Hi, how are you doing? Justin here for BC-109,
that's the ninth lesson in the little beginner's course thing.
What we're gonna do is check out the "How to tune your guitar".
Now, to start off with I'm just gonna play the notes for you
one at a time, in case you're returning to this
to make sure that you've got your guitar tuned up nicely for the course
and I'm gonna explain a little bit about tuning afterwards.
So, first of all, let's just get that out of the way.
Here we go: this is the thickest string now,
the thickest E string
. . .
And again
. . .
One more time for good luck
. . .
Now over to the A string
. . .
also known as the 5th string
. . .
or the second thickest string.
. . .
And the next one
. . .
this is the fourth string,
. . .
also known as the D string.
. . .
And the next one
. . .
this one is the G string,
. . .
lots of innuendos about this string here
. . .
Lots of people like my G string
. . .
...couldn't help it...
This is the B
. . .
There are no jokes.
That other joke was so bad
I kinda...like any...extra...
Now we're on the thinnest E string.
. . .
OK, so, that's some tuning notes for you
and that's the easiest way.
There's also some tuning notes on my website
if you wanted to use that instead.
Now, if you're gonna play with another guitar player
generally it's a good idea for one to get it in tune
and the other guy to tune off of the other guitar player
like play the strings one at a time.
That way you make sure to be in tune with each other
'cause that's the most important thing.
So if you're playing with other musicians tune up to them.
Buying a tuner is still what I'd recommend
as being the standard way of getting your instrument in tune.
It's just so much easier when your guitar is gonna sound nice
'cause learning to tune your guitar is like anything else.
You have to learn how to do it
and as you get better at it you get bet...you know...
as you get better as a guitar player
you're gonna get better at tuning your guitar.
And if people have to listen to it
it's a lot nicer if it's in tune, right?
What I'm gonna show you is a way to get a guitar in tune
if you don't have access to a tune or pitch fork
or piano or anything else to tune to
whereby you're kind of tuning the guitar to itself
so it sounds nice by itself
but it might not be in tune with the rest of the world, right?
If you find another guitar player he won't be in tune with you.
I'm gonna show you this little method.
It's the way most people kinda learn to tune up.
I don't think it's really very good.
There are some better ways to do it
which I explain on my website
but this is kinda the standard way
which I think is important that you know about.
And what we're doing is, we're going to be playing a note
at the 5th fret of the thickest string
and that should sound the same as the open fifth string.
And I'm gonna kinda tune it up and tune it down for you
so you hear kinda what I mean.
So let's go to a little close-up and have a look at this.
So tuning up using this method:
We're gonna be doing here 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
My guitar is already in tune.
If I play this note here at the 5th fret at the thickest string
and then I play the open A string which is the fifth string,
you hear it: Should sound the same.
. . .
Now, if it was flat like it was too low
you can hear it straight away
One of the things you wanna practice to is to imagining:
Is the second note higher or lower?
Hopefully you can hear that the second note is too low.
. . .
Still. . .
That's kind of the process you're going for there
by using the 5th-fret-thing, yeah?
If it's too high, you hopefully hear it's too high. . .
Good way is to practice singing it
or to keep play, singing the first note. . .
Then you have to go up to get that second note. . .
This is kinda the old-school way.
I don't really rate this way a whole lot
if you've got no other sort of tuning method this is not bad.
So the 5th fret of the thickest string
and the open A string or fifth string are the same.
Works again for the next one.
So 5th fret of the fifth string
and open D string or fourth string . . .
should sound the same.
You've got 5th fret of the D string and open G. . .
Sound the same, it's the middle two strings.
Now this time we have to move back to the 4th fret
just the note B and the open B string. . .
And lastly we have 5th fret on this second string
and the open E string.
So. . .
Little bit of a tweak there.
This was little look at one of the tuning methods
but please bear in mind that I do recommend
that you use an electronic tuner to make sure
that your guitar is in tune when you're a beginner guitar player.
I found lots of times that the guys that use an electronic tuner
and keep their guitar in all the time
learn to tune a lot faster and more acurately
'cause they're used to what it should sound like when it's in tune,
while somebody who's relying on that method I just showed you
in tuning by ear, their guitars are never quite in tune
because they're still learning to get it in tune
just like everything else it takes practice
to learn how to tune your guitar properly.
So, I'd really recommend first of all:
Buy a tuner, if you're stuck without a tuner
you can use this 5th-string method,
if you wanna get a little bit more advanced
go and check out my website and look for the advanced tuning techniques
and I'm gonna show you a couple of other methods.
But I think we have covered all of our basic stuff.
We're actually going to start playing stuff.
Wicked!
OK, so, I'll see you very shortly for Stage One.
Later, dudes. Bye-bye.