Guitar and Ukulele Tuning

Tuning your instrument is one of the first skills you should master when learning how to play.  If you are lucky, you'll pick an instrument like piano that has to be tuned by a professional and therefore gets you off the hook of learning.  But, you probably aren't that lucky since you are here to learn.

I'm putting guitar and ukulele in the same lesson for one simple reason:  They share a lot in how you tune.  I say that for those who start on one instrument and then move to the other.  Many a guitarist has picked up a ukulele, felt completely baffled, and put it back down usually muttering some immature notion such as "those are cute toys."  (If you say that, I will unfriend you.)

Lets start with guitar.  Standard guitar tuning is E A D G B E (from low to high).  You can use an acronym to  remember the tuning if you would like.  I like the one "Elephants And Donkeys Grow Big Ears".  Now, for tuning, we always want to start at the lowest note (fattest string) and work our way up. (This is because the bass supports the rest of the music.)  See below for more info on how to get that first note tuned.

Now, once you have that first note tuned, you can use the guitar to tune itself.  This is a very useful method for not only quick tuning between songs, but also for developing you ear to hear different tones.  First, count up five frets from the nut on the low E string and strum that note. This will be the note A that you should tune the next string to.  You can count up this way to get the notes for the next few strings too.  But, once you get to tuning the B string, you need to count up only four (not five) to do this.  For the last string, count up five from the not on B string.  Here's a diagram:

Ukulele

Ukulele is only a little different.  We can still use the same idea to tune it to itself, we are just going to use different pitches.  Now, at this point, it is important to point out something that usually throws a few people off.  The ukulele has several different options when tuning.  The standard tuning is what we call C6 tuning.  However, even the standard has two flavors: linear and re-entrant.

Linear tuning means that we tune all of the strings in order from low to high.

Re-entrant tuning means that we start with a higher string, then go down to a lower string and proceed up the scale. Five string banjo also uses this type of tuning.  This tuning also gives ukuleles the characteristic "My Dog Has Fleas" sound.

Whether lenear or Re-entrant, the order of notes is the same in C6 tuning (which we will refer to as standard tuning).  The notes are G C E A.  The G string is the one which we either tune low (linear) or high (re-entrant).

Since re-entrant is the most common tuning, I will show you how to do "self-tuning" in that style.  First, we want to tune our lowest string which will be not the G, but the C string (again, see below for tips on getting that note tuned).  Then, we count up 4 frets to get the note for the next string which is E.

Now we will regress to tuning the G string (which we skipped).  Count up 3 frets from the nut on the E string will give us the G we are looking for.  Once you have that in tune, count up the E string two more (a total of 5 from the nut) and you have your A for the A string.

Here is a diagram:

Tuners

Seventy years ago, there weren't many options for tuning an instrument. You usually found a piano or other instrument that you could tune to.  If you were the typical upper middle class home, you'd just use the piano.  If you were in poverty, you did your best to tune it by ear.  Now-a-days, though, there are tons of options for tuning your instrument.

A Guitar Pitch Pipe

The first is still old school, but I highly recommend it for reasons of training your ears.  A pitch pipe as they are called can be bought for whatever instrument you are tuning or even a chromatic one with several pitches.  You simply blow on the desired pitch and tune the instrument by ear.  Most came with multiple pitches so you didn't have to tune the instrument against itself.  Aside from needing to tune by ear, the downside is that if the pitch pipe was out of tune, your instrument was out of tune.

There are also several websites that have "online" pitch pipes.  This can be a good option if you have speakers and often play in front of your monitor.

Snark Clip On Tuner

In our electronic age, the best method is the electronic tuner.  Twenty years ago, electronic tuners were still in their adolescence and relied on a poorly constructed microphones to pick up the sound your instrument made.  They progressed to plug in ones for electrified instruments, but those got expensive quick.  As digital electronics got better and better, the clip on tuners have hit the scene and changed the way we tune.

Clip on tuners can run from $10 up to $250 depending on who made them and if the come with any other functions or extras.  My experience is that a $20 or $30 tuner will last a lifetime if not abused and get you as in tune as you need. 

However, if you play an electrified instrument two options outside of the clip on are a tuner that you can plug in to the output cable or an on-board tuner.  The "in-line" tuners are great if you are already using effects petals.  It makes tuning pretty simple and can even help by "turning off" your instrument.  The on-board tuners are tuners added directly to your instruments on-board electronics.  They aren't available to every instrument, but are a wise upgrade if you are buying a new instrument from the factory.

