Lessons › Lesson 2

How to Tune a Guitar

Lesson 2 of 8 · About 5 minutes of reading, 10 minutes of practice

A guitar that is out of tune makes everything sound wrong, no matter how well you play. Tune every time you pick up the guitar - it takes under a minute once you have done it a few times.

The six strings in standard tuning

From thickest (closest to your chin when holding the guitar) to thinnest:

• 6th string - E (low E)
• 5th string - A
• 4th string - D
• 3rd string - G
• 2nd string - B
• 1st string - E (high E)

A classic way to remember it: Eddie Ate Dynamite, Good Bye Eddie.

Tuning with a free tuner app

1. Install any free guitar tuner app on your phone (or use a clip-on tuner if you have one).
2. Pluck the 6th string (thickest) and let it ring.
3. The tuner shows the note it hears. If it shows a note below E (like D or Eb), the string is flat - turn the tuner for that string slowly to tighten it. If it shows above E (like F), it is sharp - loosen it.
4. Adjust until the tuner reads E and its indicator sits in the center.
5. Repeat for each string, working down to the thinnest.

Practice for this lesson

Tune all six strings until the tuner is happy with each one. Then pluck each open string one at a time and listen - this is what a tuned guitar should sound like. Do this every practice session before anything else.