One of the most important things the player must do before playing his or her guitar is to tune it. If the guitar is not in tune, the sound that emulates from it will sound very off pitch. There are three basic methods to tuning your guitar, the first two of which will be covered in this lesson:

1. Tune your guitar relative to itself by comparing fretted notes to open strings
2. Tune your guitar using a tuner
3. Tune your guitar relative to itself by comparing harmonics on different strings.

In addition, it's important to understand the difference between a guitar being in tune with itself (relative tuning), and being in absolute tune. There are also certain nuances of which to be aware when you are in the process of tuning your guitar.

Absolute Tuning

If you need your guitar to be exactly in tune with a piano, then you'll need a tuner or some other device that can give a reference. Using a tuning machine will ensure that your instrument is in perfect pitch with another instrument or corresponding pitch.

Relative Tuning

As stated above, relative tuning is the process of tuning a guitar to itself. To begin, you need to pick a string, which will be the reference point. For a beginner, this is usually the low E string (the 6th string). Using this string, you can tune the remaining strings of your guitar to put it in relative tune. For this example, we will assume that the 6th string is your reference point, and we will systematically tune the remaining 5 strings.
Tuning Your 5th String
You can use your 6th string to tune your 5th string. If you pluck the 6th string at the 5th fret, you will be playing the same pitch as your open 5th string. This note is an 'A'. So, to tune your 5th string:

1. Pluck the 6th string at the 5th fret.
2. Adjust the open 5th string until it has the same pitch as your fretted 6th string.

Tuning Your 4th String
You can use your 5th string to tune your 4th string. If you pluck the 5th string at the 5th fret, you will be playing the same pitch as your open 4th string. This note is a 'D'. So, to tune your 4th string:

1. Pluck the 5th string at the 5th fret.
2. Adjust the open 4th string until it has the same pitch as your fretted 5th string.

Tuning Your 3rd String
You can use your 4th string to tune your 3rd string. If you pluck the 4th string at the 5th fret, you will be playing the same pitch as your open 3rd string. This note is a 'G'. So, to tune your 3rd string:

1. Pluck the 4th string at the 5th fret.
2. Adjust the open 3rd string until it has the same pitch as your fretted 4th string.

Tuning Your 2nd String
For the all the strings so far, the 5th fret of a string has been used to tune the string above it. The only exception to this is the 2nd string, which has the same pitch as the 4th fret of the 3rd string. This note is a 'B'. So, to tune your 2nd string:

1. Pluck the 3rd string at the 4th fret.
2. Adjust the open 2nd string until it has the same pitch as your fretted 3rd string.

Tuning Your 1st String
You can use your 2nd string to tune your 1st string. If you pluck the 2nd string at the 5th fret, you will be playing the same pitch as your open 1st string. This note is an 'E' (the same pitch as your 6th string, but two octave higher). So, to tune your 1st string:

1. Pluck the 4th string at the 5th fret.
2. Adjust the open 3rd string until it has the same pitch as your fretted 4th string.

You have now tuned your guitar. It might be a good idea to play a simple "C" or "E" chord now. If it sounds off to you, please follow the steps again.