Learn how to tune your instrument

[Wewus432]

The fact is most people can't tune by ear, so.....what I'm saying IS, let ONE person, use the same device to tune all the instruments.

 

It's a very simple thing that works. I guess some people have too much pride to let someone else tune their instrument, but I'm telling you, it's better to have EVERY instrument tuned a little bit off consistently, than to have one instrument tuned perfectly, and every other instrument tuned off, a little bit differently.

[henrysb3]

Originally posted by bluestrat:

I don't know how to tune my harmonica. Does that mean I suck?

If you're playing cross harp, yes, more than you would blow.

 

Henry

[gtrmac]

In my opinion anyone who can't tell if their instrumsnt is out of tune should not consider music as a profession. I think it's a requirement. If you can't hear pitch even when your instrument is in tune you'll be extremely handicapped. How can you listen to music and learn from it if you can't tell what notes are being played. I studied violin as a kid and even though I didn't practice and sucked I still played in tune. Now I play in a band with a guy with perfect pitch and sometimes he complains if the guitars are out of tune. The trouble is guitars are always out of tune!

[Wewus432]

My son, Sam, has been playing cello for 6 years now, and he's really good, but sometimes it's torture for me to listen to some of the orchestras he's played with. Most of the time, all the stringed instruments are out of tune......just a little bit. Just enough to make the music suck for me. At times I just want to jump up on the stage and scream...STOP! It's time to tune the instruments. I've even thought about approaching the school system to help them develop some kind of TUNING Program.

 

I hate the sound of 20 violins, all tuned wrong.

[PBBPaul]

At a gig not too long ago, I tuned my guitars with an electronic tuner and thought everything would be just fine. When we started to play, the whole band sounded like shit. Turned out that the club had some power issues that knocked the old B3 down a 1/4 step. We all had to retune on the fly very quickly.

[Bbach1]

Originally posted by gtrmac:

In my opinion anyone who can't tell if their instrumsnt is out of tune should not consider music as a profession. I think it's a requirement. If you can't hear pitch even when your instrument is in tune you'll be extremely handicapped. How can you listen to music and learn from it if you can't tell what notes are being played. I studied violin as a kid and even though I didn't practice and sucked I still played in tune. Now I play in a band with a guy with perfect pitch and sometimes he complains if the guitars are out of tune. The trouble is guitars are always out of tune!

Well, what about all the deaf people who want to play music? You're just not being fair.

[Wewus432]

Yeah I know, sorry for being so hypocritical.

[fantasticsound]

Originally posted by TheWewus:

...I hate the sound of 20 violins, all tuned wrong.

Isn't that the definition of a string section?!?

 

[Blue Strat]

Originally posted by TheWewus:

I've even thought about approaching the school system to help them develop some kind of TUNING Program.

 

I hate the sound of 20 violins, all tuned wrong.

Then why not take action and do something about it? A program like you mention would certainly have a place. It would be kind of like ISO 9001 or something. We have to have all of our precision measuring instruments at work certified to be within a certain tolerance of a standard, so it makes sense to me to have the individual members of a band (most certainly an orchestra) have their tuners tested against a standard.

[Wewus432]

It's a good idea, but a hard sell. Let me think on this.

[the stranger]

Originally posted by TheWewus:

A thing I like to do is take everyone's instrument, who is playing, and tune them together, by myself...

This can be a really good thing, and you should try it. Let the person who is the best at tuning, tune ALL the instruments. That way you don't have five different people using five different ways of tuning, or five different electronic tuners, which all might have different frequencies, and inputs they work at.

I used to do this with various outfits I've played with (I'm always the guy with the best ear...), but I found that this isn't fullproof. What happens is I can take and tune all the string instruments together and they will sound good, but

each player has his own technique that affects how

well the instrument will be in tune.

*example: I can get a guitar in tune so it sounds even all across the neck, but if I hand it to my buddy, it won't sound even across the neck anymore. Why? Our playing technique differs enough that we don't fret chords exactly the same. And that slight difference makes a big difference in how well the instrument seems to be in tune.

 

Solution: Throw away any tuner that isn't strobe based. If you are using anything but a peterson strobe tuner of some sort, you are only getting close. I've never used a needle/LED type tuner that still didn't require tweaking the guitar by ear after using it.