So, that's all I have to say on tuning in this lesson.  As I mentioned before, mastering tuning is a critical step to mastering any instrument.  I highly recommend you learn not only how to use electronic gadgets, but also how to tune by ear.  The better you can recognize that you are in tune by ear, the easier it will be to know you are out of tune.

Banjolele Blues

I've been having some string trouble with my Goldtone Banjolele lately and I finally figured out what was wrong.  Let me give you a little background...

First off, ukulele strings do not come with the convenient little nubs, rings, beads, loops, etc at the end to make it easy to string.  They, like classical nylon guitar strings, are just strings at both ends.  This means that you usually have to tie the strings to the bridge or tailpiece and tie in such a way that the knots don't slip or break the string.  At first, I thought there was a disadvantage to my banjolele because I couldn't get the knots just right.

In fact, since I have owned the banjo (bought in April) I have gone through five sets of strings.  No, I don't play it that often.  What has been happening is I would open the case or come in the room after leaving it on a stand overnight and find one (or more) of the strings had popped at the knot.  Usually it would be the metal wound strings (I have a baritone with the wound D and G).  In fact, during a rehearsal for the musical "Flyer" that I was in this summer, a string popped and I found myself frantically retying it before the next piece started.

So, I got to the research.  There had to be a better way of tying these or something I was missing.  What I found made me a little excited.

The Goldtone banjoleles use a tailpiece that is not supposed to be tied.  That's right, it is what is known as a "no knot" tailpiece.  From what I can gather, this was a common tailpiece on '20s and '30s style banjos (especially Gibsons).

There is one small problem that I still have, though.  Elderly sent me the banjo with the strings knotted onto the tailpiece.  I'm assuming that this is a common thing for them.  There must have been some set up after Goldtone sent it to them, but either the manufacturer or Elderly installed the strings wrong.  Well, after trying to correct the mistake I can see why it was done.

(Now, let me pull back a second and say I like Elderly and Goldtone.  I will still be an Elderly customer and I would buy another Goldtone banjo/banjolele/guitar if I was shopping.)

The Goldtone version of the "no-knot" tailpiece has a big flaw:  The pegs are not far enough apart for the strings to fit in between them (see the pic above).  The good news: a replacement part is cheap.  Stewmac has them for about $10.  The downside is: they aren't in stock!

Luckily, my old friend ebay still likes to throw me a bone or two.  The new tailpiece not only allows me to properly install the strings, but it also allows me to adjust the tail piece's screw a little more accurately (I hear the closer it is to the head, the brighter the sound).

So, if you happen to purchase a Goldtone banjolele, take a look at that tailpiece.  If you are having trouble with strings snapping, a replacement may be the answer.

~DB

Setting Up

One of the hardest things to get into my head for the first few years of playing was the importance of correct setup of my guitar.  I figured, like most people, that guitars came like most anything else: ready to go.  Unfortunately, that can't be further from the truth.  Guitars, bass guitars, ukuleles, and most instruments need a qualified luthier or technician to do some adjustments to the instrument to make it ready to play.

Most manufacturers will do there best to make them playable out of the box.  But, when you ship an instrument and bump it around a bit, the parts are going to get a little squirrely.  Even more, weather and climate changes can literally change the shape of an instrument.

So, I can't express the importance enough of finding a luthier or tech that you can talk to, develop a relationship with, and keep bringing stuff to.  It is so very, very important.

That said, there are a few things that you can do to setup yourself or at least evaluate the setup of your instrument:

1. First and foremost, if you don't know what strings are on it or when they were last replaced, get new ones.  If you don't know how to restring a guitar, have a luthier do it (it's not that expensive).
2. Oil the tuners.  I like sewing machine oil, but it can be messy.  I do this at least once a season on my instruments.
3. Polish it up, make it shiny.  Grime and gunk not only looks bad, but can potentially harm the longevity of the guitar.  Every restring should get a polished fretboard to boot.  Keep a microfiber cloth in your case or music bag and wipe it down quickly after you are done playing.
4. Check the frets.  Sometimes they come loose or pop out a bit.  Do this by playing each string at each fret all the way up and down the neck.  Fixing this is usually a luthier duty, but you can at least find the fret and narrow his search.

In the long run, having a qualified repair tech evaluate the instrument is the most important part of getting to know your new guitar.

~DB