Guitarists: Please Temper Your Tuning

Technology is great, and its contribution to how we make music is revolutionary—

• We can create insane soundscapes with just a press of a button or twist of a knob.

• We can add depth and character to otherwise mundane mixes. 

But there's an aspect of technology in music that we rely on TOO much, and it comes down to how you tune your instrument, specifically fretted instruments like guitars. 

You see, the usual go-to method for instrumentalists like guitarists is to fire up their tuner (clip-on, pedal, or other device), tune each string to reach the perfect setting, and then they're in tune, right? 

WRONG.

No sooner have they turned off the tuner that they strum a chord and what comes out is a gnarly, ear-biting dissonance where things are not jiving well, at all. 

This is because your instrument, while being in tune for each open string, is not fully optimized for playing in tune across the fretboard, which requires you to temper the tuning. 

Here's the deep dive into why this is the case and how you can account for it to deliver the best possible sound.

What Is Tempered Tuning?

Tempered tuning is the most widely used tuning system in Western music (that is, music that is traced back to Western European art music, so think everything classical, pop, jazz, rock, country, CCM, etc.). This is opposed to just intonation, where each note on the instrument is tuned to the exact, most-pleasing harmonic frequency, all relative to key of the song or piece. 

When you opt for tempering the tuning, you actually take some intervals "out of tune" when compared to their justified counterparts. The reason for this is that you often need greater flexibility when switching between keys, so a compromise has to be made in the perfect tuning that you get when using just intonation. Here's a simpler way of comparing the two:

• Just intonation: Say you're in the key of G. Each note on your instrument would be tuned with "G" as the point of reference. Using mathematical formulas that go all the way back to Pythagoras, all of your "G's" would be tuned to each other in their respective octaves, and all other subsequent notes would be spaced between the "G's" to maximize their harmonic qualities, or sounding the best "in tune." If you decide to switch to the key of A, but left all the notes on your instrument tuned to G, then your playing would sound out of tune because you've justified the tuning to G, not A.

• Tempered tuning: Instead of tuning to a particular key and then needing to readjust each time you transpose to a different key, you tune your instrument to a single reference point. (The most common is A=440Hz.) But then, to make transposition easier, the intervals from "A" are taken slightly out of tune from their just counterparts. This way, when you transpose to a different key, the notes sound more in tune relative to each other and aren't locked down to being justified to "A" only. To make easy transposition standard across the board, most Western music uses a 12-tone equal temperament, where the chromatic scale is set to specific frequencies, resulting in a tonal system where we are used to hearing major 3rds, perfect 4ths/5ths, etc., that are slightly out of tune. (But we still think they sound good.)

In practical terms, tempered tuning works best for instruments that have fixed interval spacing, like a piano (keys) or guitar (frets). Other instruments, like violins, can play more "justified" to a particular key because they don't use any frets; they adjust the tuning of each note more easily simply by the player sliding their finger up or down the fingerboard. In effect, they adjust the temperament of their instrument to be more justified to a particular key, but other string players, like guitarists can't really do this.

Or, can they?

Where Many Guitarists Get It Wrong (And How to Make It Right)

The most common tuning mistakes I see and hear come down to trusting the digital tuner for problematic strings like the 6th and 2nd (low E and high B, respectively). The problem depends on a couple of factors:

• Finger pressure and the set-up of the instrument.

• Our conditioning to equal temperament.

Let's talk first about the initial set-up of the guitar. Even though the guitar typically uses equal temperament, the construction of the instrument behaves as if it's justified and it requires further tempering, depending on which key you play in. To function properly and play in tune with itself, the intonation of the instrument has to be set. The way you do this is to set the tuning of the open string and then check the tuning of the note at the 12th fret (exactly one octave apart). If both notes are in tune, then you're good to go. If the 12th fret note is slightly out of tune, then you have to do one of the following, depending on the construction of your guitar:

• Adjust the bridge saddles (most common way on an electric guitar).

