Real men don't use tuners

I have been a slave to my tuner.

Recently, someone told me not to rely on tuners, especially cheap ones because of calibration issues.

I've been trying to tune by ear, string to string, and I think I like it better. On at least one guitar double stops rang better.

What is the general opinion. Tuner or Ear?

also, I've been looking at the Peterson tuners. I'd like to be able to better set intonation. Anyone have one? Opinions?

Tuners. Even if they're not calibrated, everybody is off by the same amount, playing on the same (de)tune. Anyway now I use a digital Korg GA-30 Auto tuner, and previously an analogic yamaha. Never went off the tune. If you don't trust tuners, buy a tuning fork, it's mechanic and relies on physics to produce the exact note so it doesn't goes out of tune. You should not trust all that people say to you. Electronic tuners are reliable and you can see every stage guitar player use them.

'General Specific' < This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it > escribió en el mensaje

It's generally considered unprofessional to tune by ear onstage so I use a Boss TU-2. When you step on it, it mutes you while you're tuning. In rehearsal it's a lot more accurate if everyone tunes to a tuner rather than relying on their ears.

At home I just tune by ear.

Everyone who plays on stage should own one of these. If you don't already have one, do your bandmates and your audience a favor and pick one up. Well worth the $80. It's more important than any effects pedal, new guitar, preamp, or anything.

In the words of a man much wiser than myself, 'Stay in tune, man.'

Yeah, I recently acquired one of those and it's worth it's weight in gold.

GM

DK et al are right on. The BOSS is the best for three reasons: affordable; versatile; and they have a model that will fit your style/situation.

For example, I like mine because: you can have it in line with your guitar cable; and, it has both lights and a meter, so you can get things working perfectly.

Now, if you need to get back in tune really quickly but not super-accurately, look at the small Sabine unit that sticks to your guitar body (but does not damage the guitar surface at all.) Small and basic, but I've seen them on stage a lot. I use one when needed. Otherwise, use a BOSS.

As for a Petersen strobe tuner, in my opinion, every tech should have one on their workbench, but it is an expensive unit for a player, and not really needed, except for intonation and tech work.

On an aside, the tuner question also depends on your situation. For example, if you are playing blues or hard rock (SRV to Deep Purple), you'll end up tuning to the organ (probably a Hammond B-3).

Meanwhile, if you are into metal or another situation, being able to get yourself in gear perfectly is nice (a la Neil Young...each member of the group uses the exact same tuner and model...see 'Rust Never Sleeps.'

Finally, as a guy who was around before the personal electronic guitar tuner was invented (I've been playing since the 50's), don't get dependent on the tuner.

Learning to tune your guitar without a tuner is great practice in itself and will help you out, like when you have to quickly switch to an alternative tuning between songs, etc. In brief, use it, but don't abuse it.

Hope this helps.

'General Specific' Wrote:>

Both.

If you play with people who have instruments that are hard to tune, like accordion, piano, synths or horns, you have to be able to tune your instrument to match their tuning, whether it's 'out of tune' or not. In those cases you can not rely on tuners.

If you're onstage, plugged into a loud amplifier and surrounded by loud voices of drunk and partying people the audience will surely be pleased if you can tune your instrument silently without the aid of your ears.

Teemu K

That's the great thing about the TU2. You can change the frequency from 440 or to drop tuning and save your setting. Mine is set to Eb as I tune 1/2 step down.

I'll use a tuner before a gig but I always tune by ear otherwise. Being able to tune by ear is a skill too many young players fail to learn. If you never do it, you won't learn it, and it's helpful to be able to adjust on the fly.

Are you talking about standing there and tuning all six strings audibly between a song? That is really, really unprofessional and really annoying to the audience.

Nee nee Nee nee Nee nee Nee nee Nee nee Nee nee

Yuck

tuner. When you're recording a tune with keyboards and synths, you're going to notice very rapidly if the guitar's not in tune. A digital tuner is very invaluable for fixing this, and it's faster than tuning by ear.

I've had my BOSS TU-12 for 20 years, and it's been one of the best investments I've ever made.