Tuning by ear - any advice ?

cosmicmechanic
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Sun Dec 09, 2012 11:30 am

This is another thread spawned by Marc's "Is Rythm Natural?" thread ... maybe he has created some kind of monster.

One of my personal (guitar-related !) frustrations has been feeling completely helpless without a guitar tuner.

Give me an out of tune guitar to adjust without an electronic tuner and the result is very uncertain, and may take forever!

On the other hand, I've long been able to find simple chords to fit a song I'm trying to learn by ear, even if in a very amateurish way.

So hopefully I have some ear for music, it's just that individual musical notes and tones don't seem that clear.

For example, if you start tuning by ear starting on the low E, then you do need a clear memory of that exact sound.

And that's not asking much compared to being able to recognize an E in another octave !

So, I'm curious about whatever progress y'all have found is possible to achieve being able to tune your guitar by ear.

Are you able to tune your guitar by ear? If not, do you think you eventually will? Standard tuning ? Maybe alternate tunings?

Do you have some approach for gaining just that ability?

I hear ya !
Pierre


dennisg
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Sun Dec 09, 2012 11:48 am

Just to be clear, I don't think you're asking if anyone here has perfect pitch, which is what would be required to get a guitar perfectly in tune (starting from floppy strings) without the benefit of some kind of tuning device.

What I think you're asking is if anyone has relative pitch. That's what I, and a lot of other people, have. For example, if you play a not on the piano and tell me it's a C, then ask me to sing a G#, I can do that, simply by hearing the scale in my head.

So, yes, I can tune my guitar by ear, using any string as a reference point. And if you ask me to put a guitar in open-G tuning or some other tuning, I'm able to do that without the benefit of a tuning device. But I think a whole lot of people can do that.

As for how one gains the ability to do this, I'm not sure. I've always been able to do it.

Tell me if this is the kind of info you're looking for, or if there's more you want.


tacticaltal
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Sun Dec 09, 2012 12:07 pm

I misunderstood the poll. I first chose #3, but it should be #2. I have to have a tuning fork to tune the low E, then I can tune by hand/ear.


RicksPick
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Sun Dec 09, 2012 1:26 pm

Hi Pierre

I can tune a guitar by ear as i call it " to it's self"
that is tune the strings to each other but not perfect pitch, when checking with a tuner it will be anywhere from a step high or low.

RicksPick


Lavallee
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Sun Dec 09, 2012 1:48 pm

Hi Pierre, if I try to tune by ear it knowing that the low e is good i get somewhat close but never perfect when I compare with the guitar tuner. But I do not always notice when the guitar is slightly out of tune. So I would say I suck at it (one more thing :( )

Marc


cosmicmechanic
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Sun Dec 09, 2012 2:14 pm

Thanks for your answers so far, guyz. I get that it's not well expressed to say you can only tune from a low E string.
If you can tune from a low E, that implies that you can tune from any string that's already ok.

But I see that pretty much everyone depends on some outside source for that original note on which to base the tuning.
Dennis, the "floppy strings" was intended to mean, at it's least demanding, to get that original note independantly, on your lonesome.

But then again ... if you can get one note right on your own, can you eventually get more ?

I guess that I'm hoping for a true story of dramatic progress from a case study as hopeless as mine ... I even have trouble when the guitar is only slightly out of tune. Whenever I touch the tuning pegs without an electronic tuner, chances are I will only make things worse. :dry:

Pierre


familyman4
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Sun Dec 09, 2012 2:16 pm

I can tune the guitar to itself. If it needs to be in perfect pitch, I need to be able to hear any note on a piano or another instrument that is an open string. Then I can tune the rest of the strings.

I will add one more very important issue for me... If the room is noisy, or other instruments are playing while I am trying to tune by ear, I struggle big time with this. So, these new electronic tuners that tune from the headstock by vibration are a real treasure for me. I keep one with me at all times.

Thanks....
bart


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neverfoundthetime
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Sun Dec 09, 2012 2:18 pm

Yes I can tune to relative pitch by having the A string set up with a tuning fork and tune from there but as for perfect pitch... hmmm, I don't think so, I will try right now but will be happy to be within a half step!! Here goes starting at A and then tuning relative to A....

results:

E: 20 cents too high
A: 21 cents too high
D: 12 cents too high
G: 9 cents too high
B: 14 cents too high
E: 6 cents too high

Hey, not too bad at all. I did get the right notes and was much less than a half step too sharp so not bad. What I did was imagine the sound of the A-Tuning fork and tuned to that.

PS: Friend of mine tunes piano by ear! His dad was a music teacher as he is and they sell musical instruments.


sbutler
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Sun Dec 09, 2012 2:24 pm

So I too can hear instantly if a guitar is out. Even just a little bit. I think that has come with practice and repetitions. And like others have said, once I have one string tuned, getting the others really close is possible. Maybe not perfect by an electronic tuner, but very acceptable to the ear.

I've been working on songs in "drop d" tuning a lot. And because I'm forcing myself to go back and forth from low E to D, I've noticed that I've gotten really good at it. I guess by the practice. When I first started playing, I was almost afraid to mess with any tuned strings once I had them set. Almost a phobia about that. But now its just a non event that I do a lot.

Scott


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neverfoundthetime
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Sun Dec 09, 2012 2:35 pm

I would love to have perfect pitch, but nope... :( ....

But relative pitch, sure! :)

Any advice? Hmmmm......well tuning by using harmonics works quite alright for me, ever tried that?


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