How To Tune A Guitar With A Piano

There are a number of ways that a person tin tune a guitar. For me personally, I similar to use either a Boss TU-3 pedal, a Snark prune-on tuner, or Bluish Cat Audio's Hot Tuna. Just right there, that is 3 different ways of tuning your guitar: 1 is a clip-on tuner, one is a software tuner, and the other is a hardware/guitar pedal-tuner.

But how would you go about tuning your guitar if you don't own any of these things, but you practise, on the other mitt, own a piano or a keyboard of some kind? It'south possible that yous may even simply have a MIDI keyboard connected to a DAW and you lot want to tune with that? How would you go about doing it?

To tune the guitar with a piano, find the notes, E, A, D, 1000, B, and E on the piano and then strike each pianoforte central individually while matching the pitch with your guitar strings. Do 1 string-at-a-time, starting from either the low e-cord (E2) or high e-string (E3).

One of the cool things almost tuning your guitar with the piano is that I find it's overnice for getting your instrument into an contradistinct tuning. A popular tuning for acoustic guitars, for example, is DADGAD (a Dsus4 chord), and using a keyboard/pianoforte just might be easier if you want to do information technology chop-chop.

I reason using a piano for altered tunings is easier is because not every tuner is fully capable of stretching from note to note super quickly in the same way that a piano can. Your only limitation when using a piano every bit a tuner is your own skill level and cognition of the keys, simply I digress. Let's walk through how to actually do this.

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Tools You Need to Tune a Guitar with the Piano

1) Keyboard, MIDI Keyboard, or Piano

Y'all don't need a full one thousand pianoforte to tune a guitar, although, there'due south certainly nothing wrong with doing so if yous take one. Using a regular piano, bold information technology has been tuned recently, is a solid way of tuning your guitars and other instruments, if for whatever reason, you don't have access to a tuner.

Nearly all instruments are notated in the same way, which is one reason why all notes and chords tin can be applied to piano and guitar with some exceptions (my article on this).

Because I don't have a grand piano in my apartment, I'll be using a MIDI keyboard connected to Garageband to tune my instrument (the Arturia KeyLab 88 from zZounds is my favorite). If you program on using a regular piano, you don't even need Garageband or any DAW, you just need the piano itself.

2) Guitar

Evidently, you need a guitar to melody 1. I'll exist using my ESP Eclipse for this tutorial as a way of demonstrating how to go about this. This is an first-class guitar and I wholeheartedly support getting one from zZounds.

Optional Tools

iii) A DAW like Garageband (If You Don't Own An Analog Keyboard or Piano)

As I said earlier, I'll need to apply Garageband in society to load up a piano for tuning. Garageband actually already has a default tuner but as I've explained before on my other site, Producer Society, information technology's not the best. Ironically, you lot'd be ameliorate off to use the VST pianos to melody your instrument than the tuner that Garageband gives you lot.

Blue Cat Audio has a peachy tuner that comes as part of their Axe Pack on Plugin Boutique. It includes the awesome amplifier simulator, Axiom, and the baloney plugin, Destructor, in addition to another cool effects.

How to Tune A Guitar with the Piano

The middle C, as we'll explicate in a second, is the royal 'C that I've outlined in the epitome shown above. This 'C' on the MIDI keyboard is the 1st fret C on the B-string of the guitar. The 1st fret C on the B-string is C4 on the regular piano, but C3 on the MIDI keyboard. At least C3 is middle C in Garageband and on my 49-primal keyboard.

one) Sit Down With Your Guitar by the Piano

With your guitar in hand and your pianoforte (or DAW with your MIDI keyboard) in forepart of you, sit and become comfy because it's going to take a moment to tune your guitar. If y'all're using a DAW similar Garageband, information technology wouldn't hurt to turn the book way up on your speakers that way you lot can actually hear what's going on. You could also do information technology by turning up the main volume in Garageband.

ii) Striking the E, A, D, G, B and E keys Within the Centre C Octave

From what I empathize, C3 on a MIDI keyboard is heart C, however, on a regular pianoforte, middle C is really the 4th C from the left-side of the pianoforte. You can meet what this looks like in the image that'south shown higher up, so this is obviously something that you should go on in listen.

Put but, if you're using a MIDI keyboard and a DAW similar Garageband, you want to employ C3 every bit the reference betoken past which you lot melody your guitar, and if yous're using a real-life piano, you lot want to use C4, or the 4th C from the beginning of the piano on the left-hand side.

Every bit I briefly mentioned earlier, one mode that'south very useful for understanding where y'all are on the piano relative to the guitar is to think of Heart C equally the 1st fret on the B-string. Explained another style, C on the 1st fret of the B-string is the Middle C on the piano. It's the C3 on the MIDI keyboard and the C4 on the regular piano. You can run into what that looks similar in the image beneath.

three) Utilise Your Ear to Friction match The Notes Up With the Piano

To tune your guitar with a piano, you just accept to apply the diagram shown above as a frame of reference. It's important to utilize the bodily keys that I've outlined here, because they're listed in a particular lodge and octave, and you want their pitch to exist relative to each other in the correct mode.

