Justin has been using this method for 20 yrs. He is a professional musician. And recommends using a tuner when you have one. Why does some, have to try and become the teacher? Its just a lesson, that He has done on his own time for free, for us that don't know everything, and appreciate what He does. So with that said. Thanks Justin. For those who know more than the teacher, why don't you make your own videos.
The "warbling" effect you talk about is interesting. It's actually called beats. The frequency of the beats actually tells you how far the notes are out of tune. For example, if you have one note f1 = 880 Hz and another note f2 = 882 Hz, the difference f2 - f1 = 2 Hz and you'll hear 2 beats per second. When you tune the notes so the beats disappear, then the two notes are perfectly in tune. Thanks, Justin. Another nice video.
My Dad tuned my guitar with harmonics on the weekend, I have never ever heard my acoustic sounding better! I realise that tuners have their place etc, but I’m all down for learning this myself. I heard the wavering sound of when the sounds didn’t quite match my a fraction, and I heard my Dad listening in and it was just really cool!
You still need the tuner unless you have perfect pitch. The tuner gets you a true E to tune the other stings to. Your E string can be anywhere and if you tune the guitar this way it will sound great as long you are playing alone. If you want to play with other people you all have to be tuned to the same standard. Hence the need for a tuner or just tune to the base player lol.
This is WRONG! A myth that keeps getting plugged! Not the way to tune a guitar. Whilst you can get the 5th fret and 7th fret natural harmonics to sound exactly at identical frequencies the fretted notes will be out. If you do this with all the strings when you play FRETTED notes and chords the guitar will not be in tune with itself!😱 CHECK OUT the laws of equal temperament and other videos that tell you this is incorrect. For perfect guitar intonation the 12th fret natural harmonic MUST sound exactly equal to the fretted 12th note but that is another issue/lesson.
Well I've been using it for over 20 years and it sounds fine to me - though I do always stress that using a tuner is the preferred method for exacting situations. It is certainly more accurate for most people than the "5th Fret Method" which is the other popular 'non tuner' option.
it can't possibly be more accurate since it'll always give you a note 2 cents too sharp. it only gets worse as this difference piles up with each string you tune. when the guitar is in tune these 2 harmonics will have a slight beat when played together, if they are perfectly in in tune to each other with no beating it means the guitar is out of tune by definition.
Great lesson. Some people here forget that people were tuning their guitars this way long before electronic tuners were invented. It's a very accurate method of tuning the guitar to itself... assuming that the intonation is correct. That would be a good lesson if you haven't already done it... how to adjust a guitar's intonation. Anyone with bad intonation is going to go crazy trying to tune their guitar this way.
Thanks. The 4th fret harmonic is the same note as the fretted 4th fret, up 2 octaves. The 5th fret is the same as the open string up an octave. Since I'm not deforming the string by fretting it, it should be even more accurate than the "5th fret tuning method" . Plus I find the "beats" help the tuning process. But you always play some chords to check the tuning.
This is wrong! You’ll get an out of tune guitar!😰🥺 Why? The open A string when perfectly in tune will vibrate at 110Hz. The 5th fret natural harmonic vibrates at 440Hz. This is universally accepted concert pitch.👆Check with a tuning fork! The 7th fret harmonic for the A string vibrates at 330Hz. The low E string (Wiki) vibrates at 82.41Hz. It’s 5th fret harmonic will vibrate at 4x82.41= 329.64Hz! [2 octaves higher]. Not at 330 Hz! Appreciate the difference in frequencies by the slight out of tune “beating”. Doing it like this across all the strings will compound the errors and hence the guitar will not be in tune with itself! 😰🥺CHECK THIS OUT seriously! Only 12th fret harmonics should be used. They’ll work with fretted notes. Understand the Physics properly!👆
Justin when tuning I think that the reason there needs to be fine tuning after the initial tuning is due to the string tensions changing the tuning of the adjacent strings(?) I'm new to this but I understand it from a different perspective. I used to be a lineman and I know from sagging overhead wires that if you tighten one you loosen another or several other wires, so it makes sense that if you tune a couple it would throw some out of tune slightly. I've found I need to go over them a few times until there is no further need to tune. I'm just learning so my guitar doesn't sound much like yours. Mine sounds like I'm playing on the Hey Haw Jug Band right now but I'm trying:) Thanks a bunch!
