One of the first things you need to learn as a guitar player is how to get the correct pitch in every single string. I tend to tune guitar immediately before and after playing so that it remains in the correct pitch practically all of the time.
If you fail to do this, or perhaps you accidentally tune it to the wrong pitch, you end up having a situation where you’re constantly playing flat or sharp – or sometimes in an entirely different key altogether.
Now some basics about getting your guitar in tune – all you really need is one string that has the correct pitch. Once you have this one string correct, you can then use that one string to tune the rest of the strings to their correct pitches. And from there, you’ll have your guitar sounding like it should be.
The first step is to have your highest string, the E string, in the correct tune. You can either use a tuner to help you figure it out or you can use another in-tune instrument to match to. I have a piano here at my house so I tend to use that to get me in the right tune.
I play an acoustic guitar much more than my electric. While I can play both quite easily, I find that the acoustic tends to go out of tune much more than my electric.
However, I have also noticed situations where the electrics tend to get out of tune every other minute. This is usually due to the quality of the instrument – the cheaper the guitar, the worse it’s going to stay in tune. I’ve seen this happen multiple times throughout my career.
Once you have the type of guitar you’re going to play figured out, you can then decide how you’re going to tune it. I like to use google to find my guitar tuners online. They’re digital so they’re always perfect with the tune and you can do it for every single string.
No need to use your ear.
However, it is important to learn to tune by ear. What if you’re on stage and your string breaks? You’re going to need to throw a new one on and tune that up to par. And during shows, your going to have to stay in-tune with the rest of the band. The only way to do that in the middle of the set is to be able to hear well and understand the pitch that’s coming through the speakers.