What I mean by that, is that you wouldn't desire to use the higher Eastward on the right hand side of the prototype as the E for the low-Due east string and so work backwards from there. That wouldn't make any sense merely I digress. For this role, you just have to listen advisedly to tune the guitar upwardly to the notes of the piano.

If you're tuning a guitar with the fretted note of another string, there is a way that the strings vibrate together which indicates that it'due south in tune. It's every bit if the two notes are in total harmony with one another, and there is no dissonance. Explained in some other way, information technology'south like the annotation has just been doubled and thickened up.

Unfortunately, there isn't actually a special play a joke on that I know of to brand it super easy to tune along to a pianoforte, just I do have three tips for you so you're more equipped to use the pianoforte method.

Use the Piano Whorl to Re-create and Paste the Notes Y'all Need

I detect information technology's actually easier to use the pianoforte roll to copy and paste the note on every single beat, that way you don't have to continue hit the note every time you lot want to hear it for tuning purposes. Frankly, this is the primary downside of tuning with a piano, and not a MIDI keyboard and a DAW.

You tin just re-create and paste the annotation beyond the piano curl, loop it, turn the book up on your speakers, and y'all now have a reference track by which to melody your guitar.

Tune Up To the Piano Note And Not Down To It

A adept rule of thumb for tuning an instrument is that it's best to melody up rather than downward to a target note. Information technology's just way easier to tune a stringed musical instrument this way, and this applies to many other stringed instruments as well, not just guitars.

Practise your best to melody it perfectly up the offset time you turn the knob. You tin melody the guitar downward again and then back up to refresh your ear, so to speak, which allows y'all to hear what it sounds like again with a renewed sense of what is the proper pitch.

Some of the Most Popular Contradistinct Tunings

I made this octave chart which designates which octave each note is on the piano roll. I said earlier that Heart C on the MIDI keyboard was C3, which is as well the 1st fret C on the B cord. This chart should aid yous tune your guitar to some of the most common tunings.

Guitar Tuning	Notes	Piano Roll Notes and Octave (MIDI)
Standard	E-A-D-G-B-E	E1, A1, D2, G2, B2, E3
Drop D	D-A-D-G-B-Due east	D1, A1, D2, G2, B2, E3
DADGAD	D-A-D-Thou-A-D	D1, A1, D2, G2, A2, D3
Drop C	C-G-C-F-A-D	C1, G1, C2, F2, A2, D3
Open C Tuning	C-Grand-C-Grand-C-E	C1, G1, C2, G2, C3, E3
D Standard	D-G-C-F-A-D	D1, G1, C2, F2, A2, D3
Open up D Tuning	D-A-D-F#-A-D	D1, A1, D2, F#2, A2, D3
Open G Tuning	D-G-D-G-B-D	D1, G1, D2, G2, B2, D3
Drop B Tuning	B-Gb-B-East-Ab-Db	B0, F#1, B1, E2, G#two, C#iii

Using the Piano to Melody Your Guitar to Altered Tunings

1) Standard Tuning

I already showed you how to tune the guitar to standard tuning, but hither it is again. Y'all also want to ensure that you lot've chosen the octave range between E1 and E3 if you want to exist in standard tuning, but I've talked already nigh getting that right a few times now.

2) Drop D

Tuning your guitar to Drop D tuning isn't a whole lot different than standard E tuning. The simply difference is that you tune the bottom E string to D. This is probably the tuning of the 1990s Seattle rock motion, with most bands, including Nirvana, Alice in Bondage, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden, composing quite a few songs with it. Soundgarden was definitely the more than experimental of the group, that's for sure, both in terms of tunings and time signatures.

3) DADGAD

DADGAD – which is pronounced simply the way that information technology look – according to Wikipedia, is a celtic tuning that is used in that very same style of music. From what I tin can tell, DADGAD is a Dsus4, which is short-form for D Suspended quaternary, which is just a D Major chord but with a fourth added to it counting upwardly from the D, which is a G.

A regular D Major chord is D-F#-A, but the Dsus4 chord is D, 1000, A. By removing the major 3rd which is the F#, but calculation the fourth, y'all remove the major tonality of the chord and it becomes more tonally ambiguous in the sense that it's neither minor nor major.

D to G is a perfect 4th interval, which is neither minor nor major. Go Marking Sarnecki's music theory elements books from Amazon including the Answer Book if you want to learn all of this very basic music theory.

4) Drop C

Driblet C tuning is D standard merely with the low D dropped downwardly to C1. This is the central signature usually used in metal songs and hard rock, for sure. Before the popularity explosion of seven-string and viii-string guitars, people most usually used Drib C when they wanted to audio heavy.

From what I can tell, this was a tuning very commonly used in the metallic scene from the early 2000s up until the get-go of the 2010s. These days, though, yous're more than likely to encounter Drop B on a guitar with more than than 6 strings. That isn't to say that people all the same don't use this tuning, however.