• Adjust the curvature of the neck via the truss rod (most common/practical way on an acoustic guitar).

The different adjustment methods point out advantages and flaws: The electric guitar can make adjustments to the bridge without compromising the curvature of the neck, but the acoustic guitar has a fixed bridge placement—there are no adjustable saddles to move back and forth. Manufacturers have partially solved this by using compensated bridges, where a portion of the saddle is either placed further in or out of line with the rest of the strings, allowing for a closer, more accurate intonation from the factory. 

Still, it's not perfect, and when the player cycles through certain chords, those flaws are drawn out. 

Let's circle back to the 6th and 2nd strings. On the 6th string, when fretting, I've found that most folks put an overt amount of pressure on the string, causing it to go sharp. When you do that on, say, a G chord, the 6th string doesn't ring in tune with the open G on the 3rd string, which contributes to the ear-biting dissonance I mentioned earlier. 

Regarding the 2nd string, the same principle applies, where most players tend to utilize the 3rd-fret D or a 2nd-fret C in their shapes, and the sounding note is sharper than the strings that ring out an octave below.

The simplest solution is to adjust the open strings down a few cents (we divide the intervals of 12-tone equal temperament in spacings of 100 units, called "cents"), thereby allowing our fretted notes to return back to being in tune relative to their octave counterparts. 

"But wait a minute! What about playing open E and A chords? Won't those sound out of tune, since you've adjusted the open strings to be more flat?"

Well, yeah. That's the trade-off. Unless you play an instrument with true temperament frets (where the frets are divided to each string and adjusted in their placement on the neck), then you'll have to settle for this discrepancy. This requires you to either: 1) Re-tune between songs; or 2) Use another instrument to switch with when playing the next song.

My Go-to Method

They way I've described adjusting the tuning above is my default approach for tempering the tuning of the strings even further than what my digital tuner indicates, even though it renders some of my open-string chords useless. This is because, for the most part, the voicings I prefer utilize the fretted notes more than the open strings, so I need those notes to be in tune across the instrument. Here are the steps I follow:

• Tune all open strings to being "in tune" with my digital tuner, setting the 6th and 2nd strings to be slightly flat. 

• Then, on the 6th string, I check a 3rd-fret G against the open G an octave higher, and then I check the 1st-string, 3rd-fret G the same way, adjusting by ear to make they all ring in tune with each other.

• Next, I play the open 4th-string D against the 2nd-string, 3rd-fret D and match the pitch of the higher note to the lower note, and then I listen to it within a 1st-position G chord. if the D's ring nicely with the G's, then I'm in business. 

• The final check is between a 5th-string, 3rd-fret C against a 2nd-string, 1st-fret C. Sometimes, the adjustments between "D's" in the previous step can make the relationship between the 5th and 2nd strings a little off, so I split the difference to get them into an acceptable zone and then call it a day. 

If possible, I check my tuning against a piano if there is one being used in the group that day, just to make sure I match where its tuning has been set. If I find that I'll be playing in the key of E or A a lot for that Sunday, I either opt to capo up to use my familiar shapes for which I've optimized the instrument, or I do the following to take advantage of the open strings for added color:

• Tune all strings to being "in tune" with my digital tuner, no initial adjusting down or up.

• Check the 6th-string E against the 1st-string E and the 4th-string, 2nd-fret E. If any adjustments need to be made, it'll most likely be the 4th string. 

• Then, I check the 2nd-string B against the 5th-string, 2nd fret B, adjusting the lower note to match the higher one. I repeat the same step, but this time adjusting the 3rd-string, 4th-fret B against the open 2nd-string B. (They are unison notes, so they're easy to match by bringing the 3rd string up or down to the 2nd string.)

The Bottom Line

Whether you're a seasoned musician or beginner, nobody is immune to over-relying on their tech to get them to the right setting or sound. Take some time to "live" with your instrument, figure out its idiosyncrasies, and then temper them accordingly. That way, you won't be frustrated, and your teammates will have an easier time blending with you!

Be blessed 👊✌️