Justin, this is a very interesting lesson! I've visited your RUclips channel many times but it was a presentation by physics professor Jerry Battista for Matt Warnock that referred viewers to this lesson on your channel. I've been playing since 1960 and this is the first time I've heard of this method!
BY GEORGE! I THINK I GOT IT!! (OR AT least one,, i did it then tested it and i was right!!! that felt so good,,, id been struggling with that for ages,, THANKU JUSTIN!!
Great video Justin! I believe this is the easiest and best way to tune without an elect. tuner. I hate it when I go to a guitar store and try a guitar that's out of tune, only to realize I'm helpless without my elect. tuner.
Tuning by harmonics is WRONG! “Open Note Frequency, guitar! -------------------- Low E: 82.41 A 110.00 D 146.83 G 196.00 B 246.94 E 329.62 Using this information, you can now determine the frequencies produced by the 5th and 7th-fret harmonics on every string. For example, since the A string rings open at 110 Hz, its 7th-fret harmonic will be at 330 Hz, and its 5th-fret harmonic will be at 440 Hz. OK. Now that the groundwork is laid, let's see why tuning with harmonics doesn't work. We'll walk through an example. Assume that your low E and A strings are in perfect tune, but you want to double-check them. According to the chart above, your low E string will produce a tone at 82.41 Hz. Using the method you all know and love, you'll pluck its 5th-fret harmonic. This gives an E two octaves higher, at 329.64 Hz. Then, you pluck the 7th-fret A-string harmonic and get a 330 Hz tone!…”
Good job, Justin. Thanks. I knew how to do harmonics since my late teens or so, but never could quite wrap my mind about which ones to use, after seeing folks tune that way in stores, etc. (usually where you need to tune the most, new Gibson guitars, etc., ha). I have tuned naturally by ear (intervals) and the fifth fret crossover for years (and fourth fret from G to B), but this harmonic tuning can help sharpen up the tuning mix, no doubt.
Yesterday I heard a guitar player using this method to check his guitar tuning during a set. When I try it on my acoustic guitar that has no electrics the harmonics are very quiet and hard to hear. It makes using this method difficult regardless of how useful it might be.
We should never assume the person in the role of teacher is infallible regardless of how long they've been doing it. The learning process is a back and forth dialogue, not one person throwing information at another. Don't be so quick to dismiss or berate a person just because they question a lesson (as long as they do it respectfully).
I thought it was a lot harder than this. Didn't realise how easy it is. All you need is just a good ear and experience to tell if a note is out of tune when you play a chord at the end.
The warble or wobble is also called a "beat" (see Wikipedia article on "Beat (acoustics)"), though I find it confusing to talk about those beats in a musical context. But it helps to know the term, just in case someone mentions it...
It works fine. The trouble with tuners is that a lot of recordings are not in concert pitch and if you want to play along, you need to tune to the recording.
Thanks Justin, it might become my favourite method. But what about the 4th fret of the 3rd string and the 5th fret of the 2nd string to tune a B chord ?
The guitar is not tuned to the harmonic series. If it was we wouldn't be able to modulate to another key without moving the frets. If you tune the 5th fret harmonic of the E string to the 7th fret harmonic of the A string the A will be just short of 2 cents flat. By the time you get to the G string its almost 6 cents flat which is a noticeable error. Harmonic notes = 'Just Intonation' , the guitar = 12tone Equal Temperament. Completely different tuning system. Stick to the electric tuner.
Did this years ago....I have thoroughly checked though, and it will be Good enough but will always be ever so slightly off in the actual tuning. Totally intonated guitar with show a slight sharp on harmonics but that's nerd stuff. Hahaha. I use a tuner now ....
Yes, the big IF is the accuracy of the frets. In my experience even the best guitars can have flaws here. I will continue to use my Korg but leave the fine adjustments to me lug holes :-)
This is WRONG! A myth that keeps getting plugged! Not the way to tune a guitar. Whilst you can get the 5th fret and 7th fret natural harmonics to sound exactly at identical frequencies the fretted notes will be out. If you do this with all the strings when you play FRETTED notes and chords the guitar will not be in tune with itself!😱 CHECK OUT the laws of equal temperament and other videos that tell you this is incorrect. For perfect guitar intonation the 12th fret natural harmonic MUST sound exactly equal to the fretted 12th note but that is another issue/lesson.
