Is it necessary to tune a guitar?

In our modern society, guitar tuners are a common accessory that most guitarist own. A few decades ago, they weren’t as commonly used as they are now. So, if you really think about it, is a guitar tuner really necessary?

A guitar tuner is necessary for guitarists who tune in a noisy environment, make precise adjustments for intonation, are beginners learning to train their ear, or just want the convenience of precise tuning in a short amount of time.

There is a lot that goes into determining whether a guitar tuner is really needed to be able to play the guitar properly. To look further into this, keep reading to learn more.

Reasons To Value A Guitar Tuner

We know that guitar tuners serve a specific purpose, sometimes for important reasons, and sometimes out of pure convenience. To get a little more specific, lets look at the reasons we should see the guitar tuner as an important tool that we use to allow more freedom, and expression as a guitarist.

Tuners Allow More Time For Creativity

It’s nice to know that when you get a creative spark, you can have a tuner there to quickly get the job done and you can spend more time playing.

I couldn’t count how many times I’ve had a spark of creativity and ran to my guitar to get out an idea, just to be disappointed because my guitar was seriously out of tune. What made it bad was I wouldn’t have a tuner anywhere sight, or I just couldn’t find one at all. By the time I would tune the guitar by ear, I had already forgotten the initial idea I wanted to get out in the first place.

If you like to improvise to jam tracks, you may run into a problem where one string is out of tune, and your trying to figure out if it’s sharp or flat while you’re playing. When that would happen to me, I would try to tune it quickly and make things worse. Then I would be stuck tuning all the strings because the whole guitar would get out of tune.

It doesn’t matter how well you can tune a guitar by ear, the lack of a guitar tuner at certain times is a HUGE creativity killer!

Try to keep a tuner in a place that you know you can grab it when inspiration strikes. If you have one built into a amp, you are already a step ahead of the game. I like to keep one in my computer desk when I’m playing to jam tracks.

You can put one in a guitar case, a desk, or even on your guitar if you have a clip-on tuner. Just try to keep it consistant so your tuner will always be there. This will save you a lot of time.

Using A Tuner For A Guitar Setup

Having access to a guitar tuner (preferably a very accurate one) to perform a setup on your guitar is essential. This is probably the single most important reason to have one.

When you have to correct the Intonation on your guitar, you need to completely detune each string to make an adjustment. After the adjustment, you have to tune it back to pitch. If the string hasn’t been fully corrected, you need to detune it again.

It is a long process if the intonation is off on all of the strings. That’s when our trusty guitar tuner comes in the picture! It saves a lot of time and headache and will make the process a little bit more enjoyable.

A little less obvious way of using a tuner in a guitar setup is seeing if there is too much relief in the neck.

If your guitar is perfectly tuned but it sounds out of tune when you play in the middle of the fretboard (or between the 5th and the 11th fret). If this is happening, you can check to see if the intonation is correct at the 12th fret. If it is, then your guitar might just have a little to much relief in the neck.

For other ways to troubleshoot issues with a guitar setup you can check out this post I wrote on how to determine when your guitar might need some maintenance done to it.

You’re Trying To Tune Your Guitar In A Noisy Environment

If you play in a band and perform live gigs, a guitar tuner is really important to sound more professional, and for tuning quietly.

It is really embarrassing to perform in front of a live audience when all the instruments are out of tune with each other. It makes your band sound amateur and is just flat out terrible to listen to. What’s great about having a tuner with you is that you can tune while the drummer is doing his soundcheck and you can have it ready before you perform.

This will prevent you from having to tune the guitar out loud with everybody and their mother listening to you do it.

You’re New To The Concept Of Tuning A Guitar

A great reason to use a tuner is when you are just starting to learn the guitar.

In this case, a tuner should be used kind of like training wheels on a bike. Once you learn how to string pitches sound relative to each other, it doesn’t have to be used anymore, unless for any of the reasons mentioned above.

As a beginner the tuner will be your guide and give you more time to practice other things besides spending 20 minutes tuning your guitar. That time can be used for other technical concepts and using the tuner will help you to speed up the learning process.

As you continue through this post you can find valuable reasons to discard your tuner for a while, and learn about the benefits of tuning your guitar without a tuner.

Reasons You Wouldn’t Use A Guitar Tuner

A guitar tuner is a very useful tool that is amazing for the convenience that it provides, but why would anyone want to tune a guitar without one? Let’s explore this concept in more depth.

Tuning By Ear As An Exercise To Develop Relative Pitch

Most of us were not born with the gift of perfect pitch, but we can access the next best thing that can bring similar results. That “thing” would be known as Relative Pitch.

First of all, Relative Pitch is the ability to take any note and compare it to a reference note by identifying their interval spacing. How does this all apply to tuning a guitar without a tuner?

The open notes of a guitar in Standard Tuning are all tuned by fourth intervals except between the G and B strings which are a Major Third interval. This means that in order to tune a guitar by ear, you have to tune all the strings to each other using one of the strings as a reference note.

To simplify this:

1. Tune the Low E or 6th string to pitch
2. Play the 5th Fret on the 6th string, and tune the 5th String to this note.
3. Play the 5th fret on the 5th String, and tune the 4th String to this note.
4. Play the 5th Fret on the 4th String, and tune the 3rd String to this note.
5. Play the 4th Fret on the 3rd String, and tune the 2nd String to this note.
6. Finally, Play the 5th Fret on the 2nd String, and tune the 1st String to this note.

When you practice tuning a guitar this way, you will develop and strengthen your Relative Pitch. As a result, you will be able to listen to different notes, and know how they relate to the guitar. These are building blocks to be able to play guitar by ear.

Something as simple as you tuning your guitar by ear can reap many benefits.

You Can Tune A Guitar Faster By Ear

If you start to develop your musical ears, you can eventually get to the point when you can tune a guitar faster by ear than using a tuner.

This is an awesome skill to have, because you can go anywhere, at anytime, on any guitar, and tune it without being a slave to a guitar tuner. You would be surprised by how many people will ask you to play on the spot, in the most random places. When you are skilled at tuning by ear, you will always be prepared to take on any gig, big or small.

This will also make you look like you know what you’re doing, and people will develop more respect for you as a musician.

Conclusion

Ultimately, it is your choice whether you use a guitar tuner or not. In my opinion, it is always a good idea to have one because of the convenience, and you never know when you’re going to need one. On the contrary, if you feel like you would rather not use one, I totally respect your opinion and you will always have an advantage with your pitch accuracy.

I hope this post was helpful, and cleared up a lot of things for you. You can always refer back if you need to stay fresh on the topic. Thank you, and keep practicing!