Members agradywills Posted November 4, 2009 Members Share Posted November 4, 2009 Does anyone else have this problem? I've been playing for 20+ years, been in several bands and have a mediocre knowledge of music theory but I have hell tuning by ear. I always rely on a tuner. I've tried to just sit down and make myself but there's always one string that's out of whack. It drives me crazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sixtonoize Posted November 4, 2009 Members Share Posted November 4, 2009 That's why they make tuners. It certainly beats going to s show where a guitarist thinks that he does a great job of tuning by ear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NinjaRaf Posted November 4, 2009 Members Share Posted November 4, 2009 I have been able to tune by ear for years. I learned to tune with a pitch pipe cuz I couldnt afford a 15 dollar tuner...the pitch pipe was 3 dollars lol. I dont have a tuner, but I dont play live that much either, so doesnt really matter to me to have one or not. If I feel out of tune, I will double check against tabit, but I am usually good... I do know people that have been playing for longer than me that cant tune by ear though....I guess not everyone can...But yeah...tuners FTW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members leadfootdriver Posted November 4, 2009 Members Share Posted November 4, 2009 Bad intonation will defeat you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SwampDonkey Posted November 4, 2009 Members Share Posted November 4, 2009 Bad intonation will defeat you. This. Tune on your clean channel. Works better for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agradywills Posted November 4, 2009 Author Members Share Posted November 4, 2009 Bad intonation will defeat you. Of course this could be the culprit but I have bad ears for tuning anyway. I've always appreciated people who could tune on the 'fly'. You know, tune while mid song. I've tried it before.........just made things worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members clay_finley Posted November 4, 2009 Members Share Posted November 4, 2009 I had to learn alot of songs for a band once in different tunings and got to be awesome at tuning by ear. Lately, I use the tuner more and am not as good at ear tuning, but still not bad at all. So basically, quit using the tuner and you'll get better at tuning by ear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rear Naked Posted November 4, 2009 Members Share Posted November 4, 2009 If you know your instrument, you should be able to tune by ear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members '63-Strat Posted November 4, 2009 Members Share Posted November 4, 2009 How well can you sing/hum a perfect 4th or major 3rd? Your ability to tune by ear will be about the same, IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members White_Van Posted November 4, 2009 Members Share Posted November 4, 2009 I can tune my guitar even with distortion on nowadays. Just a lot of practice I guess, and being too stoned/lazy to find the goddamn tuner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MRAAJR Posted November 4, 2009 Members Share Posted November 4, 2009 Relative and perfect pitch are two different things. Anyone should be able to tune the guitar with itself. If you cant you should not be playing guitar. How many of you so called "Ear tuners" can tune up a guitar to perfect 440 tuning after putting a new set of strings on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agradywills Posted November 4, 2009 Author Members Share Posted November 4, 2009 I guess it's an acoustic guitar that I have the most trouble with. I usually use the harmonics at the 5th and 7th frets on all strings except G and B. It works okay but when I start strumming a song with a progression like G-D-Am-C the C just rings out wrong. Of course this could be intonation but when I hook the guitar to a tuner it evens out everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Captain Commie Posted November 4, 2009 Members Share Posted November 4, 2009 I can tune by ear so long as I get an A or something to tune against. I'm really good at recognizing intervals but I can't get the everything perfect unless I have one string perfectly in tune. Otherwise, if my E or A is tuned just slightly flat or shard, all of my strings will be slightly flat or sharp. They will all have the same difference so chords will still sound it tune with eachother. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agradywills Posted November 5, 2009 Author Members Share Posted November 5, 2009 How well can you sing/hum a perfect 4th or major 3rd? Your ability to tune by ear will be about the same, IMO. Not very. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Megadeth Man Posted November 5, 2009 Members Share Posted November 5, 2009 Relative and perfect pitch are two different things. Anyone should be able to tune the guitar with itself. If you cant you should not be playing guitar. How many of you so called "Ear tuners" can tune up a guitar to perfect 440 tuning after putting a new set of strings on. That's when it's the easiest to tune by ear. When I put on new strings I tune them all to pitch, open strings, not relative, check it with a tuner and they're spot on. If I'm drunk then I'll admit the ear/brain vibratory system takes a bit of a hit and I may tune them all up or down a step or two. I cannot comprehend anyone who can't tune the strings relative to each other though, WTF? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members imgooley Posted November 5, 2009 Members Share Posted November 5, 2009 I use a ton of different tunings, so I've gotten good at tuning by ear. I do admit that I'm a few cents off sometimes, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members potaetoes Posted November 5, 2009 Members Share Posted November 5, 2009 I usually use the harmonics at the 5th and 7th frets on all strings except G and B. while it's certainly popular and fast, that's actually a lousy way to tune a guitar. if the guitar is intonated correctly, you'll get far better results tuning to unison on adjacent strings (5th fret & open string, etc.) or even octaves (open string + 7th fret) than tuning to harmonics. i usually tune to 4ths (adjacent open strings) because i'm lazy and it works for me. obviously i have to fret the G to tune the B to unison, but the rest i just pluck pairs of strings and tune as needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members isvoid Posted November 5, 2009 Members Share Posted November 5, 2009 I can tune by ear awesomely, sadly cannot say the same about my playing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members drewl Posted November 5, 2009 Members Share Posted November 5, 2009 I guess it was all that ear training from music thoery class in high school but I've been able to tune by ear for years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rear Naked Posted November 5, 2009 Members Share Posted November 5, 2009 I cannot comprehend anyone who can't tune the strings relative to each other though, WTF? this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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