How To Easily Tune A Guitar Without A Tuner

by | Mar 12, 2021 | Uncategorized

Usually, when you try to tune a guitar, you will be using a tuner, making the task effortless and quick to accomplish. However, when the time comes that you have to tune a guitar without a tuner, you may have no idea how to even go about doing such a thing. 

Keep reading to find some of the best ways. To easily tune your guitar without using a tuner.

Train Your Ears Well 

If you are going to be tuning your guitar without a tuner, you need to take the time to train your ears well. If you don’t train your ears, you will be unable to tell the differences in pitch correctly, making it almost impossible to properly tune your guitar. It will take a good while to train your ears, but it is well worth the time spent once you have.

You can do several things to help you train your ears well to help you when you have to tune a guitar without a tuner. These methods do take time, so be patient and practice as often as you can to see the greatest benefit come from it. 

  • Play the notes that you would play on your guitar when tuning it on a piano, a keyboard, or your guitar as often as possible. If you can’t play the notes on your instrument or another instrument, then play the notes off your phone or computer. 
  • Hum the notes that you use to tune your guitar often. Humming helps you get used to the vibrations of the notes. This allows you then to remember the notes not only from your auditory recall, but you will also have the muscle memory to work with when tuning your guitar. 

Tune Your Guitar To Sound Like Itself

The first and more common way that you will probably employ to tune your guitar without a tuner if you are alone is tuning the guitar to itself. However, this method tends to take a fair amount of time because there are so many parts to properly tuning a guitar to itself. 

If you want to tune a guitar to itself, the steps are:

  • When starting to tune your guitar to itself, the first thing you do is fret the low E string at the fifth fret. This is going to the thickest string on your guitar, and while you don’t tune this string at first, you use it as a base to tune the rest of your guitar to. 
  • Once you have done this, the next thing you will do is tune the A note to your low E note. You will need to go back and forth between the E note and your A note until you can get the A note to sound just like your E note. 
  • Once you have tuned your A note, you will need to tune your D note next. Your D note is going to be when you fret your A note at the fifth fret. Once you have identified your D note, you will need to tune it up or down to match your A note. 
  • After your D note is in tune, you will need to fret it in the fifth fret, which will allow you to identify the G note. Tune your G note to sound like your D note by either changing the tune higher or lower till you get the right sound.
  • The next note that you will need to tune is your B note. Instead of fretting the G note at the fifth fret as you have been doing with other notes, you will need to fret the G note at the fourth fret. Once you have found your B note, you will tune it the same way as the other notes by going up or down till it sounds like the G note. 
  • The final string that you have to tune is your high E note. After fretting the B note at the fifth fret, you can tune your High E note till it sounds like your B note. This final one may take a little time to get right, so take your time and go slowly with the tuning. After you have tuned, test out the sound of your guitar. 

Tuning Your Guitar By Using Harmonics

Another route to go when you are trying to tune your guitar without a tuner is to tune your guitar using harmonics. This method, though, can take a good while to accomplish, so you will want to take your time when working with this method and be patient. 

Here is what you do when you are tuning by harmonics:

  • When you are trying to play harmonics, you need to make sure that you touch the string lightly. Harmonics can only be played naturally, however, at the 12th, 7th, and 5th frets. To play the harmonics, you will need to use your pick hand to strike the note below the fret you are trying to play. 
  • The first step you will do is play the harmonic of any string of your choice at the 12th fret. After you have done this, you will need to fret the 12th note to compare the notes. This will help you check whether your guitar’s intonation is off or not before tuning your strings. 
  • Once you have checked your guitar’s intonation, you will need to check your low E note and A note’s harmonics. You will be tuning the A note to your low E note, which will make the guitar tuned to itself. If you want to be at absolute or concert pitch, you will need to tune your low E note to a reference note first.
  • You will need to repeat this process for your D and G notes. The D note will be tuned to the A note, where you will compare the 5th fret of the A note to the 7th fret of the D note. Then you will compare the 5th fret of the D note to the 7th fret of the G note. 
  • When you are tuning your B note with harmonics, you don’t have to play the B note’s harmonic. You will just tune the note to the 7th fret of the low E note by playing the open note as if you were tuning the guitar to itself. All you need to do is tune the note higher or lower to match the low E note. 
  • Once you have tuned the low E note and B note, you will need to tune your high E note lastly. This is accomplished by tuning it to the A note’s harmonic when you play it at the 7th fret. You can tune your high E note the same way you did when you tuned your B note. After this, your guitar will be tuned. 

Tuning Your Guitar By Using A Reference Note

This method is used mostly when you are trying to achieve a concert or absolute pitch with your guitar. If you are playing solo, this method won’t do you any good as you need another guitar to reference your notes off. You can, though, in a pinch, use another instrument altogether to get a reference note or even a tuning fork. 