5) Open C

Open C tuning is just the guitar tuned up to the notes of a C Major chord, ie, C-E-Thou. The three notes of the C Major triad comprise the entire tuning, except the three C notes are at 3 different octaves, including C1, C2, and Middle C. Other than using information technology to make this article, I've almost never used this tuning earlier.

It's worth mentioning though that I probably should utilise altered tunings more than oft because they're awesome to compose with, especially if y'all're trying to get a particular modal tonality. In other words, if you tune your guitar to the notes of a Grand Major 7th chord, only you add a C# in in that location which is a #4, yous get a Lydian sound.

6) D Standard

D Standard is just Eastward standard but with everything dropped down 1 whole step. I like having at to the lowest degree one guitar tuned down to D standard. I'm not certain why, I merely find that this is a nice tuning to play a guitar in, and it's as well dainty to have a guitar that's capable of playing Drib C.

7) Open up D Tuning

Open D tuning is but the notes of the D Major chord, D-F#-A, and with iii Ds at iii different octaves, D1, D2, and D3. Alternative tunings are actually interesting to experiment with because you tin can alter them slightly to make extended chords or 7th chords which I've talked virtually before in my guide on how to find the key of any song on guitar.

For example, adding to what I mentioned before nearly modal tonalities, if you simply alter that D3 on the high East cord to C# instead, you take a D Major seventh chord, and it sounds super cool. I recommend giving that a shot.

viii) Open G Tuning

Open Chiliad tuning is the notes of the Grand Major chord merely with the D (which is the 5th) in the bass. In other words, it's more like a D/G Major chord, but information technology's still the G major, even though it has 3 D notes in information technology. I've never used this tuning either, other than to make this tutorial.

nine) Drop B Tuning

Drop B tuning, similar Drop C tuning, is but standard tuning dropped down several tones and then the depression E dropped downwards another ane to make creating power chords much easier. I had to actually apply a different picture of a pianoforte considering my MIDI keyboard doesn't become downward to B0 unless I adjust the octave.

Driblet B tuning is C Standard, all notes dropped downwardly by two notes, and and then with the bottom B tuned downwards some other total note. I'd say you're more likely to see this on a 7-cord or like guitar, because information technology's quite low. I idea I had lately is what it would audio similar to play Bossa Nova rhythms in Driblet B tuning? Just a thought.

How Exercise You Tune a Guitar Like A Piano?

To tune a guitar like a pianoforte, you lot would have to tune the strings to unusual increments and notes that aren't associated with any kind of ordinarily used tuning. For instance, if you lot were to tune the vi strings according to the piano, the notes would be C, C#, D, Eb, Eastward F.

On the other hand, how you tune a guitar like the piano depends on what notes of the piano you're using. Yous could also use the notes of the C Major 7 chord from the piano to make the notes of a guitar tuning, ie, C-E-C-One thousand-B-E. C, E, G, and B are the notes of the C Major seventh chord.

Is 'Center C' C3 or C4?

Heart C in a DAW similar Garageband, for case, is usually C3, still, on a regular piano it's C4. Additionally, MIDI keyboards that are 88 keys like Arturia's KeyLab that I mentioned earlier also have their C4 as the Middle C.

Of import Things to Mention Most Tuning Your Guitar With A Pianoforte

ane) If Y'all Have A DAW, You Take Access to a Tuner

The elephant in the room here is that if y'all have access to a DAW whether information technology's Garageband, FL Studio, Pro Tools, Logic Pro, or Cubase, chances are your DAW has a born tuner or yous can just download a free tuner from a website similar Plugins4Free.

Information technology's worth mentioning that you can buy Blue True cat Sound's Hot Tuna from Plugin Bazaar for a really skilful price. I think information technology would be better to practise what I said before though and just go Blue True cat Audio's Axiom from the aforementioned place because it comes with everything you demand to make awesome guitar sounds in Garageband. You can also get the Hot Tuna as a demo as you lot can with their Destructor and Axiom likewise.

2) Y'all Can Download Tuners on Your Phone

Furthermore, in the case that yous just want to get your easily on a tuner in some other way, you can simply download ane on your phone. I employ this upgraded iPhone 11 from Amazon considering it has optimal storage space, which, as I've argued many times before, is incredibly of import when creating music.

Fender has a tuner you can download, as does D'Addario and many other companies. Fact of the matter is that you lot don't really need a piano to tune a guitar anymore because we all have smart phones and plugins.

iii) You Can Besides Utilise Website Tuners

Tuners are available on websites like Get-Tuned likewise so y'all don't even accept to use an awarding if you don't want too. These websites are hands accessible on your phone.

Gear Mentioned

1) Arturia KeyLab 88 from zZounds

two) ESP LTD EC-1000 from zZounds

3) BlueCat Sound's AxePack from Plugin Boutique

iv) Mark Sarnecki's Consummate Simple Music Rudiments from Amazon

5) Elementary Rudiments Answer Volume (also from Amazon – this is essential)

half-dozen) Blue True cat Audio'south Hot Tuna from Plugin Boutique

7) iPhone xi Pro Max with 512GB storage space (from Amazon)

Source: https://travelingguitarist.com/how-to-tune-guitar-with-piano-altered-tunings/

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