This is the first in a new series I’m doing where I try to correct common misunderstandings, bits of misinformation, or shortcomings common amongst guitarists. It’s kind of like “Adam Ruins Everything” but for guitar… and my hair is nowhere near as magnificent as his. This first episode is about tuning.
I’m often baffled at how anyone who has played the guitar for more than a month doesn’t know how to tune their guitars without the aid of tuner. Whenever I get a new guitar student I spend the first 15 minutes of our first lesson going over how to tune relatively and why it is important.
So why is it important? Well, we’re musicians, right? And if you’re going to be a musician, you need to develop your ear. You need to develop your sense of intonation. You should be able to recognize when two pitches match! Tuning your guitar is a simple way to work on those skills every day (yes, every day).
In this video I show you the most basic way to tune by ear, but I also show you a simple way to gamify the tuning process. Have fun!