Get the most out of your electronic tuner. Here are some basic tips gained from experience.
- Make sure the tuner is set to the standard you want – normally A=440Hz
- Tune just one string at a time – stop all other strings vibrating
- If a string is shown to be out of tune, stop it sounding and wait for the dial to return to its “rest” position before tuning / testing again
- If the meter does not show any reading when a string is sounding – most typically the E/6 string – then play a harmonic on this string at the 12th or 5th fret, the meter almost invariably picks these harmonics up when it fails to register the fundamental.
- Tune the strings from top E/1 to bottom E/6 and then check all 6 again from the top
- Listen while you are tuning, use the tuner to increase your skills not diminish them!
There is a lot more to say about tuning, hopefully in some future articles. Contributions welcome!