This is very important! A guitar that is in good tuning will make the difference between you and other people enjoying your guitar playing. This section shows you how to tune your guitar the standard way.

The standard guitar strings are as follows:

E:----------------------------------------
B:----------------------------------------
G:----------------------------------------
D:----------------------------------------
A:----------------------------------------
E:----------------------BOTTOM------------

To tune your guitar yourself you must assume that the Bottom E is correct. Now place your finger on the 5th fret of the bottom E like this:

E:----------------------------------------
B:----------------------------------------
G:----------------------------------------
D:----------------------------------------
A:----0-----------------------------------
E:----5-----------------------------------

The note you are playing should be an A The next string should sound exactly the same. Turn the tuning peg (machine head) until it does. Next:

E:----------------------------------------
B:----------------------------------------
G:----------------------------------------
D:----0-----------------------------------
A:----5-----------------------------------
E:----------------------------------------

The 5th fret on the A string should sound a D note, your D string should sound exactly the same. Repeat this with all the strings except the G and B strings they are tuned a little different as you can see in this TAB illustration.

E:-------------------------------0--------
B:-------------------------0--5-----------
G:-------------------0--4-----------------
D:-------------0--5-----------------------
A:-------0--5-----------------------------
E:-----5----------------------------------

If you are tuning the guitar yourself there is a good chance you wont get it right first time. This is because if one string is slightly wrong, the next string is going to be even worse. I would recommend buying an electronic tuner - one with a needle works best. After a while you will get used to the sound of a guitar that is well tuned. Also you can train your ears with my 'ear trainer', this is a test that will help you to build your musical ear. Ear Trainer