Puzzling question for you guitar guys

[Monkeyleg]

For the last five days I've been learning my way around my guitar, and practicing the same opening chords to the same song. Yesterday I received my amp, and everything sounds good.

After work today I was practicing again. I thought I should check the tuning. I have one of those little tuners that clamp to the head of the guitar. It just needed some minor adjustment.

When I went back to play the song again, everything was off. Notes were either sharp or flat. It sounded completely different than it did just before tuning.

I triple-checked the tuning, and it was right on. I checked the tuning using the tuner on the amp, and it showed that everything was in tune as well.

As soon as I start playing, though, it sounds horrible. The pitch is the same whether I use the amp or just listen to the guitar alone.

I'm stumped.

Any ideas?

[Ron]

For the last five days I've been learning my way around my guitar, and practicing the same opening chords to the same song. Yesterday I received my amp, and everything sounds good.

After work today I was practicing again. I thought I should check the tuning. I have one of those little tuners that clamp to the head of the guitar. It just needed some minor adjustment.

When I went back to play the song again, everything was off. Notes were either sharp or flat. It sounded completely different than it did just before tuning.

I triple-checked the tuning, and it was right on. I checked the tuning using the tuner on the amp, and it showed that everything was in tune as well.

As soon as I start playing, though, it sounds horrible. The pitch is the same whether I use the amp or just listen to the guitar alone.

I'm stumped.

Any ideas?

You might have over tightened or loosened a string(s) so that you are in the wrong octave. In tune, wrong octave, I think octave is the term I'm looking for. Just like you have an E on the top and an E on the bottom string, you could have adjusted one of the other strings out of standard open tuning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJxRjWtwmEE

[Monkeyleg]

No, that wasn't it. I didn't make adjustments that far.

I just went back, and the G string was way off. I tuned it and it sounds fine. Both tuners showed it as being in tune before.

 

[Ron]

New strings have to be re-adjusted a bit oftentimes.

Ron <-- failed at being a "guitar guy" 

[drewtam]

My experience:

Autotuners aren't very good and give you false positives. Maybe high dollar ones are better, I don't know, never tried high dollar ones.

Instead, use the tuner to get your E string in tune. Then put the tuner away. Tune the rest of the strings relative to that 'E' base. As you go up the strings, recheck your progress using a familiar major chord using some root note from the E string.

Again, my experience has been that after rechecking this method with the tuner, the autotuner will show each string in tune. But it will sound different compared to when they are tuned individually from the autotuner.


My guess is that autotuners have a wide range of "E" or "A", etc. So that everything +/-X% from the target frequency is displayed as in-tune. So you might get a tolerance stack up of all the strings and the resulting chord doesn't sound quite right.

[Tuco]

Some tuners will display the note, some will just display the pitch relative to the nearest whole note.
If the G was flat enough to be F the tuner will read "on pitch" but as an F.

On the other hand, plucking an open string causes the whole axe to resonate, and the tuner will pick up the whole cluster of vibrating wood, and read an average.
Try muting the strings you're not checking with your free fingers.

eta - Hey, aren't you playing in DGDGBD? That will confuse a tuner.

[Tallpine]

My Qwik Tune does all right.

When in "auto" mode it sometimes fishes around to find the right string.

[Azrael256]

Is it an IntelliTouch tuner?  I got my paws on one of those when they came out (orchestra director knew the fellow who started the company) and it was great for tuning an acoustic instrument, but I wasn't as impressed with its performance on an electric guitar.  It's close enough for government work, but it's not like a high-dollar strobe tuner.

[Monkeyleg]

I don't have the strings in DGDGBD right now. I had

As for tuning, I only do one string at a time, and avoid touching the others. I lay the guitar on my legs and lap, as I thought having the neck hanging could affect the vibrations.

Both tuners showed the same.

The only thing I can figure is that I tuned the G chord to D, and then when I read a perfect D on both tuners, I didn't think about it. If that's what happens, then that's what I get for not wearing my reading glasses when looking at the strings.

[Fitz]

if you have a strat with a trem, it may be a pain. if it's floating, changing one will change others and you have to do each string several times.

[Monkeyleg]

First thing I did was remove the tremolo bar.

[Fitz]

Doesn't matter. The bridge is still as unstable as it is with the bar installed.


The bar is merely the means to manipulate the bridge.

[Monkeyleg]

I think what may have done it was my loosening the high E string, so that I wouldn't keep hitting it when playing the three strings required for "Brown Sugar". (I'm not to the point where I can mute the E string with my barre finger). If it's in tune with the E string loosened, tightening it may pull on the neck enough to change the other strings. Sound plausible?

[geronimotwo]

on chromatic tuners i have found myself tuning to the sharp or flat of the note, as it is easy to miss the little symbol that is the # or b indicator.  the tuner's pitch indicator will still show in the center.

also fitz had mentioned in your other thread about "blocking" your tremolo.  that can be a help for faster tuning, as the tremolo isn't floating and changing all the strings when you are tuning one.  once you are in tune it isn't as problematic.

[Fitz]

Where are you located, monkey? If its not too unreasonably far from either of my job sites, I could block your trem for you and give you some assistance

[Scout26]

He's in Ala-freaking-bama.

Every Good Boy Deserves Favor.

[Monkeyleg]

geronimotwo, both of the tuners I was using clearly show sharp and flat. The two tuners are very close in their readings, so I guess I trust them.

Fitz, I'm in the very northern part of Alabama, in Decatur, just west of Huntsville. I'm checking the tuning now after each hour or two of playing, and it's not off, or off by just a teeny bit.

I took one of the small velcro straps for the amp to guitar cable and hung it on the high E chord. No more problems with hitting that string when I'm trying to strum hard across the strings. I can mute the A chord with my index (basse) finger, but I can't bend the finger properly to mute the high E string while still holding down the other three.