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Topic: tuning a 6 string to a piano? |
Terry Sneed
From:
Arkansas,
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Posted 4 Sep 2004 7:32 am |
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I've always just tuned my 6 string note for note when tunin to a piano. e-b-g-d-a-e
but my b string always seems a little off to me. anybody else have this problem, or is it just my guitar? and if so, how do you tune your b string?
Terry
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84 SKH Emmons Legrand D10
session 400'rd Steelin for my Lord.
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richard burton
From:
Britain
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Posted 4 Sep 2004 10:31 pm
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Terry,
It's always a compromise when tuning a six-string. If you tune it so that it is perfectly in tune when you play a C chord, it will be out of tune when you play an E chord. Nature of the beast. A good guitar with low frets and a well cut nut will minimise this problem. A few years ago I read a review of a special nut (designed by Buzz Felton?) which claimed to eradicate this problem.
R B |
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John Kavanagh
From:
Kentville, Nova Scotia, Canada * R.I.P.
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Posted 6 Sep 2004 8:21 am
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This is the tip of a very big and ugly iceberg.
The problem is that in Equal Temperament, the compromise tuning that's normally used on modern keyboard instruments, everything is a little out of tune. It's more noticeable on the guitar, but the frets are installed to Equal Temperament so you can't get too far away from it.
What you're hearing is that the interval between your third and second string is a little bit too sharp. If you lower it a tiny bit, so that it sounds good when you play stirngs 1, 2 and 6 together and also sounds good when you play strings 2,3, and 4 together you might have a better compromise.
What I do now is tune every string from the same note - often the key that I'm playing in most. So I might tune the g string open to a keyboard or tuner, then tune the third fret on the first string, the (um..) 8th fret on the second string, 5th on the fourth, 10th on the fifth, and third fret on the sixth string - all to G in the proper octave. I find this spreads the error around pretty well. E is also good to start with, because you have two e strings, but it may not put you as well in tune with keys or winds.
Here's Feiten's site: http://www.buzzfeiten.com/
The information about historical temperaments, and the use of the word "tempered", is wrong on his site, but it looks like a great system to improve equal temperament on guitars.[This message was edited by John Kavanagh on 06 September 2004 at 09:32 AM.] |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 6 Sep 2004 9:56 am
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| Quote: |
| I've always just tuned my 6 string note for note when tunin to a piano. e-b-g-d-a-e |
Bad idea. (Pianos have no frets.)
Sound advice: If your 2nd sounds flat, raise it a little. And if it sounds sharp, lower it a little. (This works for the other strings, too.)
Forget the piano. |
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Bobby Lee
From:
Cloverdale, California, USA
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Posted 6 Sep 2004 3:01 pm
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| The B string of a guitar will always sound a little sharp when played with the G. That's the nature of the instrument. |
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