Guitar tuner

Like many other stringed instruments, the tuning arrangement of the guitar can be easily modified. Guitar tunings almost always refers to the pitch of the open ("unfretted") string, though some *tunings* may only realistically be attained by the use of a capo of an unmodified instrument. When speaking of a tuning such as standard tuning, EADGBE refers to the pitches of the strings from lowest pitch (low E) to highest (high E).

Standard tuning

Standard tuning is by far the most popular tuning on a 6-string guitar. It consists of the following notes.

The pitches referred to above are referenced standard pitch (a' = 440.0 Hz.). In some regions of Europe, especially Germany, Serbia and Poland, and in Russia and Ukraine, where classical musicians use the German system, the B natural is indicated with the letter H: in music notation, H is B♮ (B natural) and B is B♭ (B flat).

The guitar, as conventionally fretted, is an equal tempered instrument.

The guitar is a transposing instrument. In the case of the guitar, its actual pitches sound one octave lower than notated.

Letter names in table reflect pitch in Helmholtz pitch notation.

This pattern can also be denoted as E-A-d-g-b-e'. (See note for an explanation of the various symbols used in the above table and elsewhere in this article.)

Standard tuning has evolved to provide a good compromise between simple fingering for many chords and the ability to play common scales with minimal left hand movement. The separation of the first (e') and second (b) string, as well as the separation between the third (g), fourth (d), fifth (A), and sixth (E) strings by a five-semitone interval (a perfect fourth) allows notes of the chromatic scale to be played with each of the four fingers of the left hand controlling one of the first four frets (index finger on fret 1, little finger on fret 4, etc.). It also yields a symmetry and intelligibility to fingering patterns.

The separation of the second (b), and third (g) string is by a four-semitone interval (a major third). Though this breaks the fingering pattern of the chromatic scale and thus the symmetry, it eases the playing of some often-used chords and scales, and it provides more diversity in fingering possibilities.

open 1st fret (index) 2nd fret (middle) 3rd fret (ring) 4th fret (little)

1st string e' f' f♯' g' a♭'

2nd string b c' c♯' d' e♭'

3rd string g a♭ a b♭ ...

4th string d e♭ e f f♯

5th string A B♭ B c c♯

6th string E F F♯ G A♭

Chromatic note progression

It is important to note that the relative harmonic ratio (e.g. semitones-steps) between neighboring strings, does not change when moving up the frets. For example when considering the 1st and 2nd strings: e' to b (open strings) is like f' to c' (1st fret) is like f♯' to c♯' (2nd fret) etc.

The chromatic (equal tempered) musical scale and the natural musical scale have note pitches that are in some instances similar. The natural musical scale uses natural harmonic pitches. For example, the A note has harmonics pitches for the D and E notes. The guitar fretboard can approximately accommodate to tuning to the chromatic or natural musical scale by adjusting the intonation by a little. Intonation is tuning of the fret notes to other fret notes of one string so that most of the fretboard note pitches are tuned to the pitches of the musical scale. Intonation tuning is done by adjusting the string lengths at the bridge. The open string note of a particular string is kept constant so that when adjusting the string length, most of the fretboard pitches are closely matched to the pitches of the musical scale for this string. Tune the open string by adjusting the string tension at the tuning gear using a decent electronic tuner for tuning. Then check the intonation tuning of the fifth, seventh, ninth, twelfth, sixteenth and nineteenth fret note pitches of this string by ear using an electronic chromatic pitch pipe that comes with the above tuner. If these pitches are too high, move the bridge saddle back (away from fretboard) from about 0.5 to about 9 millimetres for the sixth string for a 0.65 metre scale length. If these fret note pitches are too low, then move the bridge saddle forward a little instead. Next tune intonation of other strings each in same way.

Alternative tunings

Alternative tuning refers to any open string note arrangement other than that of standard tuning detailed above. Despite the usefulness and current almost universal acceptance of modern standard tuning, over the centuries of the development of the guitar many guitarists have employed such alternative tuning arrangements in order to exploit the unique chord voicing and sonorities that result from them. Some musicians use alternate tunings exclusively, especially in folk music where the guitar is often fulfilling the role of indigenous instruments with their own drones and sound.

The band Sonic Youth's sound relies heavily on the use of alternative tunings to the point where they generally use a particular guitar tuning for one or two songs, and take dozens of instruments on tour. Most alternative tunings necessarily change the chord shapes associated with standard tuning, which results in certain chords becoming much easier to play while others may become nearly impossible to play.

As a standard set of guitar strings is designed to be tuned to the standard notes, alternative tunings may require not just a different tuning, but re-stringing of the guitar with strings of a different gauge better suited to the open string note. In turn, further adjustments to the applicable parts of the guitar, such as the truss rod, the nut, and the bridge to cope with the different tensions placed on the guitar may be required. In some tunings, such as those requiring the substitution of a Bass guitar string on a regular 6 string guitar, fitting different components will be required to cope with the different gauges used. The Seattle based band The Presidents of the United States of America use instruments called the basitar and guitbass which are examples of heavily modified production model 6 string guitars utilizing extreme tunings.