I cant tune my guitar
 

I cant tune my acoustic guitar , Whenever my moms boyfriend comes around he can do t perfectly in under a minute but i cant tune one string right after an hour! ive looked at vids that show you what the strings should sound like when properly tuned but i still can never get them to sound like they should i broke my 1st string in the attempt the technique where the strings 5th fret should sound like the string below its open fret
eg: E 5th fret should sound like A open fret
A 5th fret should sound like D open fret
so on and so forth

but i cant do that because ALL my strings are out of tune:banghead:

also another problem the morning after the guitar is tuned it goes out of tune , why does this happen?

i am new to the guitar and am probably missing something obvious or doing something horrendous to my guitar but i dont know what it is .

could be a bunch of things. the most likely being shoddy tuning pegs. the bane of cheap guitars everywhere.

you've got the method right but you need to know that you have 1 string in tune first before you start using it. if you don't have a tuner then find a song that you know is in E and has clear parts where the guitar is just playing that chord. old metallica is awesome for this.

Don't worry yourself too much about it. Nobody can do that at first, it took me a year before I could tune accurately like that, its just a matter of getting your ear in.

Some tuning tips -

Always tune going upwards. This stops the strings from snagging going down and ensures it stays in pitch more stably.

Make sure you're not putting too much pressure on the strings when fretting. This will send them out of tune.

Do it with distortion on. If its out of tune, you should hear the sound 'pulse' and 'beat'. The faster its doing this, the further out of tune you are. Tune it until the beat stops. Same goes for if you play a powerchord, in fact, once you're familiar with the sound of a powerchord, you can tune by them just as well as by 5th frets.

Make sure your tuners are tight enough. Most tuners have a screw head in the top. Tighten that up. Don't strip the thread, but make sure its not loose. this will keep things in tune as best as the tuner is able.

Also, even if all of your strings are out of tune, you can still tune the guitar to itself. It won't be in tune with anything ELSE, but it will sound good when played on its own. If you want it to be in 'concert pitch' then its easy, just find something thats already in tune (Piano, keyboard, download a recording of a recognizable pitch, anything will do as long as you know what note it is. I know some people who can tune from the pitch of a dialtone.)

Get yourself a good electronic tuner, in order to stay in the standard 440....

lol

it's really not that difficult.

Some guitars will simply not stay in tune, or....they will dis-chord. They may be in tune by the traditional way that (you have stated) or by electronic tuner. But when you chord say....a G or C chord, (for example). they will be out of tune, this is (dischording). If you take your guitar from the warmth of your house and out into the cold, or store it at a cold spot within your house, drastic changes in the temperature will cause it to go out of tune. I would suggest take it to a music shop for work, or buy yourself a better guitar

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i sometimes stretch the strings a little before tuning up

yes that is my monumental contribution to this discussion

it's not a bad one though, and one that most people overlook when replacing strings (in which case it's a necessity).

Hi there,

I agree that a cheap electric tuner is the easiest. Even cheaper are the old fashioned pitch pipes that you blow in to. It is important that the guitar is tuned in concert pitch. If you start with one string too high that might explain why you snap strings.

I use my keyboard often for tuning to so that's another way. Also check where the strings pass over the bridge. If it is a budget guitar, there might be sharp unfriendly edges that are cutting the strings.

Let us know how it goes, Gordon.

You'll still have to learn but this will help.

Online Guitar Tuner