How To Tune A Guitar
Yes, Lady Starlight is giving free guitar lessons, so listen up! I'll spare you the agony of my rants about how you really should learn to read music before starting to play, because we've been down that road before. If you really want to learn to play by aping a bunch of diagrams, that's fine by me, but learning to read music will help you to understand what those diagrams mean, not to mention the fact that it will give you the ability to transpose if necessary and write your own music if you so desire. But, go ahead, be a monkey if that's what you want...
No matter whether you are playing from music or from those icky guitar tabs, you are going to need an instrument that is in tune. Tuning a guitar is a quite simple procedure. Your instrument need only be in tune with itself when you are first learning, but if you want to be tuned perfectly you'll need to find a source to provide you with a single note to get you started. That note is E. A pitch pipe is the simplest and cheapest way to do this. They are readily available in music stores and even at your local Wal Mart! Some beginner's guitar packages even include one.
Got that E? Now you're ready to go! Tune the first string (the thinnest one) to match that note by loseneng or tightening the tension of the string using the tuning peg. Loosening the tensionn on the string produces a lower tone, tightening it will make it higher.
Now that you have the first string tuned to E, you need no more outside assistance. Your reference point has been established. Place your fingertip on the B (second) string at the fifth fret. Strum the first and second strings together. Are they producing the same note? They should. If not, adjust the tension on the second string only until they do. That was quite simple, wasn't it?
Now you may tune the rest of the strings in much the same way by following the diagram below.
The vertical lines represent the strings.
The horizontal lines represent the frets.
The dots indicate the position of your fingertip.
Work your way from B to G to D to A to E, tuning each string to match the note produced by the already tuned string next to it.
Now you are all tuned up and ready to go. I told you that it was easy!
I hope that this has been helpful to any and all wannabe guitarists out there.
If you're wondering, yes, Lady Starlight was conversing with such a person last night.