Also, the number of beats equals how many cycles per second that the string is out of tune, if I recall correctly, so the closer the notes are to being in tune, the slower the beats get. The faster the beats, the more out of tune the strings are to each other.
Exactly. The number of beats per second, let's call it f3 = f1-f2. If you hear exactly 3 beats per second, then the two signals (tones, strings) are exactly 3 Hertz apart in frequency. In electronics this is used all the time. We call it frequency conversion. The resulting tone (f3) is also called a heterodyne. This method of changing the frequency of a radio signal was invented in 1901 and is used in virtually every radio you've ever used. Here we're using this principle in the audio range but the rules are exactly the same. It works the same at any frequency. Technical part you can skip: Why is this used in radios? Lets say you want to build a radio that receives a signal at, say, 500 Mhz. At this frequency, it's extremely difficult to build high-performance, selective electronic circuits because the physical dimensions are so small. But it's easy to build them at 500 kHz. So, you generate a signal locally at 499.5 MHz and mix it with the incoming signal, which translates the signal at 500 MHz down to 500 kHz, where it's easy to work with. I play pipe organ and this trick is used in pipe organ building to simulate pipes that are too large to build or install. You use two smaller pipes tuned a fifth apart to produce a tone that's an octave lower than you could otherwise go. The organist can also do this himself to create a thunderous bass note by playing a fifth on the pedals. So if the low C on the pedalboard is 32.62 Hz and the G above it is 49 Hz, playing the two together gives a resultant of 16.38 Hz. Nice and thunderous. Larger pipe organs have pedal pipes twice as large so you can divide those frequencies in half and get a resultant around 8 Hz, which will shake you like an earthquake. Speaking of earthquakes, back in the 1970s there was a movie called Earthquake. Gene Czerwinsky (a friend of mine), founder of Cerwin-Vega designed a special system for theaters called the Sensurround or Earthquake system. This used two large bass horns powered by 18-inch speakers. One was fed a frequency of around 10 Hz and the other horn at 12 Hz. The two audio tones mixed in the theater to produce a 2 Hz tone that shook the theater. The principle we're talking about is the same in all cases. Here, we use it to tune a guitar. A piano tuner does the same thing working up from just a 440 Hz tuning fork, all by listening to the "beats".
Physics-wise, the 5th/7th fret harmonics are not exactly the same note as the equal-tempered ones. So while it's a convenient technique, it won't get you exactly in tune. There are a number of in-depth tuning sites that discuss the physics of what works and what doesn't. It would be good if we phased out the 5th/7th fret harmonics tuning method. But guitar tuning can never be perfect all over the fretboard because of the equal temperament fret positions.
This technique is the closest thing to having a strobe tuner without needing any actual tuning device. You just tune and hear the beating between both notes, the fastest the beating the more apart they are from the fame frequency.
i don't understand one thing , lets say I replace new strings, and all of them are out of tune, how do I get that 1 IN TUNE to tune other ones after it? Also I used tuner, and even tho guitar is tuned, harmonics on G and B sounds totaly different, any other sounds the same
OMG WRONG, WRONG, WRONG< WRONG!!!! Ur all wrong!! All you have to do is make sure your tuning pegs are all facing in the same direction!! I like my tuners with the shiny chrome side facing the audience, it just looks way cooler. Are they perfectly in tune????? Maybe not but they should be close and within range. You are welcome!!! BTW Justin you are awesome and ive learnded so much, up until this video!! Cheers
Hoof Hearted wowwwww. I sure hope this person is just a super new beginner 😂 don’t tell other newbs this. We will have a whole bunch of out of tune guitarists around the world. We don’t want that. 😂
Hey ashely, let me tell you a little secret ok? He is JOKING. Sometimes humans do that. This is important, so pay atencion: if you miss a joke, people will call you stupid and dumb most of the times, so be careful and dont do this again! (just a tip since you are a beginner, i MIGHT be joking as well).
