How to Tune a Guitar… Easy Steps to Tuning a Guitar to Itself…Hello Guitar Enthusiasts,

My name is Mike Mattei and I come to you from Indianapolis, Indiana where I’ve spent most of my life playing my guitar - always learning new chords, songs & techniques. For some of my closest friends, playing the guitar is a career, but for me it’s much, much more. It’s not just my hobby. It’s my passion and the way I express myself artistically … it’s also one of my greatest joys in life.

Today I’m going to illustrate to you how to Tune a Guitar to itself. Now, some of you may be confused by that statement but let me explain.

To Tune a Guitar there are several different ways you can achieve this. One is a Tuner, Two is a Tuning Fork and Three is by using a piano to Tune from.

Okay, so what happens if none of these items are available? That’s what I’m about to cover in this article…

Let’s say you go to a friends or relatives home with your guitar and forget your tuner. What a drag! Do you play anyway, out of tune and hope no one notices? I don’t think so. Trust me…they’ll notice!!

So, Here’s a Quick and easy way to Tune your Guitar so your friends won’t cringe when you hit that out of tune G Chord.

Also Later, I will show you how to Restring a Guitar without ever touching the tuning Pegs so stay tuned!!

Okay, so lets Begin.

Now you’ll be able to use this whether you’re an experienced player or not. Even just starting out everyone has their favorite song that they know by heart and you know all the chords.

Perfect, cuz we’ll need that. If you don’t have a copy to listen to, I’ll bet you, just by playing one note you’ll be able to find a E or an A note out of the song. If not, find a song off the radio or a CD that can help you grab an E string to use.

What your going to do is use the E or A to tune the rest of your guitar. Now I can tell you for certain it won’t be Tuned Perfectly to a record like it would be if you used a Tuner. But, it will be tuned to itself so your friends won’t leave the room!

Here’s how to do it… So, say you have your E string pretty closely Tuned to a song that you have on a CD.

Note: Just so we’re on the same page…we’re starting from the top E string (which is the Low E string) to the Bottom E string (which is the High E string).

Using the Top E string, Go to the 5th fret and by pressing down on it, hit that note. Just to let you know that this is the A note. So what you’re going to do is Tune this A note on the E string to the Open A which is the second string down from the top.

Open Strings, Top to Bottom E-A-D-G-B-E.

Now the best way to hear that, is to loosen the string a little then tighten slowly until you can hear the strings match. (If you listen closely you can hear the vibration of the string start to slow down. That’s what you want, you actually want it to come to a complete stop. Once you really listen for this you’ll think it’s pretty cool)

Okay, so now you have the E string tuned to the A string.

Perfect! Let’s move on…

Go to the A string on the 5th fret and do the same thing, now you have the D string Tuned to the A.

Awesome, Let’s continue…

Do the same thing with the D string on the 5th fret and Tune the G string to the D.

That’s good, Now there’s a curve coming up here!

To tune your B string to the G string, you’ll have to go back one fret to the 4th Fret. (Why? Long story. I didn’t invent this!) So just trust me on this one. So, now you’ve Tuned your B string to the G.

Great, let’s continue…

Last one, you’ll have to go back to the 5th fret to tune the Bottom E to the B string. And by doing so, completely “Tuning your Guitar to Itself”.

Alright, some Tips…

If you get to the bottom E string and it’s very, very tight, don’t continue to tighten it cuz it might break!

What you’ll have to do is go back to the top E and loosen it a little and start over.

Note: The only reason this would happen is if you are really High on the Top E string to begin with, so Rule of Thumb, if you’re trying to match it from you’re CD it’s best be lower than it is to be Higher to start out with.

Ok, Now like I promised…

Look for the “Change String in Minutes” Video on my Page! www.Spin-Doctor.com…

Keep Rockin’ Be Blessed, Mike
About the Author
30 Years of Pro level Playing.