How to tune by ear

What you listen for: beats

When two notes are close in pitch, their sound waves drift in and out of step. You hear this as a pulse in volume, a “wah-wah-wah”, called beating. The number of beats per second equals the difference between the two frequencies, so:

• Fast beats mean the notes are clearly apart.
• Slow beats mean they are close.
• No beats means they match.

Beats do not tell you which note is higher. You find that out by turning the peg a little. If the beats slow down, keep going. If they speed up, you went the wrong way.

When the notes are further apart still, they stop sounding like one wobbling note and start sounding rough, then like two separate pitches. If that is where you start, get closer first by ear or with the tuner, then switch to listening for beats.

There is one catch on low strings. A cent is a fixed fraction of a semitone, so it is a smaller step in frequency on a low note than on a high one. A low E that is a few cents out beats a quarter as fast as a high E that is the same number of cents out, two octaves up. That is why the methods below often compare harmonics, which sit higher up, rather than open bass strings.

Tuning to a reference with By Ear mode

To play with anyone else, the first string needs to come from a shared reference. HeyTuner’s By Ear mode plays that reference for you.

1. Open the tuner for your instrument, for example the acoustic guitar tuner, and switch to By Ear (press B; press A to go back to Auto).
2. Pick the string you want to tune, on screen or with the number keys 1 to 6.
3. Choose the reference sound. The plucked-string tone sounds like a string, with overtones, so it is easy to compare with your guitar. The sine tone is a pure, steady pitch with no overtones, which some players find easier to beat against on higher strings.
4. Turn on Loop Note (press L). It replays the reference every 2 seconds, and you can set the gap anywhere from 1 to 5 seconds. Use a longer gap on low strings so each note rings long enough for slow beats to show.
5. Pluck your string just as the reference sounds, so the two ring together. Listen for the beats and turn the peg until they slow and stop.
6. Move to the next string.

If you cannot yet tell whether your string is above or below the reference, hum the reference, then hum your string. Your voice feels the direction even when your ear is unsure.

Phone and laptop speakers reproduce low notes weakly. On string 6 you may hear the reference’s overtones more than its fundamental. That is fine with the plucked-string tone, which has overtones to match. If you need to match an instrument that is not at standard pitch, such as an old piano, adjust the A4 setting and every reference note moves with it.

Relative tuning: the 5th-fret method

Relative tuning puts the guitar in tune with itself, starting from string 6.

1. Fret string 6 at the 5th fret (A) and tune open string 5 to it.
2. Fret string 5 at the 5th fret (D) and tune open string 4 to it.
3. Fret string 4 at the 5th fret (G) and tune open string 3 to it.
4. Fret string 3 at the 4th fret (B) and tune open string 2 to it.
5. Fret string 2 at the 5th fret (E) and tune open string 1 to it.

G to B is the only pair of neighboring strings four semitones apart instead of five, hence the 4th fret.

Three habits make this method accurate:

• Always adjust the open string, never the fretted one. The fretted string is your reference for that step.
• Fret lightly, just behind the fret wire. Pressing hard bends the note sharp, and that error passes on to every string after it.
• Let the two notes ring together. Pluck the fretted note, then the open string, and listen to them overlap.

Octave checks

Each step in the chain can add a small error. These octaves, all fretted near the nut, catch it:

• String 4 at the 2nd fret (E3) is one octave above open string 6.
• String 3 at the 2nd fret (A3) is one octave above open string 5.
• String 2 at the 3rd fret (D4) is one octave above open string 4.
• Open string 1 is two octaves above open string 6.

If an octave beats, the error crept in somewhere between those two strings.

Harmonics

Touch the string very lightly directly over the fret wire, without pressing it to the fret, pluck it, and lift your finger. What rings is a harmonic: a pure, bell-like note that sustains well. Harmonics have two big advantages for ear tuning. They need no fretting pressure, so they do not go sharp, and they keep ringing after you let go, so both hands are free to turn the peg while you listen.

