How do you tune?

  • While I am sure that everyone on this forum has tuned guitars of every flavor thousands of times (as have I), I was wondering the details of how you all tune.


    There are several factors I was thinking about addressing:


    1. The harder you strike a string, the sharper the tuning. Do you constantly pluck at some hardness, or wait for the string to mellow out a bit?
    2. Depressing the strings causes the note to go sharp. Knowing this, do you account for this in your tuning, or just tune to the open string?
    3. I don't know it for a fact, but I suspect that different pickup locations may give slightly different tuning. What PUP position to you use?

    There may well be more factors to consider, but those are the ones I think about. What do you think?

  • If your pickup is too close to the strings, it can pull on the string, thus causing it to go sharp. That's the reason most neck pickups have magnets with less pull.

    Well, I would call this rather "pickup height" than "pickup location". The sound of such pickup must be horrible ;(

  • I use the following simple method, and it has worked for me.

    • I use the neck pickup to get the most string amplitude
    • Turn my tone control to 5-7. Most tuners seem to work best at this frequency range
    • I tune up to the note; so if a string is sharp, I make it flat first, then tune up
    • I use my thumb (or other fingers) to pluck the string
  • It might be flawed, but I use a combination of open strung and 12th fret harmonic. I try to pick moderately, I accept that the harder you pick the sharper it will go but I also play very softly so there will always be a compromise to be had.

  • I've never given any thought to which pickup to tune with. I do not believe it matters.


    That's easy enough to test with a quality strobe tuner.

    “Without music, life would be a mistake.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

  • I use the following simple method, and it has worked for me.

    • I use the neck pickup to get the most string amplitude
    • Turn my tone control to 5-7. Most tuners seem to work best at this frequency range
    • I tune up to the note; so if a string is sharp, I make it flat first, then tune up
    • I use my thumb (or other fingers) to pluck the string

    I never thought about the amplitude being higher. Interesting thought. I also never thought about the tone control. I also always tune up (I think I remember being taught this by my first guitar instructor :) ). Using a thumb instead of a pick is also interesting. I'll give it a try.

  • I play with Jazz iii picks and pick pretty hard. I repeatedly pluck the open strings while tuning rather than let the note decay.


    However when tuning by ear I now use the method recommend by theGuild of American Luthiers data sheet #45

    I also have been tuning by picking at a moderate level and not letting the note decay as I figure this is going to be the majority of the way the strings will be in most songs.


    I never tune my electric guitars by ear; however, I frequently tune my Taylor and Martin acoustics this way.

  • If I am playing distortion then I detune G and low E a few cents flat. For clean I have tuning +/- 1. With some practice, I have also learned to compensate flat notes with more finger tension if I go from dirty to clean on same guitar.


    I have a pretty heavy pick attack and use .88 to 1.3mm, so for the last month I wanted to try and soften my attack because I believe Kemper actually sounds and reacts better with soft attacks. I am now using .60 for everything. For bass, I will sometimes use a .50mm to give me a finger-pluck kind of attack.


    I adjust my pickups and will tilt the angle from low E to high E to get the character I want (I like deep lows and less trebly highs). I tried adjusting individual pole pieces but found tilting works easiest. I posted a video on here about adjusting pole pieces. Why do some pickups have poles and some have screws (or both)? - I found this video interesting.


    Take my advice with a grain of salt because you guys been playing way longer than me.

    Larry Mar @ Lonegun Studios. Neither one famous yet.

  • It might be flawed, but I use a combination of open strung and 12th fret harmonic. I try to pick moderately, I accept that the harder you pick the sharper it will go but I also play very softly so there will always be a compromise to be had.

    I agree. Every tuning method on a guitar has some sacrifice. If you tune to the open string, depressed string notes are sharp. If you tune with constant picking, decayed notes are flat.


    A guitar is definitely an imperfect instrument, but it is the one I am most fluid in. ;).

  • Quick check of moving between neck and bridge pickups while tuning.


    I believe on the Kemper tuner, the neck pickup was more steady while tuning while the bridge had more noise to it making it easier to tune on the neck pickup.

  • Quick check of moving between neck and bridge pickups while tuning.


    I believe on the Kemper tuner, the neck pickup was more steady while tuning while the bridge had more noise to it making it easier to tune on the neck pickup.

    Again it's not the pickup per se, but the location of the pickup. String vibration have a higher amplitude at that location, meaning it's "louder" and "heard" better by plugged-in tuners. Just my experience.

  • Three things I always do when tuning:


    - If it's drop D, I tune the Low E about 3 cents flat to help it stay in tune when striking that string hard.


    - I started doing the EVH thing, tuning the G string about 3 cents sharp. My guitars have never sounded more in tune than they do now.


    - Neck pickup, tone on 7 to help keep those lovely overtones to a minimum.

  • I generally tune he attack rather than the decay.

    Picking the same note repeatedlay with the pick I'm most like to use - right now that's either a Dunlop Prime Tone 2.0 or my favourite, a D-Grip Janicek Jazz B 1.18 on the neck pickup to have less potentially irritating harmonics.

  • I hadn't thought of that, but you are right. With the low E string tuned to D that string will be more "flabby" and vibrate more when plucked than it will when tuned to E (thus making it go more sharp). Neat tip!


    Why tune the G string 3 cents sharp? What does that do?

  • I do simple.

    Clip on Polytune

    Pluck and let the string resonate and settle. Tune to that.


    Any radical or subtle picking or strumming works with/outside that setting and I can play that.

  • I generally tune he attack rather than the decay.

    Picking the same note repeatedlay with the pick I'm most like to use - right now that's either a Dunlop Prime Tone 2.0 or my favourite, a D-Grip Janicek Jazz B 1.18 on the neck pickup to have less potentially irritating harmonics.

    Seems like a majority tune on the attack. This is the first time I have heard of using the neck pickup, but I think that too is a good idea (especially since I tested it empirically today to see ;) ).