I'd like to talk about your ears.

dennisg
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Tue Jan 25, 2011 5:54 pm

Leaving aside all your other assorted body parts, difficult as that may be, I'd like to focus squarely on your ears. That is, the way your ears work.

See, a couple of weeks ago, I decided to break down and buy an electronic tuner. For those of you unfamiliar with these gadgets, an electronic tuner is a battery-powered device that clips on to the headstock of your guitar, and provides a display that tells you when your guitar is in and out of tune.

Here's where the ears come in. I have what I think are reasonably good ears, in the sense that I can pretty easily tell when things are in or out of tune. And I've never had a problem tuning my guitar with a simple, old-fashioned pitch pipe. But recently I was gassing for some new technology, and I figured an electronic tuner was a good place to start, so I bought an Intellitouch PT10. Problem is, every time I use it to tune my guitar, it's not quite as in tune as it would be if I'd tuned it by ear.

So, what do you use to tune your guitar? Your ears? A tuner? Is my tuner just defective or do they all stink?


ffsooo3
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Tue Jan 25, 2011 6:03 pm

I use a KORG tuner. I'm hopeless without it! When I use it, I tune the A D G B and high E strings all as open strings, but I tune the low E by tuning the G on the 3rd fret of the E string (otherwise if I tune to the open low E all my barre chords are off).


sws626
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Tue Jan 25, 2011 6:11 pm

Hi Dennis,

I typically tune the A to an electronic tuner, but do the rest and check harmonics by ear. I think the ear is better at matching, but mine is rubbish at absolute pitch.

-Stuart


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Music Junkie
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Tue Jan 25, 2011 7:32 pm

Dennis:

I use a Korg clip on tuner and tune all strings open.

Image

If I don't have that around, I usually ask my oldest son Dominick and he will tell me when each string is in tune. I have found that he is more accurate than the tuners I have.

My instructor uses a tuner that will belt out any pitch you dial it to. He will usually tune the A string first and then tune the guitar within itself.

My ear is suitable enough to hear a mistake in a song, or tell when something is out quite a bit, but I am completely hopeless when it comes to specific note names and sounds.

Frustrating...... :) :)

J


suziko
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Tue Jan 25, 2011 7:41 pm

I completely rely on my electronic tuner, but I'm starting to think maybe I should do like Stuart mentioned and use the tuner to tune one string, then do the rest by ear. Just curious, though- why do you tune the A string, Stuart? Why not the E?

Suzi


Lavallee
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Tue Jan 25, 2011 7:45 pm

I rely too much on the integrated guitar tuner, it does not develop the ear. I have started recently to tune the open string only without comparing with other strings, just to see how far I am from the tuner.

Marc


michelew
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Tue Jan 25, 2011 8:05 pm

I should use my ears more. Just too lazy I guess. I use my iPhone - I have an application called Cleartune, so I have it everywhere - if only I had my guitar everywhere too. I don't use harmonics tuning so I don't know whether it is accurate enough.

it's on my radar, using my ears more, but I must admit I'm not motivated enough to use primarily my ears at the moment. Generally, I just want to tune up and get playing.

M.


tovo
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Tue Jan 25, 2011 8:12 pm

Hmmm...good question....I use a Korg-tuner as well, I've used several and I'm mostly satisfied about this one...

On the other hand, I have integrated guitar tuners, it's handy, so I do use them, but sometimes I feel they're not too accurate...

But then again, I tune many times just by ear, tune my low E-string by playing a low E-note on my synthesizer and for the other strings using harmonics 5th and 7th fret, but usually I do this when I'm impatient or want to tune it really fast for whatever reason.....

And sometimes I'm not satisfied with all of it, my ears still hear something wrong, I've been told that it depends on the guitar and that each guitar at one point on the neck is out of tune anyway, no matter how well it is tuned..


thereshopeyet
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Tue Jan 25, 2011 8:39 pm

Thanks


thereshopeyet
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Tue Jan 25, 2011 8:39 pm

Thanks


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