How to tune a guitar

Standard tuning: the six strings

Almost every chord chart, lesson and songbook assumes standard tuning. The strings are numbered from the thinnest (1) to the thickest (6), but people usually name them from the thickest, the one closest to your face when you hold the guitar: E, A, D, G, B, E. The two E strings are two octaves apart.

The numbers after each letter are octaves: E2 is the low E, E4 the high one. The frequencies assume concert pitch, A4 = 440 Hz, which is what every tuner uses unless you change it. A classical guitar, an acoustic steel-string and an electric guitar all use the same notes; only the string tension differs.

Tuning with an online tuner

A chromatic tuner listens through the microphone, works out the pitch of the note you play and shows how far you are from the nearest note. Our free online tuner runs in the browser on a phone or a laptop; the sound is analysed on your device and is never uploaded.

1. Open the tuner, tap Start and allow the microphone. In a noisy room, hold the phone close to the sound hole or the amp.
2. Pluck the low E string once, firmly, and let it ring. Do not touch the other strings; their sound confuses the reading.
3. Look at the note name. If it says something other than E (for example D♯ or F), you are a semitone or more away: turn the peg slowly until E appears.
4. Now watch the needle. Left of centre means flat (too low): tighten the string. Right of centre means sharp (too high): loosen it.
5. Stop when the needle stays in the middle and the display turns green. Pluck again to confirm.
6. Repeat for A, D, G, B and high E, then check all six once more: tightening one string slightly pulls the neck and can move the others.

Reading the needle: flat, sharp and cents

Tuners measure the distance in cents: one semitone is 100 cents. A string within ±5 cents sounds in tune to almost everyone; within ±2 cents is as close as a guitar will hold while you play. Do not chase the last cent: pressing a string to the fret raises it a few cents anyway.

If the needle jumps around, the tuner is hearing several things at once. Pluck with the flesh of your thumb instead of a pick, mute the other strings with your fretting hand, and read the note a second after the attack, when the pitch has settled.

Always tune up to the note

If a string is sharp, loosen it until it is clearly flat, then bring it up to pitch. Tuning down to a note leaves a little slack in the gear and around the post, and the string slowly creeps flat while you play. Tuning up leaves the string under tension against the gear, so it stays put.

Tuning by ear: the 5th-fret method

With no tuner around you can still get the guitar in tune with itself. This is called relative tuning. It will not match a piano or another band member unless your first string matches them, so tune the low E to a reference first if you can: a piano key, another guitar, or the reference tone in our tuner.

1. Press the low E string at the 5th fret. That note is A. Play it and the open A string together and tune the A string until the two sound the same.
2. Press the A string at the 5th fret (a D) and tune the open D string to it.
3. Press the D string at the 5th fret (a G) and tune the open G string to it.
4. Here is the exception: press the G string at the 4th fret (a B) and tune the open B string to it. G to B is a major third, one fret shorter than the other pairs.
5. Back to the 5th fret: press the B string there (an E) and tune the high E string to it.

When two notes are close but not equal you hear a slow wobble, called beating. The wobble slows down as you get closer and disappears when the strings match. Listen for the wobble rather than trying to judge high and low; it is far easier.

Fine-tuning with harmonics

Harmonics make the beating even easier to hear. Touch (do not press) the low E string right above the 5th fret wire and pluck: you get a bell-like note. Touch the A string above the 7th fret wire and pluck: the two harmonics should be the same pitch. The same pair works for A–D and D–G. For the B string, compare the harmonic at the 7th fret of the low E with the open B string.

Why guitars go out of tune

A guitar that needs a small touch-up every time you pick it up is normal. A guitar that drifts within minutes usually has one of these causes:

• New strings. They stretch for the first few days. Tune, pull each string gently away from the fretboard along its length, tune again, and repeat two or three times.
• Temperature and humidity. Moving from a cold car into a warm room changes both the strings and the wooden neck. Give the guitar a few minutes to settle before tuning.
• Too few wraps on the post. Two or three wraps around the tuning post grip well. A single wrap slips; ten wraps keep stretching.
• Pressing too hard. Squeezing the strings bends them sharp, so a guitar can be perfectly tuned open and still sound off when you play chords. Press just behind the fret with only the force needed for a clean note.
• Tremolo bridges. On a floating tremolo, tuning one string changes the others. Go round all six strings two or three times in a row.

Other tunings you will meet

Some styles retune one or more strings. Every tuning below is reached from standard by turning pegs only; the tuner shows you the target note for each string.

Chord shapes from standard-tuning charts, including our guitar chord library, only work in standard tuning (and in half-step-down, where everything simply sounds a semitone lower). If you want to play in a higher key without retuning, use a capo instead: see how to use a capo.

Frequently asked questions