[Dixielandjazz] Tuning Guitars and other stringed instruments with electronic meters.

[Larry Walton Entertainment]

Tuning meters are of course a great aid in tuning but just can't tune a 
guitar by its self.  I would bet that after the instrument is "tuned" 
with a meter the better guitar player then plays several chords and 
tweaks the tuning especially the B string which usually needs to be a 
bit sharp to sound correct.  It's that tweaking I'm talking about.  The 
instrument actually needs to be tweaked for each key but thats a bit 
much and really not necessary.  When I was an active guitar player I 
tuned the "E" string and then the rest from that.  Then checked 
intervals on several chords both in first position and then up the 
neck.  I have seen guitar players check harmonics and octaves too.  If 
you try to tune a 12 string with a tuner you will end up with a mess.  
Piano tuners do not use tuning meters which should tell us something.

I guess it depends on how close you want to come to being in tune.

One of the problems with tuning a guitar or banjo with a tuner is that 
the initial attack is at one  place and then decays to another.  I found 
that especially true on banjo.  Then there are other problems such as 
strings that stretch or guys that tune down to the note.  What happens 
there is that there is slop in the tuning gears and tuning down to a 
note allows the gears to slip just enough to detune the string after a 
few minutes of playing.

The feature that I do find helpful that is on tuners is the ability to 
play a tone.

The real problem comes when the sax or trumpet section "believes" 
themselves to be in tune because they tuned on one note with a tuner and 
as you pointed out they will just "lip" it which by the way is an 
incorrect use of the tuner.  The horn player should play a short scale 
or few bars of music, hold a tone and then look at the tuner or better 
still have a friend hold the meter. 

I do use tuning meters to tune a school band because if you want to 
check tuning of 85 kids it's the fastest way and frankly after about 10 
of them play I lose the pitch in my head and the meter keeps me right on.

Tuners are IMHO for rough tuning only and just can't do the job alone.  
Young players are usually totally mystified  by tuning and a lot of them 
seem to carry this over into adult and "pro" bands. 

Larry Walton
St. Louis



Steve barbone wrote:
> I'm with Paul Edgerton. The electronic meter works just fine in tuning
> guitars. (and/or string bass, violin etc.)
>
> I've been working with one of the finest jazz guitarists around over the
> past 10 years or so and he uses a meter. Ditto for our bass player.
>
> Folks who have good ears are amazed at how in tune they, and the rest of the
> band, are. Especially when we occasionally play in unison. The front line
> tunes by ear to the guitar. We all used to use meters but since we horn guys
> all alter pitch with our chops, that became senseless.
>
> When watching the meter, if flat, we tightened our lip and if sharp we
> loosened our lip. So when tuning to the meters, whether tuning slides or
> barrels were in or out, we would put the pitch on the correct meter needle
> or l.e.d. reading. Worked better for us to tune by ear to the guitar.
>
> Cheers,
> Steve
>
>
>
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