Subject: tuning by ear, was Re: [linux-audio-user] guitar tuner?
From: Paul Winkler (slinkp23_AT_yahoo.com)
Date: Mon Oct 22 2001 - 19:33:55 EEST
Sorry I'm not answering the original question ... I don't use a tuning
program either.
On Mon, Oct 22, 2001 at 03:07:10AM -0400, Jason wrote:
(long tuning method description snipped)
Just tried your method ... it works *very* nicely for one guitar I
have with good intonation, but not so well an another acoustic guitar
I have with poor intonation.
Your system has some similarities to the approach I've evolved over
the years. My approach has enabled me to get tolerable results even on
guitars with poor intonation, and excellent results on good guitars;
and I can start on any string.
Here are my general strategies:
* Like you, I use octaves, not fifths. Octaves are the only interval
that is the same in equal temperament and just intonation, so
harmonics at the 12th and 5th frets are the only ones you can use
reliably.
* Don't just tune a string to its immediate neighbor, or you risk
making cumulative errors.
So here's my method based on those strategies:
0) Get all strings approximately in tune before making any precise
adjustments. This is especially true for guitars with a tremolo
bridge. Actually you should do this no matter what tuning method you
use - it saves a lot of time. The idea is not to get it perfect, but
every string should be less than a semitone (half-step) away from
where you want it to be. Otherwise, the tension on the neck will
change so much during tuning that you'll have to start over when
you're done!
1) Pick one string for which you can get a reliable reference for the
open string, or at least a low fretted note. Tune it to the
reference. Example: tune the A string.
2a) Tune the next higher string by fretting it at the 7th fret (or 8th
if this string happens to be the B string); adjust until it sounds
good as an octave of the reference string. Example: fret the D string
at the 7th fret and tune it to the A.
2b) Go to the _next_ higher string, fret it at the 2nd fret (or 3rd if
this happens to be the B or high E string) and adjust until it sounds
good as an octave of the reference string. Example: fret the G string
at the second fret and tune it to the A.
2c) Compare the two strings you've just tuned. Do this by playing the
lower of the two strings open, and fretting an octave of the open note
at the 7th (or 8th) fret of the higher string. Example: play the open
D and fret the G string at the 7th fret. This should sound pretty
good.
2d) Repeat steps 2a - 2c until all three strings sound good relative
to each other. (If it's very difficult, your guitar's intonation is
bad and needs to be adjusted. If that's not an option - e.g. you're
onstage playing somebody else's guitar - you'll just have to
compromise. I usually prefer to have everything "pretty close" than to
have some notes sound perfectly in tune and others sound horrible.)
3) Tune the remaining strings one at a time using the same general
approach: find an octave to compare to all the strings that are
already in tune, and adjust the new string until all those octaves
sound as good as you can manage (again, this depends on the intonation
of the guitar). Once this is done, the new string becomes one of the
reference strings. If in a hurry, you can tune pretty well by only
comparing to two reference strings, but I always do at least two. For
example, the low E can be tuned like this, in no particular order:
- compare open low E to 7th fret of A string.
- compare open low E to 2nd fret of D string.
- compare 3rd fret of low E to open G string.
- compare 7th fret of low E to open B string.
- compare open low E to open high E string.
4) General hints:
a) If your guitar's intonation is at all dodgy, the notes at the 7th
fret will be less accurate than the notes at the 2nd fret. Tuning a
poorly-intonated guitar is an exercise in frustration and
compromise. You have to decide whether to make the guitar sound good
in the lower frets and bad in the higher frets, or to make it sound
imperfect everywhere. When in doubt, go with the lower frets.
b) As you go, remember which strings you have tuned to your
satisfaction and DON'T CHANGE THEM. I can't count the number of times
I've seen novice guitarists get a few strings in tune, then go to
another string that's out of tune and "fix it" by changing one of the
in-tune strings to match the out-of-tune string! This procedure has no
upper bound on its execution time. :)
> The reason this method of tuning is preferable to the simpler and more
> commonly found methods is simple. The Guitar is by it's nature not a very
> well tempered instrument. When you tune strictly to harmonics, as in the
> more common "beat frequency" method, you are not actually tuning the notes
> as they will be played on a fretted instrument.
That's right, except that the first reason you give is misleading. The
problem is not that the guitar is not well tempered. The common method
*cannot* work even on a hypothetical guitar with perfect 12-tone equal
temperament. This is because a fifth played as a harmonic at the 7th
fret has a perfect ratio of 3/2 to the frequency of the open
string. If we translate that into cents in the 12-tone equal tempered
scale (which is what guitar frets and pianos use), a ratio of 3/2
gives us a difference of about 1902 cents higher than the open
string. In other words: in equal temperament, the harmonic is "wrong"
by two cents (or 2/100ths of a semitone).
So if I tune a string so that its 7th fret harmonic sounds good, I'm
relying on the fact that this harmonic is "only" two cents
wrong. That's so little that it probably sounds pretty good. But
errors accumulate! If you start at the low E string and work your way
up, you can do an absolutely perfect job and you will be 8 cents flat
by the time you got to the G string, and you don't have to be very
critical to hear that.
--paul winkler home: http://www.slinkp.com music: http://www.reacharms.com calendars: http://www.calendargalaxy.com
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