electric guitars....always out of tune?

[RideTheCrash]

My acoustic can be really bad for this. I had the nut adjusted months ago which helped a bit (the nut sucks) but I tune by ear using open E, A and D chords and then tweak the B string (usually the problem one) until I get a decent compromise between those 3 chords. Sometimes it just doesn't work out and I use generated tones to tune to by ear to get me back on track.

 

[hungovermorning]

I bought this book about 8 years ago and it is still preferred bathroom reading: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780793534906&itm=1
It seriously explains a lot and is about the equivalent of a Swiss Army Knife when first learning about maintaining and servicing your instrument.

 

[Light]

What I believe Light is getting at, and he is correct is a specific problem inerrant in fretted instruments tuned in 12ET, the piano has other tuning issues as you describe. The piano and guitar tuned in 12ET can never be in tune with each other across the board it just can't be done. Both can be tuned accurately of course but 12ET sets out limitations to every instrument.

A tuner is useful only to give you your reference tone. People use tuners in live situations where tuning issues are often not as critical or volume levels and time dictate that you need to get close and fast. When recording or practicing it is essential to learn to tune the guitar using a single reference the GAL article above is one excellent way to do this.

Essentially.

I use a tuning fork (we've got a great one mounted in a spruce box at the shop, so you don't even have to hold it in your teeth to hear it) to get the A string. I then tune the A on each string to the open A, and then tweak it a bit with an E power chord that hits all six strings (low to high, E-E-A-E-A-E; a bit of a stretch, but it works well for me). If I'm not starting from scratch (if I didn't just restring the guitar), I can do it in maybe 20-30 seconds on a bad day, 10-15 most days. Less time than it takes most people with a tuner, and I can do it in even the loudest of environments (dad's using a router at his bench 10 feet from mine? No problem). On some songs I'll tweak it a bit more, usually to a chord which particularly needs to be in tune, but the style I play works quite well on most songs without it.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi