Guitar Basics - How to Tune Your Guitar w/Unisons - "The 5th Fret Method"

[CoreyT]

This is the way I learned how to tune a guitar when I got my first one back around '70 or so.
Later got a tuning fork for a reference tone.

I wonder how many still tune this way today?
I always use my TC Polytune II pedals at home, and I have one at work.

Very rarely will I check using the old 5th fret method.
This was in my subs this morning.

 

[Mixstar]

Yep, I still do occasionally and have since I was a nipper. In the really early days we had no keyboards in the house so I had a tuning fork for bottom 'E' then later I used a pitch pipe for bottom 'E', I probably still have it somewhere. Once I had 'E' sorted I just used the 5th fret method to check the rest. I use a Boss TU-3 tuner these days which is very accurate and easy to use but can lend itself to tuning paranoia.

 

[toothace]

Isn't this the first method we all learned to tune with? I remember guitar class in junior high with about 20 kids all tuning up this way at the beginning of class...

 

[Alan Manning]

Tuned that way for years but must be honest a tuner makes me lazy coz it's easy!!!

 

[veinbuster]

I tuned some in the past with 5th (or 4th) fret, but since I don't entirely trust my finger pressure preferred using the 5th & 7th fret harmonics - mostly when tuning to other instruments which might not be spot on the 440 a tuner likes.

 

[bodia]

I tuned some in the past with 5th (or 4th) fret, but since I don't entirely trust my finger pressure preferred using the 5th & 7th fret harmonics - mostly when tuning to other instruments which might not be spot on the 440 a tuner likes.

Yep, harmonic method for me too. I seldom used 5th fret.

 

[justmund]

I usually tune with just open strings, weird I know but I just hear the perfect 4th or major 3rd, and tune to that.

 

[Deleted member 2284]

I heard somewhere that those harmonics methods are not the best with regards to intonation all along the neck, and that the 5th fret method was the best - but I can't remember the explanation, so I don't have anything to back it up.

 

[veinbuster]

I heard somewhere that those harmonics methods are not the best with regards to intonation all along the neck, and that the 5th fret method was the best - but I can't remember the explanation, so I don't have anything to back it up.

You have no hope of intonating the guitar with 5th and 7th fret harmonics but it works for quick tuning.
The beat frequencies (the pulses you hear when two notes slightly our of tune are played together) are easier to pick up with the harmonics because they are higher frequency than the fretted note and the beat frequency depends on the absolute difference in frequency between the two notes; e.g. the beat frequency between 441 and 440 (a fraction of a 1/4% difference is the same as between 100 and 101 (a 1% difference).

 

[AP515]

I guess I use them all. Started with the 5th fret method like most everyone else. I like the harmonic method but then when you fret a string you get the variance from finger pressure anyway, so why not tune with the pressure added. I have a number of electronic tuners and they work fine. Lately I've been tuning by ear like @justmund and I find that the most satisfying. I'm learning to hit the starting note too. I can tune up from a string change and get within a few cents of E by ear. They I see a video of Tony McManus talking and at the same time tuning by ear (with a capo on), and the guitar already sounded in tune to me, and I realize I've got a long way to go.

 

[Mixstar]

What you need is one of these:

It worked for my grandpaw and it's works for me

 

[Deleted member 2284]

In any case, I've found that (for some guitars more than others) I have to adjust the tuning to fit song, riffs and playing style. There was a song I was recording where I had to tune down the low E-string a bit compared to how I'd normally tune, because I was digging in a fair bit which pulled it out of tune on the open string. I had to do this by ear.

 

[Parralax view]

I still use it on occasion, but more for the sympathetic harmonic vibration that you can feel through the guitar. My only hiccup with it is the B string. You can still tune it like the rest, but you have to quickly let it ring and then move up to the 12 to hit the pure note, it's a pain to do so I just use a polytune mini now days.
I did start playing early so the 5th fret version has always been handy. I don't think I've ever used a pipe, either the round ones or a pan style or a fork.

 

[veinbuster]

The reason I probably don't use the 5th fret is that my first real experience with strings was a double bass: no frets, and if you knew where the fret would be you bend the string a lot getting to the fingerboard. The harmonics were much more reliable to adjust over the course of the night.
I did have one of those little blow through tuners, but it seemed bad form to blow it during a show.

 

[CoreyT]

Guitar Basics - How to Tune Your Guitar w/Unisons & Natural Harmonics

Here is a follow up video.

 

[Herr Squid]

My favorite quick 'n' dirty harmonic tuning technique is different, and to my ear gives better results. I know there's names for it floating around out there (supertuning?). But here's the gist of it:

Tune the 7th fret of each string to the 12th fret harmonic of the immediately lower string.

i.e. tune the low E-string to a reference E, then tune the 7th fret of the A string to the E string's 12th fret natural harmonic, 7th fret of the D string to the A string's 12th fret natural harmonic, etc.

Here's the special bit: Tune both the 7th fret of the G string and the 3rd fret of the B string to the D string's 12th fret natural harmonic. That trick sweetens up the tuning of the G and B strings. Chords like EVH D-G-B-string triads and your D, A, and C cowboy chords will play more in tune.

 

[vchizzle]

I think I use all those methods to tune on occasion.

 

[CoreyT]

Guitar Basics - How to Tune Your Guitar by Ear Using Octaves
A third video.

 

[CoreyT]

How to Tune Your Guitar Using 5th Intervals/Power Chords - Guitar Basics
I never heard of this way before.

 

[CoreyT]

How to Tune Your Guitar Using 4th Intervals/Inverted Power Chords - Guitar Basics
This is getting way beyond what I would ever do if I did not have my Polytune II tuners.
I like the standard way of tuning, and the 5th fret harmonic methods, very easy.