Please use this mini guitar tuner to tune up before you begin to play.
A guitar player wants to sound accurate, in-tune and pleasing to the ear. You can't sound good unless your guitar is in tune, so tune often. Definitely tune it each time you pick it up to play. It's a good practice to check your tuning each couple of songs. Playing your guitar a lot can cause it to go out of tune somewhat.
How can I learn to tune my guitar?
Read this article on How To Tune A Guitar.
How do guitar tuners work?
Most guitar tuners measure the pitch or vibration of the open strings of the guitar: E-A-D-G-B-E.
How do I tune an acoustic guitar?
You can first find a correct reference for the low "E" string and do relative tuning from there, or use one of the handy guitar tuning tools that measure the vibration of the strings. There is a standard for how the six open strings are tuned in relation to each other. Here is a link explaining How To Tune A Guitar. If you do use an electronic tuner, it must have a mic for the acoustic guitars.
What is Alternate Tuning?
Alternate tuning is when the guitar strings are tuned to intervals that are other than the standard E-A-D-G-B-E. "Alternate" tunings are placed in several categories: Open, Modal, Dropped, Crossnote, and Miscellaneous other tunings.
Where can I find reviews of guitar tuners?
Follow this link for 32 reviews of Guitar Accessories: Small Tuners on the GuitarGearHeads.com website. GuitarGearHeads.com User Reviews Small Tuners. In the near future The-Joy-of-Guitar.com will have a place for guitar tuner reviews, where you can also give us your opinions and reviews.
Where can I buy guitar tuners?
You can shop for guitar tuners, and compare features and reviews here. Amazon.com - Guitar Tuners.
What are the different types of guitar tuners?
There are basically two different kinds of guitar tuners, the ones that produce a sound to tune up to, and the guitar tuners that listen to you pluck a string and guide you to match the correct pitch. There are also guitar tuners that require power, and guitar tuners that require no power. Generally, using a tuner that you plug your guitar into will make it easier to tune precisely and is very fast to use.
Here's a chart showing different Types of Guitar Tuners.
| Type of Guitar Tuner |
Description | Image | Power Type | Cost (Approx.) |
| Tuning fork | Use a tuning fork as a standard of pitch to tune your instrument to. Tuning forks are available in A or E. Strike the prongs on your knee to start the resonation. Place base of fork on your guitar. Use that sound to tune to. |  |
Needs no power. | $10.00 |
| Tuning Pipe / Pitch Pipe | Blow the pipe for the note to tune your guitar to. A chromatic pitch pipe produces the notes in a chromatic scale, such as C to C. Generally made of metal with reeds, and moves by semitones through a complete octave. It produces six different notes, each one corresponding to one of the six open strings. |  |
Needs no power (except for your wind :) |
$10.00 to $24.00 |
| Piano / Keyboard | When tuning a guitar using a piano, start with
the low E two octaves below middle C on the piano to match with your 6th string low E
note. Please note that music for the guitar sounds one octave lower than where it is written.
Therefore, the open strings of the guitar span two octaves from the E above middle C to the
E two octaves below that on the keyboard.
Definitely not portable. |
 |
A piano can be electric or not. A keyboard is electronic. Note: It's best to tune your guitar to an electric keyboard or piano, because an acoustic piano also comes out of tune. |
Half-size electronic keyboard: $200.00 to $250.00 Full-size keboard: $550.00 to $2,000.00 Mid-size vertical piano: $2,000.00 to $3,000.00 Grand piano: $5,000.00 to $16,000.00 |
| Clamp-on digital guitar tuner | Can stay attached to your guitar neck while performing. Clamp-on tuners pick up vibrations from your instrument, and "feel" the pitch. |  |
Battery | $25.00 to $40.00 |
Strobe tuners:
Desktop:
On-String:
iPhone Strobe Tuner from Peterson: |
Strobe tuners claim to have unexcelled accuracy.
The desktop strobe tuner allows you to tune a wide variety of instruments. Has a built-in microphone. Flip design fits easily into a gig bag.
Plug in and tune (external mic required for iPod Touch.) (Accessories are the Adaptor cable and Mini-mic) Requires iPhone OS 3.1 or later. |
|
Uses 3-AA Batteries or AC power adapter.
CR 1620 battery for the Strobe-on-String |
Desktop: $70.00
Strobe-On-string: $15.00
iPhone tuner: $9.99 |
| Pedal Tuner | A pedal guitar tuner allows you to tune silently while on stage, and is designed for an instrument with an amplifying pickup. Guitar plugs into input, output goes to pedal, amp or PA system. For an example, the Boss Chromatic Tuner & Metronome also works with 7-string guitars, and bass guitars. It's capable of sensing any note on the scale. Unobtrusive/silent. Usually displays LED meter that allows you to use the tuner in bright or dim environments. |  |
Generally uses a 9 Volt battery or power pak, and can generally cascade the power supply to other pedals. | $30.00 to $150.00 |
| Digital Rackmount Tuner | On stage it is perfect for accuracy and visibility. Has input and output jacks and a built-in microphone to support acoustic guitar tuning. Designed for on-stage, with LED tuning indicator. | (Image coming soon) | Power Supply: AC Adapter | $259.00 |
| iPhone Guitar Tuner App | Free from Gibson. Includes Chromatic tuner, Alternate Tuning settings, Standard Mode Tune, Metronome, Chord Library, and free video lessons. Created by Lecacy Learning Systems. |  |
iPhone needed. | Free! |
| Polyphonic/Chromatic Polytuner | Innovative electronic tuner that allows you to tune all strings at once or switches to "old style" tuning one string at a time. 17 LED lights with ambient light sensor. |  |
9 Volt DC power supply | $99.00 |
| Relative Tuning | Get your low E string in tune first, and then tune the remaining strings relatively (See instructions here) |
|
No power needed for relative guitar tuning. You just need a reference for your low E string. If you don't have a tuning fork, pitch pipe or keyboard handy, make sure to tune up to your fellow band-mates. | Free. |
| Free Online Gutar Tuner | Guitarist must rely on his or her ear to match the tone played for each note. | (See instructions here) | You need a computer and Internet connection, but you can download software and save it on your local hard drive. | Free. |
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