If you’ve picked up guitar since quarantine began, you’ve probably been using one of many different guitar tuner apps on your smartphone. But are guitar tuner apps accurate? 

Guitar tuner apps are accurate. If you’re just practicing at home, the technology in your smartphone microphone is powerful enough to accurately tune the strings on your guitar.

So don’t worry, your neighbor probably doesn’t want to scream from out-of-tune chords. However, if you intend on playing some open mic nights when the world opens up again, you’ll probably want to invest in a clip-on tuner. Guitar tuner apps are suitable for quiet environments without too much ambient noise.

How Do Guitar Tuner Apps work?

Without getting too deep into the physics of it all, every sound is actually a vibration or a sound wave. When you pluck a string on a guitar, it vibrates, creating a sound wave that reverberates out from it. The frequency of those waves is measured in Hertz (Hz), or how many times those waves vibrate per second.

The standard adult ear can only hear between roughly 8 Hz to 14,000 Hz.

Each note has a specific Hertz number associated with it based on the frequency of the soundwaves for that note. The higher the frequency, the higher the note. Thicker strings vibrate slower than thinner strings do.

Here are the frequencies associated with each string, starting from the thickest string at the bottom to the thinnest at the top:

• First String (E2) – 82.41 Hz
• Second String (A2) – 110 Hz
• Third String (D3) – 146.8 Hz
• Fourth String (G3) – 196 Hz
• Fifth String (B3) – 246.9 Hz
• Sixth String (E4) – 329.6 Hz

Most tuners use a microphone to pick up these frequencies and compare them to these six programmed frequencies. Guitar tuner apps use your phone’s built-in microphone to do this. 

Once you get confident enough in your skills, or you just want to train your musical ear, some apps also have the option of preset notes. You can press the note corresponding to the string you want to tune and try to match its frequency. 

Pros and Cons of Apps 

Pros

As with all kinds of applications on smartphones, you can go a lot more in depth with it than some traditional tuners. Some apps will even show you exactly the frequency your string is, so you can tune it exactly where you want.

Some songs require non-standard tuning, so having an app that shows you the exact frequency rather than basing the note in relation to the six pre-programmed settings can be very useful.

You’re pretty much guaranteed to always have your phone on you. It’s really easy to forget to throw your tuner in your guitar case. Or say you’re at a friend’s place, and they have a guitar that needs to be tuned. You’re much less likely to forget to bring your phone with you.

You can use an app to tune not just guitars, but also other stringed instruments such as:

• Ukuleles
• Basses 
• Violin
• Viola
• Cello

They’re often free to download on whichever app store you chose.

Cons

Phone guitar tuners are just as sensitive as your phone’s regular microphone. If you’re in a place with a lot of ambient noise, like a live performance, it will pick up those sounds and read them as frequencies. This can get confusing and frustrating very quickly if you’re not used to tuning guitars.

Guitar tuner apps work best for acoustic and classical guitars. If you are trying to tune an electric, the strings might not be loud enough to be heard by the app.

Pros and Cons of Clip-Ons

Pros

Clip-on guitar tuners are much better at picking up subtle issues with intonation. Since they are connected directly to the body of the guitar, they pick up the vibrations not through the air but from the guitar itself – which is likely to be much more accurate. I actually have a few of them and keep them attached to the guitar even when I’m jamming or gigging.  It’s right there and ready with no need to plug in should the need to get back in tune arise.

Cons

Unless you have a buddy willing to lend you one, you will have to purchase it either online or in a music shop.

You’re much more likely to misplace your clip-on tuner than you are your phone. And, on the more cynical side, you’re much less likely to notice if someone nabs your guitar tuner than you are if they try to steal your phone. Just being real.

Now I have lost my share of microphones also due to theft or forgetting where I left them.  As long as you keep your head in the game and pay attention to your gear you should be alright for the most part.

 

How to Tune Your Guitar with A Tuning App

How Often Should I Tune?

You should be tuning your guitar every time you practice or perform. It’ll help you be sure that what you’re going to play is pitch-perfect every time. No one likes the sound of an off-key guitar.

The process of actually tuning a guitar is pretty simple, and you should get the hang of it relatively quickly. Before long, you’ll be able to recognize when your guitar is out of tune. You probably already can, but this skill will get much more developed as you tune your guitar over and over again.

Set and Setting

The first thing you’re going to want to do is to ensure you’re in a place with as little background noise as possible. 

Once you open your tuner app, you’ll want to pluck the first string on the guitar – the low E. Don’t pluck so hard that it slaps against the fretboard. Do it gently enough so the note is audible and it rings out for a couple seconds so it can register with the app. 

The Goldilocks Method of Guitar Tuning

You’ll see that the tuner will show you how close the frequency of the note is to the correct note. It’s sort of like that story of Goldilocks and the three bears: Too High, Too Low, and Just Right.

• If it says the string is too low (or flat), turn the peg away from you. This will tighten the string, making it just a bit thinner, and the note will be higher. Usually, when you first pick up a guitar to be tuned, the strings will be too low.
• If the app says the note is too high (or sharp), turn the peg towards you. This will loosen the string, making it a bit thicker, and the note will be lower. 
• Once you’ve adjusted it accordingly, pluck it again. You should see an adjustment here. Continue to do this until you pluck the string and the app tells you the note is just right. 
• Repeat this process for each string. 

Tuning Tips

Be careful not to tune your guitar too high. Since you’re tightening the string, there is a potential you could tighten it too much, and it’ll snap.

The reason you want to wait a few seconds after plucking the string is because, occasionally, the note might be correct at first but then will fall flat after a second or two. You want to wait until the app reads the same note the entire time the string is making sound.

Best Guitar Tuner Apps

There are so many guitar tuner apps from you to choose from. Some are purely made to tune your instrument, while other have several built-in features, including alternate tunings and chords. 

Here are two of the best free Guitar Tuning Apps available:

Fender Tune

Fender Tune has multiple tuning modes (auto, manual, chromatic, and pro), and you can choose from several different tuning options depending on your musical needs.

You can download Fender Tune here for Android, or here for IOS.

GuitarTuna

GuitarTuna might be the most popular guitar tuning app, not only because it has over 100 different tuning options, or that it supports a wide array of instruments, but because it has a noise cancelling feature to focus in on your guitar.

You can download GuitarTuna here for Android or here for IOS.

Final Thoughts On Guitar Tuner Apps

All in all, guitar tuner apps are incredibly useful and convenient. 

Whether you’re just playing in the comfort of your home, playing around a campfire with a couple of friends, or backstage before a gig, a guitar tuner app will serve you well in a pinch.