I don't know how much bearing this will have on this discussion, but only a piano can really be "in Tune". At least, that's what I learned in college. If I remember my definitions right, a piano is a "equal tempered" in that: every note has a string dedicated to it. A guitar Has a string that can play 22 -24 notes (depending on how many frets, and not including bending at the highest fret ETC). If you really want to be "in tune", know what key the song you are about to play is (lets say for instance G Major), have a piano player G Major chord ( guitar voicing: open or Barre) and tune your guitar to that, and you'll be in tune (but just for that song and any other song in G Major), Even with that I believe the guitar still son't be 100% in tune with the piano, particularly if Chord substitutions are played. I don't do this, ( I usually tune by harmonics) but I think it's worth bringing up. I've been using tuners more actually, but I find them a little frustrating.
+Soussherpa Robert T. Baumer I realize this post was a year ago but you might be interested to know that pianos are not actually 'in tune'. Even electronic keyboards are not perfectly in tune as you get to the higher notes, I believe it has something to do with the way people used to tune pianos by ear, the higher notes ended up a bit sharp, we've gotten used to this sound so keyboards are tuned the same. Try using a guitar tuner on a keyboard, interesting stuff. Also, equal temperament isn't really a thing specific to pianos, it's a way of moving all the notes slightly so they fit perfectly in an octave. Western music is predominantly in 12 tone equal temperament, but people do mess around with other divisions of the octave such as 19, 22, 31 tone equal temperament (it gets really weird when you use less than 12). Search "microtonal funk" to hear a really cool one in 19 "edo" (equal distance octave).
I find it interesting that every one has problems with this tuning method when if they watched the video's of Joe Walsh this is also his preferred method. That said my guitar has a built in tuner so I get lazy.
What if your low E string is out of tune and you don't have a reference for the other strings? 5:35 See? He didn't touch his low E string but the other 5 strings. In this case only a electric tuner can help
Well, it will not necessarily be 14 cents flat, only in theory. In practice, the reference string/note is never exactly tuned and as soon as you start fretting notes, the precision gets only worse. You also have to hear and compare the frequencies using your ears and brain, which isn't an exact signal processor. So, in theory, you are right, but in practice you "just" have to listen if your guitar sounds good or not...
Yes of course you do. Just the same as using the fifth fret method. You’re still tuning by ear. You get in the ballpark and then you fine tune - using octaves and chords. At least that’s what I do. It’s good practice for ear training. If a beginner only ever uses an electronic tuner or an app then their ear doesn’t get trained very well.
For those claiming the electronic tuner is the best method...well, no. The problem is that guitars are not perfect instruments. Your OPEN strings may well be perfectly 'in tune' using the tuner, but when playing you don't simply play open strings. Go down the fretboard and there I'll be variations: slightly flat notes, slightly sharp notes. No matter how well your guitar is set up for intonation this is inevitable. So slight adjustments after using the tuner are normally necessary to get a better overall result. Using this method is great for this.
Mark Harris NOW here is my reply to GBlair : All guitar tuners are electronically tempered exactly like the frets on the instrument.. Using a Snark, Korg, DiAdario tuner ARE compensated/tempered (compensated) same as the fret placements. They give you the correct open-string frequencies and, as long as your frets are mathematically in their proper positions on the fingerboard, all the fingered notes' readouts will be correct also. That's why the ARE called GUITAR/bass tuners and not, say trombone or cello tuners (non-tempered instruments).
As he said before guitars are imperfect instruments. Even if tuners are tempered, the only way to get dead on perfect intonation is with a true temperament fretboard. That is literally the only way to be in tune all up and down the fretboard
Mark Harris simple logic and physics - intonation depends also on the distance between the fret and the string. Pushing down the string on the fret changes it's tension. And the lower the tuning, the more this becomes obvious. Cheap guitars rarely have optimized height between fret and string
This method is easy to hear and an OK beginners method but not accurate. You are better tuning 5th fret to open strings, if you can hear well enough. There are other, even still better methods but too much to go into here.
This way to tune your guitar is absolutely incorrect. There is only one harmonic is correct. It's 12 fret on each string. The 5th and 7th frets will ALWAYS sharp. Who think I'm wrong take tuner and check it yourself.
