goes out of style. The sleek design and the eye catchy styling is surely something to die for.
5. It is a good choice for both beginners as well as experts.

Disadvantages of owning an Electric guitar

1.  An amplifier that is needed, can be quite costly at times.
2. Learning to play an electric guitar does in no way mean that you have and can now expertly play acoustic guitar. These two are entirely different.
3. Setting the tone can be quite a challenging task for beginners. Even some experts may find it seldom problematic.

Basics of tuning a guitar

If this is your first time learning how to tune an electric guitar, using a guitar tuner will help you quickly. Tune your electric guitar and start composing music. Using this guide will help you learn how to tune

• Your guitar (with or without a tuner), identify guitar string notes, and keep your guitar in tune longer.
• Before you learn the different ways to tune an electric guitar, you need to understand the notes that make up a 6-string instrument (open play).
• If you want an easier way to tune your guitar, you can choose from a variety of electric guitar tuners. Electric guitars are the easiest to tune because they

How to tune the guitar using a tuner?

1. Connect directly to a tuner that tells you what note is being played and if it’s too loud or too low.
2. Select the desired tuning type and the tuner will tell you which notes to play on the open string.
3. When you’re ready to tune a string, pluck it and the electronic tuner should light up.
4. Instead of using the strings to find the correct pitch for the other strings, an electronic tuner reads and interprets the sound waves it picks up from the guitar and displays in the sheet music what it reads.
5. Most modern electronic tuners have built-in microphones that pick up the frequencies of the strings as
6. You play and tell you on which note they vibrate. When you tune your guitar, the tuner “hears” your strings for a few seconds.
7. If you play a string and it immediately tells you that you are out of tune, then you are out of tune.
8. If you’re a beginner, your ears won’t be able to tell if your guitar is slightly out of tune. Remember that regular playing will cause your guitar to go out of tune due to constant finger pressure on the strings.

Reasons why your guitar might be out of tune

If the notes on the fret are fine, but the pitch of the guitar slips off when you play it, you have a tuning problem.

There are a few simple reasons why a guitar won’t stay in tune, and that’s fine. Many things can cause tuning problems, and no guitar is 100% safe.

• If your guitar is out of tune, always look for loose parts in the bridge, neck mount (if it’s a bolt-on neck), especially the tuning pegs.

Why learning multiple methods of tuning is important?

In the future, you will most likely tune with an electric tuner rather than by ear. Being able to tune your guitar in multiple ways is important because you never want to rely solely on an electric tuner.

If your guitar is electric, you can buy a tuner that plugs the guitar directly into it. You can purchase small devices like the ones below to tune electric and acoustic guitars.

• KLIQ UberTuner

• MUSTANG FT-1 Professional Clip on Tuner

Check this post: Bass Guitar vs Electric Guitar [What’s The Difference]

Other ways to tune your guitar

While there are several ways to tune an electric or acoustic guitar, they all lead to the same goal. You can use guitar tuning apps to tune your electric or acoustic guitar, but you’ll need to be in a fairly quiet environment to get the best results.

If you’re worried about tuning your guitar in a noisy environment, you should consider using an electric guitar vibration tuner.

• To begin tuning your guitar, place the tuner’s microphone in the direction of the guitar, or plug it into the guitar via a jack.
• If your guitar has six strings, you should use tuning to keep the guitar in tune. Pulling the strings with your right hand while tuning your guitar will extend the tuning time.
• Sometimes bringing in can help prevent the string from slipping when you go to play the guitar and detuning the string.
•  Plucking a string with a pick gives better resonance and a brighter sound.

I know this sounds a bit counterintuitive at first, but experience has shown that guitar strings tend to “remember” their pitch better if they are tuned to achieve it.

Most guitar tuners can tell you how to tune your strings to one-tenths (pitch measurement). The idea behind guitar tuning is to tune each string to a specific pitch so that when you play chords or improvise, they sound correct.

If you know how to tune a guitar without a tuner, you can spend a lot of time tuning the strings up and down in pitch to create interesting chord shapes and harmonies.

Whether you’re using a pedal tuner or the tuner built into a multi-effects pedal or guitar amp, the method to tune your guitar is the same.

• You can use an electronic tuner with a piano, with a tuning fork or flute, with another guitar that you know is in tune, with relative tuning, with harmonics, or from a web source or phone app.
• If you already play a musical instrument, you can tune your guitar on it (especially if it has a fixed tuning, like an electronic keyboard).
• You can also use a reference note (from another instrument, a flute or a tuning fork) to tune one of your strings and then tune it “by ear”.
• It is important to learn how to tune the guitar, as it helps the ear to hear pitch changes and relationships between notes.
•  You or a friend may need to play every note on your instrument while holding down like a drone so that when you tune your guitar you can listen carefully as the notes start to resonate and sound the same.

Other guitars that can be tuned using the same technique.

As we said above, tuning a six-string guitar isn’t very difficult, especially given the various modern technologies. This guide focuses on tuning a six-string guitar, but you can use the same method for a 7, 8, 12, and even a bass guitar.

Check this post: Neck Pickup Vs Bridge Pickup [4 Major Differences]

Some good electric guitar brands on the market

1. Fender
2. Ibanez
3. Epiphone
4. Yamaha
5. Gibson
6. ESP
7. Jackson Guitars
8. Gretsch
9. PRS
10. Dean
11. Etc

A good product available on Amazon

Donner Acoustic Guitar Kit

If you’re looking for an affordable electric guitar to start your playing journey, there is no other product that could beat this one. While there may be doubts as per to the credibility of the product, as it is available online, rest assured that the reviews for the same speak wonders. Not only about its credibility but also about how it has been a wonderful experience.

Conclusion

Tuning an electric guitar is important because strings are constantly subject to thermal and physical stress and shock. And that folks, is how you tune am electrical guitar.

It may seem like a difficult process or one that requires a lot of effort but in reality, it is all about simple maintenance and skill. This way your guitar is good to go and the the very first step on your rock and roll journey is officially complete.