How To Tune A Guitar Without A Tuner

If you’re enjoying learning about different guitar playing styles, you might want to try and tune your guitar to get the required sound.

Getting started

To start tuning your guitar, begin with the sixth string or lowest E. Find the fifth fret on your guitar and press the string all the way down, so it’s touching the neck of your guitar and give it a gentle strum – that’s an A on your low E string.

How to tune the rest of your strings

Once you’ve found the A on your E string, it’s time to tune the rest of the strings. Move over to the A string located next to your E string and listen to the sound it makes when giving it a strum. The idea is to have both strings sounding the same, so if it doesn’t, you’ll need to use the tuning knobs.

To do this, adjust the string’s tension using the correct tuning knob located at the top of your fretboard and continually strum the string until it sounds like its neighbour. Take your time getting this right because if it doesn’t sound exactly the same as the sixth string, you’ll have to start all over again because the rest of your strings will then be wrong.

Top Tip: It’s a good idea to hum the note to remind yourself what it should sound like while tuning the A string so you get it right the first time.

Repeat the process on all strings except the B string

The process for tuning the B string is a little different as you’ll be using the neighbouring G string at the fourth fret. If you play the G string on the fifth fret as you have done for the previous strings, you’ll get the wrong note, and the tuning for the B and E string will be wrong, so make sure that you bear this in mind before you reach the B string.

This might seem like a longwinded way of tuning a guitar, but it does get much easier with practice and can really come in handy for those impromptu jamming sessions when you don’t have a tuner to hand.

If you’re interested in guitar lessons at HCM Music college are friendly admissions team can hep you get started. You can either complete our enquiry form, call us directly on 01920 460646 or by email learn@h-c-m.co.uk