Staying In Tune With A Guitar

In music, one might refer to the accuracy of pitch as intonation. For many instruments, including vocals, intonation requires a well developed sense of pitch. For other instruments, such as the guitar, intonation is less complicated. Yet, there are still many factors that contribute to good intonation on fretted instruments. Here are a few tips on achieving good intonation with a guitar!

⁃ Always begin with tuning your guitar with a tuner. This may be obvious to most, but if you are new to playing then it may not cross your mind, and since you haven’t developed your sense of pitch yet, hearing out of tune notes won’t register to you as out of tune.

⁃ Tune often. Many things can cause your guitar to go out of tune including temperature, barometric pressure, string bending, etc.

⁃ If you have recently put on new strings, the strings are going to stretch. It can take a while for the strings to settle in and stay consistent.

⁃ Pressing on the strings with your fingers can be tricky at first, especially for electric guitars that have thinner strings than acoustic guitars. You want to press hard enough to avoid muted notes and fret buzz, but if you press too hard it will cause your notes to be out of tune.

Being in tune is an essential part of sounding good on any instrument. Hopefully these tips will help you to stay in tune while playing your guitar. Stay tuned!