Игорь Петров an electronic tuner is more accurate. but harmonics has been a tried and tested method for years before electronic tuners came out. think about it, how did piano tuners tune piano's and Harpsichords back in the 18th /19th centuries, no electronics then ? usually a couple of tuning forks, and go from there, with a highly trained ear (and a lot more than 6 strings LoL). if you are a hobby player like me, harmonics are a fine way to tune and it's fun. if you want perfection use the electronic tuner (boring). tuning forks, pitch pipes and harmonics, then came electronic tuners. Honestly, how did the world get along without electronics ? I don't know, but it did, and beautiful music was played anyway and in tune !
Mark Chambers I mean if you will tune for example your open 5th string A by tuner and then 5th and 7th fret harmonics will be sharp. By that link there's a detail explain of my words.
harmonics 5 and 7 is not accurate tuning. yeah i know alot of people do it. sorry not accurate. buy a guitar tuner or use a app with cent increments. see james taylor guitar tuning method.
This is absolutely wrong. The harmonics at the 5th and 7th frets should NOT be the same. The guitar is an equal tempered instrument. You can't force just intonation on it.
@@arsenalfanatic09 We're talking about harmonics. They don't go sharp. In any case, why tune to the wrong frequency when it's just as easy to tune to the correct frequency?
This is wrong! You’ll get an out of tune guitar!😰🥺 Why? The open A string when perfectly in tune will vibrate at 110Hz. The 5th fret natural harmonic vibrates at 440Hz. This is universally accepted concert pitch.👆Check with a tuning fork! The 7th fret harmonic for the A string vibrates at 330Hz. The low E string (Wiki) vibrates at 82.41Hz. It’s 5th fret harmonic will vibrate at 4x82.41= 329.64Hz! [2 octaves higher]. Not at 330 Hz! Appreciate the difference in frequencies by the slight out of tune “beating”. Doing it like this across all the strings will compound the errors and hence the guitar will not be in tune with itself! 😰🥺CHECK THIS OUT seriously! Only 12th fret harmonics should be used. They’ll work with fretted notes. Understand the Physics properly!👆
Well I just learned this but he is wrong with b use 9th fret g string harmonic and 5th fret b string harmonic, I have confirmed this with my tuner his method is half a note off and mine is spot on.
This is so wrong! please see; Do NOT Tune Your Guitar Using Harmonics. By Scott Grove ,,just goes to show you, ya cant believe everything these so called "professionals say"
Nope, I'm dead on correct. I feel sorry for all of you falling for this garbage. I teach the truth and I can't make you all listen and learn. I can't force you to believe in TEMPERMENT. Keep on playing blind and deaf.
With all due respect, this is a pretty lousy way to tune your guitar. It's much better to get the high E string in tune with a tuner/pitch fork/sound file and then tune all the other strings to that. The reason this is better is because it makes it easier to tune accurately. When you tune in this chain-like way, any small error in your tuning could compound to become a larger error in the lower strings. When you compare every string to the SAME string, there's only one source of error each time. Here's how I do it: 1st string high E compared to 2nd string E, 6th string 5th fret harmonic, 5th string 7th fret harmonic, and 4th string 14th fret artificial harmonic with second fret held down. 1st string G compared to 3rd string 12th fret harmonic. Play a bit in the key you'll use and adjust to taste. You're done!
If you actually watched his videos about tuning, you would know he says a tuner is best, but if you don't have one handy it is very good to know other methods.
Justin has been using this method for 20 yrs. He is a professional musician. And recommends using a tuner when you have one. Why does some, have to try and become the teacher? Its just a lesson, that He has done on his own time for free, for us that don't know everything, and appreciate what He does. So with that said. Thanks Justin. For those who know more than the teacher, why don't you make your own videos.
The "warbling" effect you talk about is interesting. It's actually called beats. The frequency of the beats actually tells you how far the notes are out of tune.
For example, if you have one note f1 = 880 Hz and another note f2 = 882 Hz, the difference f2 - f1 = 2 Hz and you'll hear 2 beats per second. When you tune the notes so the beats disappear, then the two notes are perfectly in tune.
