Musician Forum - Band Discussion Board - BandMix

OK..SO HOW DO YOU DO IT? A WELL TUNED GUITAR CAN MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE. YOU DONT HAVE TO BE A GUITAR TECH TO UNDERSTAND HOW TO DO IT BUT ONCE YOU START TO UNDERSTAND BASICS you might be suprised at how much better you sound when your guit is in tune.

START , Everyone tell me about their korg tuners,,,,I 'll tell you about my tuning fork.

PS. FOR ALL YOU MORE EXPERIENCED PLAYERS PLEASE JUMP IN AND HELP.... GUITAR IS ONE OF THE MOST DIFFICULT INSTRUMENTS TO TEMPER THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE NECK. I'LL EXPLAIN LATER IF ANY ONE HAS ANY INTEREST IN THIS.

I use a boss pedal tuner. I generaly check open and against the 12th fret.
Was a fairly simple task for me to set and maintain intonation on my Strat. I have not even attempted on my Goddess as the bridge is kind of odd.

I am interested, but sleepy.

I'll be back!

Onstage I use my pedal tuner... At home I know what song is in what key and I tune one string to a familiar note and then tune the rest by ear.... pretty much spot on... When I'm lazy, I'll use the korg tuner.

BTW G.... Sorry I couldn't get around there this past weekend... son was super sick, had to do the hospital thing... Basically it's called something tachocardia his blood pressure goes through the roof and he passes out and throws up... feel so bad for him as he also has cerebral palsy so he can't walk.. life has not been good to him... he's doin good now... and then we did the barbecue thing...

call ya this weekend

Crip2Nite wrote:Onstage I use my pedal tuner... At home I know what song is in what key and I tune one string to a familiar note and then tune the rest by ear.

Same here. When I play live, I use a guitar with floating bridge and lock downs (Whammy bar, baby) but at home I keep a fixed bridge guitar around for learning songs that are detuned.

Well before you can have a well tuned machine you need to learn how to intonate a guitar first. Floyds can take a while.

I personally use a Chromatic tuner first (Boss TU-12H) before the gig. Then my Boss pedal tuner onstage if something happens to stretch on me.

I can tune to E standard by ear.

I still use the tuner built into my gnx 99% of the time just for quick tuning, and for when the noise level prohibits me tuning by ear.

Molly Hatchet's song "Bounty Hunter" starts with the singer hollering "Helllllll..Yeahhhh!!! and it's in A. I used to mimic that pretty good from singing it and found that I could only do it in A. Then I learned that I could actually tune my guitar to it even after putting on a new set of strings and would be right on most of the time.

^^^
Setting: at a guitar store
Problem: axe out of tune
Solution: howl like a madman
Reaction: priceless!

I need my coffee

I have a Boss Pedal Tuner, the white one that everyone seems to use.

I dont get the point of this thread. Give me a reference note and I can tune to it. I change the strings on my guitar and ussually just by ear I can get really close without a tuner. Ive also learned since I play with the same strings I can almost tune my guitar by the tension on the strings.

I do at times have problems higher on the neck with being in pitch. But Ive actually learned how to bend up when Im palying live and my guitar is slightly flat.

I think its all about developing a good ear.

I don't know about anyone else but I usually have a good ear and can hit 'C' I don't really trust anything that tells me I am in key. What matters is that you are in key with the rest of the body, in this case. Band/Recording/People.

Everything gets mixed up and altered on-line, recordings and so on.

If live use what you have with you. It can always be changed.

I check my intonation twice a yr whether it needs it or not, & I tune to a tuner, it doesn't really matter what brand, I'm adept at using most of them. LOL

JW,You brought up one problem.that can be fixed. But first lets talk about a little problem that all stringed instruments have. TENSION.

Most guitars have between 130 and 160 lbs of pressure from those six strings.One company will even tell you that their .042 A string will have29.9Lbs of pressure when it is new, on a 25 1/2 scale and at pitch.

This raises one BIG PROBLEM with a fretted instrument. Everytime you change the tension of a string EITHER BY tuning up or tuning down. I have seen so many young players rely on tuners, they start with the E then the A and so on , each time they dont realize they are changing the tension on the neck,by the time they are done the E and A are back out . BUT BUT WHY? They may not notice it so much with single notes ,but full guitar chords,,,,,fogedaboudit.

One other problem with the worlds favourite instrument are the FRETS. They LOCK you into that spot on the neck. On top of that every time you press the string down you just changed the tension and thus the pitch.You can have a well tuned guitar with open chords ,that sounds horrible when you try to play in higher positions.

The only way I know how to GET AROUND this tension thing is to understand it exists and work to temper or even it out so the guitar is more in tune through out the neck. That means being consistent with the strings
you use or do you change gauges alot.Once the guitar is set up [prpoperly]it will only be for that amount of tension.[JW]

ANY ONE WANT TO TALK ABOUT HOW THEY SET UP THEIR GUITARS?
JW MAY HAVE A POOR TECH DOESNT KNOW WHAT HES DOING<GOTTA KNOW WHATS GOING ON. WE CAN FIX THAT PROBLEM !!

Yeah but..............

Ok you Tune your guitar. Then someone else comes in and tunes their guitar. The Bassist comes in and tunes his guitar.
*** Mandolin for a king.

Unless you are tuning to something that you are currently going to play with, tuning your instrument but for the keys on THAT instrument are fruitless. I rather doubt that many here can sing perfect C, A or whatever consistently. I can't!

giongi2 I noticed you mentioned 'Temper' as regards guitar? Frankly I just wind them strings up. Pull them a million miles, let them slap and, reset and do that again until they are settled in their home.

Tuners are only as good as the people you are with.
Soz

at least I'm a bassist...I use a $20 dollar korg chromatic tuner, but my ears have acclamated to what my strings are supposed to sound like I get pretty close...but a tuning fork...yah...that'd be a bit difficult even though thats how people used to do it for centuries now...I'll change drop drop d to standard by ear though and back down, but I hardly ever get to play with anyone