Is it supposed to sound like this?

Guitar tuning is a basic skill you'll want to master right away. As dull and unmusicalHere are some common methods you can use to get your guitar sounding just right.

Use a Tuner

Electric tuners are incredibly useful and come in a few common types:

• Clip-on tuners: Attach one of these to your acoustic guitar's headstock and it will pick up the vibrations directly from the wood. This makes them great for noisy environments.
• Handheld tuners: These are standalone devices that you can use with both acoustic and electric guitars. Simply pluck a string and the tuner will display whether the note is sharp, flat, or in tune.
• Pedal tuners: Used with electric guitars, often in a pedalboard setup. You can activate the tuner by stepping on the pedal, allowing for quick tuning during performances. Lots of guitarists use this type of tuner as a cool "kill switch" effect as well.
• Smartphone Apps: No dedicated tuner? No problem! Download a smartphone guitar tuner app and you'll have a tuner in your pocket. App tuners use your phone's microphone to pick up the sound of your guitar. So, they work best with acoustic guitars or electric guitars plugged into an amp.

Tune to a Reference Pitch

Folklore

Tune your guitar to a reference pitch, such as a piano, tuning fork, or another instrument. Here's how:

1. Play the reference pitch (for example, the A note at 440 Hz).

Tune your guitar to itself using harmonics or relative tuning. Here's a simple method to tune in standard EADGBE tuning:

1. Start by tuning the 6th string (low E) to a reference pitch using one of the methods above. No tuner? Playing solo? Just get it as close as you can by ear. Sometimes, it's only important that the strings are in tune with each other.
2. Press down on the 5th fret of the low E string (6th string) and pluck the string. This should produce an A note.
3. Tune the 5th string (A note) to match the note you just plucked.
4. This method works for tuning all but one of the strings:
   • 5th fret of the 6th string (E) to tune the 5th string (A)
   • 5th fret of the 5th string (A) to tune the 4th string (D)
   • 5th fret of the 4th string (D) to tune the 3rd string (G)
   • 4th fret of the 3rd string (G) to tune the 2nd string (B) Note: use the 4th fret here instead of the 5th.
   • 5th fret of the 2nd string (B) to tune the 1st string (high E)

Once you have your list, it's time to do some housework. Remember how you were supposed to list all your ideas, both good and bad? Here's how to go through that list.

• Circle or highlight your best ideas
• Scratch out or delete the ideas that aren't going to work. Let them go.
• Make connections between related ideas. Have two similar ideas? Try to rephrase your thought by combining the two.
• Elaborate on your best ideas. I like to immediately make a list of thoughts below each of my best ideas. Sometimes, I do this with another timed exercise. Other times, my mind is already flowing freely at this point and making new lists comes naturally.