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{{Beginner Lesson Crumbs|4}}
'''Tuning ''' the guitar is one of the most difficult things for any beginner to get right quickly. It seems simple, but it is not nearly as simple as it first appears. I will be spending lots of time here - just bear with me and don't get discouraged. If your guitar is not in tune, it will NOT ''not'' sound good. And if tuned ''incorrectly'', it will apply the wrong tension to each string, which makes fretting easier/harder and can throw off your technique. Basically, you must learn to tune your guitar to succeed.
==PreReqs==
|Tuning and Harmonics#How to Tune the Guitar|How to Tune
|Tuning and Harmonics#Harmonics|Harmonics}}
On the guitar, the '''tuners''' are (usually) the pegs on the headstock that ''increase/decrease tension'' on each string. Here, I am referring to devices that ''detect pitch'' and let you know how close you are to a certain note - these are tuning assistance tools, also commonly called '''tuners''' which can lead to some ambiguity.
Even the most advanced players use some kind of tuning tool to help them. '''If you don't own a [[Guitar Parts and Functions#Tuner|tuner]], buy one or download a free smartphone tuner app.''' There are 3 kinds of tuners. The best kind for electric guitar is one you can plug the electical output of your guitar directly into the deveice. The other two either use a microphone or a vibration sensor to get an electrical signal to analyze, which can introduce noise. The vibrational ones can also get broken from a hard shock. A tuner app on a phone will use a microphone - with electric guitar it can be difficult to play loud enough so that the microphone can pick up a clean signal.
Most tuners only tell you how close you are to a target note (A, B, C, etc), not what octave that note is (A<sub>2</sub>, C<sub>3</sub>, etc). You should be able to tell if you are a whole octave off, however. If you are an octave below, the string should have very little tension and may not resonate at all. If it does resonate, it will likely flap against the frets. If you are an octave above, the string will be extremely tense, to the point where it will be near breaking. It's always safer to go lower than higher. So if your target note is E but the note on your tuner is A, and you are unsure if you need to raise or lower the frequency, try lowering it down to E first. If the string is now way too loose, you went the wrong way. no harm done, just tune it up to the next highest E.
While not a pitch-detecting device, '''pitch pipes''' are also a common tool used to help tune the guitar. A pitch pipe is generally any kind of pipe or harmonica-like instrument that creates a single, fixed pitch. For guitar-tuning purposes, specialized pitch pipes that have 6 pipes combined into one, tuned to each of the notes of a standard guitar tuning. You blow on a pipe and tune the corresponding string by ear.
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