 

A strobe tuner is accurate to 1/1000th of a cent. I doubt very seriously that anybody has an ear that can zero in on 1/1000th of a cent.

[coyote]

The guitar will never be perfectly in-tune; it's inherent in the instrument. To go for 1/1000 is a big waste of time, especially since it will be out of tune anyway as soon as the first note is played. You only need get it "close enough for jazz" - everything else is superfluous.

 

And any 'musician' that cannot do that BY EAR within a few seconds needs remedial ear training.

Originally posted by stranger:

A strobe tuner is accurate to 1/1000th of a cent. I doubt very seriously that anybody has an ear that can zero in on 1/1000th of a cent.

[Franknputer]

Originally posted by PBBPaul:

At a gig not too long ago, I tuned my guitars with an electronic tuner and thought everything would be just fine. When we started to play, the whole band sounded like shit. Turned out that the club had some power issues that knocked the old B3 down a 1/4 step. We all had to retune on the fly very quickly.

This is worth noting! A Hammond organ's pitch is directly related to the AC cycles feeding it. I was band tech on a gig (Beach Boys, if you're keeping score ) where they had a Hammond/B3 running from generator power. We could not get the genny to go below 64 Hz, which kicked the Hammond up somewhere between 1/2 and a whole step sharp!

 

Needless to say, this didn't fly...so I had to have a digital replacement flown up instead (and drive an hour each way to get the #&@$ thing).

 

Salt in the wound: the gig was on a beach, accessed by a steep stairway...so not only did the organ have to be carried down & up, but it was pretty much for nothing.

[Bunny Knutson]

Originally posted by fantasticsound:

Originally posted by TheWewus:

...You are not a real musician until you can tune your instrument..... perfectly...

You, of all posers, should know there's no such thing as perfect tune! Go temper yourself!

[Tedly Nightshade]

Originally posted by Christopher Kemp:

Originally posted by PBBPaul:

At a gig not too long ago, I tuned my guitars with an electronic tuner and thought everything would be just fine. When we started to play, the whole band sounded like shit. Turned out that the club had some power issues that knocked the old B3 down a 1/4 step. We all had to retune on the fly very quickly.

This is worth noting! A Hammond organ's pitch is directly related to the AC cycles feeding it. I was band tech on a gig (Beach Boys, if you're keeping score ) where they had a Hammond/B3 running from generator power. We could not get the genny to go below 64 Hz, which kicked the Hammond up somewhere between 1/2 and a whole step sharp!

 

Needless to say, this didn't fly...so I had to have a digital replacement flown up instead (and drive an hour each way to get the #&@$ thing).

 

Salt in the wound: the gig was on a beach, accessed by a steep stairway...so not only did the organ have to be carried down & up, but it was pretty much for nothing.

I've been on a gig where first we tuned to 440, then tuned four guitars again when we found out it the generator was running "flat" and the Hammond as well, and then had to retune down yet again when the lights came on at dusk and the generator sagged that much further. We were singing songs a good third below where we usually did! It was hard, and weird, and nothing to repeat!

 

For the B3 on the Beach Boys gig, a $99 dollar variac would have done quite nicely. Would have worked on our gig too!

 

WeWus, you are so right about the consistent frame of tuning reference. Hopelessly out the window, unfortunately, when the vibes are shifting as the metal bars change temp and humidity, the piano was tuned by the piano tuner, the keyboard only tuneable up or down by digital intervals, and the guitar and horn by the "other tuner"- not the piano tuner.

 

I have often found that bass tunings that sound good live are brutal on recordings, especially through cheap players- my guess is, live you are hearing the fundamental, on recordings you're lucky to hear the fundamental, so you listen to the harmonics and it sounds out of tune. Sigh.

 

Now, playing out of tune and sounding great, is a fine art in itself. I often have reflected that it's possible that Jimmy Page made a deal with the devil that he would always stay in tune, but Hendrix made one that he would sound magnificent even out of tune.

[Bejeeber]

Originally posted by TheWewus:

...I hate the sound of 20 violins, all tuned wrong.

If the little buggers can't get their violins tuned, what're the chances of them having developed the ability to put their fingers down on the right spots when playing, anyway? (hmmm...maybe some of what you're hearing is fingers on wrong spots?)