The way you go about using a reference not to tune your guitar is:

  • The first string that you should try to tune is your D string, as this will allow you to get the entire instrument across the board more easily tuned. Once you have gotten the reference note for your D string, you can then tune the low E string and high E string using just octaves. 
  • Once you have the reference note for your D string, you will want to fret it in the second fret and then compare this note to your low E string. You will need to tune the low E string until the strings’ notes are an octave apart, which will tune your low E string to be one octave lower than the D string. 
  • You can then go ahead and tune your high E string the same way you did with the low E string. The difference with this string is that the high E string should be one octave higher than the D string. It may take a little while to get just right, but it should be much easier once you do it a few times. 
  • The next note that you will need to tune is slightly more difficult to do. To tune your B string, you need to play an E note on the 5th fret of the D string, and at the same time, you need to fret your B string at the 5th fret. Keep playing the two until the notes are one octave apart. 
  • Once your B string is tuned correctly, it is time to tune your A string. To tune your A string, the easiest way is to fret the low E string on the 5th fret, to keep going between the two strings till you match the pitch. Once you have managed to match the low E string pitch with the B string, you are almost ready to go.
  • The final string that you will need to tune is your G string. When you are tuning your G string, you will need to tune it to the D string’s fifth fret. Once you have successfully tuned your D string, you will be ready to go after checking your guitar to make sure it is fully tuned. 

Using A Tuning Fork To Tune Your Guitar

If you happen to own a tuning fork, that can be a great way to tune your guitar when you don’t have access to a tuner. Tuning forks are naturally set to vibrate at 440 hertz/second. This translates to being the equivalent of the A pitch when talking about instruments.  

If you want to use the tuning fork to tune your guitar, and you want to tune it to the 440 hertz/second, you will need to match the tuning fork’s pitch to the harmonics of the D string’s 7th fret. If you don’t wish to tune to this vibration, in particular, you can find other tuning forks that are set to vibrations other than 440 hertz/second. 

Another common type of tuning fork that many people use is an E pitch tuning fork. You will need to take the time to work with your guitar to find the pitch that corresponds to your tuning fork. However, the harmonic used with an E pitch tuning fork is the 5th string’s 7th fret. 

Other types of tuning forks do exist, but they are usually more difficult to work with than an E pitch or an A pitch tuning fork. If you want to challenge yourself, though, or you only have access to a tuning fork that is not an E or an A pitch, then you will have to take the time necessary to find the right pitch to tune your guitar to when using it. 

Tuning Your Guitar With Just Octaves

Another fairly common way that you can tune your guitar is by using just octaves to tune it. This way is fairly easier than some of the methods that exist out there for tuning your guitar when you have to do it manually. It also tends to be one of the easily overlooked methods when you are trying to find a way to tune without a tuner. 

The way that you go about accomplishing tuning with just the octaves is simple. The first thing that you have to do is get your E string tuned to the proper pitch. This is most often accomplished using a reference note to tune that string, such as another guitar, keyboard, or piano. 

Once you have tuned your E string, you will need to play a note on the B string’s 7th fret. The note that you play on this fret is the octave for your second note, and then you can tune your second note to match the tune of the note that you are playing on the 7th fret of the B string. 

Once you have the first and second strings tuned, you can proceed to tune the rest of your guitar strings. Just keep moving up the strings, playing your notes on the 7th fret of each string, until you get the strings all tuned to be exactly one octave higher than the previous string. 

While this method may not always be the best method to go with, it is an easy way that won’t take you long to accomplish. So if you are short on time and need a quick tune without a tuner, using your octaves to do so may be your best bet. 

 

Pull Up A Tuning App On Your Phone

If you don’t trust your ear when it comes to checking if your guitar is tuned correctly and you don’t have a tuner available to you, there is a large selection of apps that you can find online for your phone to help you properly tune your guitar. These apps range from being free to costing a few bucks, but the free ones will get the job done well. 

Top Free Tuning Apps:

  • Pano tuner is one of the highest-rated tuning apps on the ios and android markets. It has an easy interface to work with, and it grants you a large assortment of tuning options. This way, if you need to tune your guitar quickly, you can choose the tuning option you need, and you are set to go. 
  • Pitchlab is another excellent choice for a tuning app when you are looking to tune your guitar quickly. Not only is it available on ios and android phones, but it offers a large frequency range for tuning your guitar. This app is accurate and one of the tuning apps on the market for free.
  • Guitar Tuna is one of the few free guitar tuner apps that you will find that has options for your standard guitar and banjo, 12-string, and even bass. So if you have one of these instruments as well, then this app will help you make sure that those are tuned as well and ready to go. 
  • Gstrings is an android only app when it comes to tuning your guitar. While it boasts an impressive amount of control over the microphone sensitivity and different temperaments, it lacks a bit in the frequency sensitivity range. 

 

Conclusion:

Tuning your guitar without a tuner can be difficult to do at times, but once you learn the options out there, you are sure to find the perfect way for you. You will have to take your time when first starting with some of these methods, but by being patient, you will be tuning your guitar without a tuner easily and quickly before too long.