12th-fret harmonics

The 12th fret is exactly halfway along the string, and its harmonic sounds one octave above the open string. It is the clearest harmonic on the guitar. Use it to:

• Match two guitars: play the same 12th-fret harmonic on both and tune until the beats stop.
• Check intonation: the fretted note at the 12th fret should match the 12th-fret harmonic. If the fretted note is sharp or flat, the saddle needs adjusting, which is a setup job rather than a tuning job.

5th and 7th-fret harmonics

The 5th-fret harmonic sounds two octaves above the open string. The 7th-fret harmonic sounds an octave and a fifth above it. That means these pairs give the same note:

• String 6, 5th fret, and string 5, 7th fret.
• String 5, 5th fret, and string 4, 7th fret.
• String 4, 5th fret, and string 3, 7th fret.

For the top two strings:

• String 6, 7th-fret harmonic, matches open string 2.
• String 6, 5th-fret harmonic, matches open string 1. This is an exact two-octave check, the most trustworthy one on the guitar.

Do not tune string 2 from the 4th-fret harmonic on string 3. That harmonic is a pure major third, about 14 cents away from the tempered third your frets are built for, which is enough to make chords sound sour.

Harmonics give acoustically pure intervals, while frets are spaced for equal temperament. A pure fifth is about 2 cents wider than a tempered one, so every string pair you match with 5th and 7th-fret harmonics ends up about 2 cents off. One pair is hard to hear. Chained across strings 6, 5, 4 and 3, it adds up to an amount you can hear in some chords. The practical answer is to tune strings 5, 4 and 3 with harmonics, take strings 2 and 1 straight from string 6, and finish with the octave checks above.

Slowing the beats to zero

This is the skill everything else depends on. It takes a few sessions to learn.

1. Match the volume. Beats are clearest when both notes are equally loud. Pluck the louder one more gently.
2. Listen to the loudness, not the pitch. Your attention goes to the pulse in the combined sound.
3. Turn while both notes ring. With harmonics or a looped reference you can adjust and listen at the same time.
4. Use the speed of the beats as your gauge. Fast means turn more, slow means turn less.
5. Reverse if the beats speed up.
6. Finish coming up to the note. Loosen until the beats are clearly fast, then tighten slowly until they stop. Ending on an upward turn keeps the string from slipping flat later.

To practice, put By Ear mode on a looped sine tone, tune a string to it, then detune it slightly on purpose and listen to the beats appear. Find them, slow them, stop them. Ten minutes of this trains your ear faster than any amount of reading.

When ear tuning beats a tuner

• Matching an instrument that is itself off. An untuned piano, a harmonica or a recording that is a little sharp sets the pitch for everyone. Tune your guitar to it directly by ear. Alternatively, play its A into the chromatic tuner, see how many cents it is out, and adjust HeyTuner’s A4 setting to match.
• Sweetening one chord. The major thirds in equal temperament are about 14 cents wider than pure ones. In open tunings, some slide players lower the third of the open chord, such as the B in open G, until it stops beating against the other strings. The open chord sounds sweeter. Fretted chords elsewhere sound worse, so this is a choice for a song, not a general rule.
• No device at hand. A guitar in tune with itself is perfectly playable alone.

When it doesn’t

• Noisy rooms and stages. You cannot hear slow beats over a band or a crowd. A tuner listening through a line input does not have that problem.
• Low strings and bass. Beats are slow down there, and a small error can take seconds to show.
• Playing with others. If everyone tunes to the same reference with a tuner, everyone agrees. Chains of ear tuning wander a few cents from one player to the next.
• While you are learning. Until you can reliably hear slow beats, a tuner gives you a correct target to train your ear against.

Most experienced players do both: tune with a tuner, then strum a few chords and listen. If a chord sounds wrong while the tuner says every string is right, see why guitars go out of tune.