How to Tune a New Acoustic Electric Guitar

So you have bought an acoustic electric guitar and have already learned notes and even played full-length songs. Beginners may have noticed, though, that even if they have their fingers right, it seems that the sound that comes out hardly resembles that note they were supposed to play. The case is, of course, the classic out of tune guitars. You need to how to tune a new acoustic electric guitar.

It is hoped that most guitars bought off a music store have been tuned at some point. Senior sales staff often have a music background and will offer to tune the guitar before you leave with it, giving you some confidence. However, whether it has been left at a corner for a long time or played constantly. The strings on your guitar will eventually loosen and vibrate differently. Hence, if you want to learn how to play a guitar, you also have to know how to tune it perfectly.

The best guitar players often take less than a minute to fully tune their guitars. The one thing they possess that you should also have is the ability to listen and identify notes properly. Comparing different sounds is one thing, but knowing how a D is different from an E minor is important. In fact, if you don't know how a D note would sound, you probably would have a hard time learning to play the guitar at all. Having a good ear allows you to check if your guitar still sounds good and will also help during the tuning process.

The part of the guitar that will serve as your main tool when adjusting is the tuning key. These are the knobs that are located at the head of your guitar. There will be one tuning key for each string; therefore, you will need to manipulate six tuning keys. Rotating the keys clockwise or counterclockwise will either tighten or loosen the corresponding string. As you know, the string makes the notes lower E, A, D, G, B, and E. Again, it is necessary that you are aware of the sound that each note creates so you can tune your instrument successfully.

It is the sixth string that will have to be tuned first, since it will act as the reference for the other strings. In this case, you would need an outside source of music. Guitar players often use other tuned guitars for this purpose, but if you only have one guitar, there is always the Internet. You can scour the Net for audio files that carry the lower E note. For convenience, download the file and save it your music player so you can tune your guitar whenever necessary. Once you have an audio file playing, start plucking the sixth string while adjusting the tuning key until their sounds match. Once you have gotten the note, you can move in to the other strings.

At this point, it is all the matter of matching the correct notes. The sixth string can actually produce the sound of the A note at the fifth fret. All you have to do then is match the note that you hear to your fifth string, again adjusting the correct tuning key. When the sixth string fifth fret and the open fifth string sound the same, you now have two properly tuned strings. Now you use the fifth string as reference to tune the fourth string, which is supposed to make the D note when played open.

The fifth string fifth fret creates a D note, so simply match the sound of the open fourth string until they sound the same. The fourth string fifth fret produces the G note, which is what the open third string should sound, so the same process is applied. For the second string, note that to produce the B note, one should play the third string at its fourth fret and not fifth. For the first string, the note E can be made by the second string back at the fifth fret.

How often should you tune your acoustic electric guitar? Sometimes you tune them every time before you play. As mentioned at the beginning of the article, constant use can force a string to be out of tune. Idle guitars mostly keep their accurate tunes, but the elements can reduce the tension on the strings. Beginners should expect tuning as part of their regular routine. Acoustic electric guitars sound very similar to acoustic guitars, but have the advantage of the loudness seen only in electric guitars. Hence, better take care of this worthy investment.