Thanks, Justin. Another nice video.
physics is so cool :)
My Dad tuned my guitar with harmonics on the weekend, I have never ever heard my acoustic sounding better! I realise that tuners have their place etc, but I’m all down for learning this myself. I heard the wavering sound of when the sounds didn’t quite match my a fraction, and I heard my Dad listening in and it was just really cool!
The moral to this little story: Always listen to your dad.....
You still need the tuner unless you have perfect pitch. The tuner gets you a true E to tune the other stings to. Your E string can be anywhere and if you tune the guitar this way it will sound great as long you are playing alone. If you want to play with other people you all have to be tuned to the same standard. Hence the need for a tuner or just tune to the base player lol.
This is WRONG! A myth that keeps getting plugged! Not the way to tune a guitar.
Whilst you can get the 5th fret and 7th fret natural harmonics to sound exactly at identical frequencies the fretted notes will be out. If you do this with all the strings when you play FRETTED notes and chords the guitar will not be in tune with itself!😱 CHECK OUT the laws of equal temperament and other videos that tell you this is incorrect. For perfect guitar intonation the 12th fret natural harmonic MUST sound exactly equal to the fretted 12th note but that is another issue/lesson.
My dad showed me harmonics too. maybe I’ll name my next band The Harmonic Dads
@@mattsloan32 I carry a tuning fork in E for this very reason
Well I've been using it for over 20 years and it sounds fine to me - though I do always stress that using a tuner is the preferred method for exacting situations. It is certainly more accurate for most people than the "5th Fret Method" which is the other popular 'non tuner' option.
it can't possibly be more accurate since it'll always give you a note 2 cents too sharp. it only gets worse as this difference piles up with each string you tune. when the guitar is in tune these 2 harmonics will have a slight beat when played together, if they are perfectly in in tune to each other with no beating it means the guitar is out of tune by definition.
so awesome man.... i've been having trouble with the B string for years, this seems like such an obvious answer now... thanks a a lot.
Thank you this was helpful.
The words "Intervallic Distance" ring out too. Good stuff!
Great lesson. Some people here forget that people were tuning their guitars this way long before electronic tuners were invented. It's a very accurate method of tuning the guitar to itself... assuming that the intonation is correct. That would be a good lesson if you haven't already done it... how to adjust a guitar's intonation. Anyone with bad intonation is going to go crazy trying to tune their guitar this way.
Thanks. The 4th fret harmonic is the same note as the fretted 4th fret, up 2 octaves. The 5th fret is the same as the open string up an octave. Since I'm not deforming the string by fretting it, it should be even more accurate than the "5th fret tuning method" . Plus I find the "beats" help the tuning process. But you always play some chords to check the tuning.
This is wrong! You’ll get an out of tune guitar!😰🥺 Why? The open A string when perfectly in tune will vibrate at 110Hz. The 5th fret natural harmonic vibrates at 440Hz. This is universally accepted concert pitch.👆Check with a tuning fork! The 7th fret harmonic for the A string vibrates at 330Hz. The low E string (Wiki) vibrates at 82.41Hz. It’s 5th fret harmonic will vibrate at 4x82.41= 329.64Hz! [2 octaves higher]. Not at 330 Hz! Appreciate the difference in frequencies by the slight out of tune “beating”.
Doing it like this across all the strings will compound the errors and hence the guitar will not be in tune with itself! 😰🥺CHECK THIS OUT seriously! Only 12th fret harmonics should be used. They’ll work with fretted notes. Understand the Physics properly!👆
Another great lesson, thank you. Lovely guitar too by the way
This was one of the best guides I have ever watched! Thank you!
Justin when tuning I think that the reason there needs to be fine tuning after the initial tuning is due to the string tensions changing the tuning of the adjacent strings(?) I'm new to this but I understand it from a different perspective. I used to be a lineman and I know from sagging overhead wires that if you tighten one you loosen another or several other wires, so it makes sense that if you tune a couple it would throw some out of tune slightly. I've found I need to go over them a few times until there is no further need to tune. I'm just learning so my guitar doesn't sound much like yours. Mine sounds like I'm playing on the Hey Haw Jug Band right now but I'm trying:) Thanks a bunch!
Justin, this is a very interesting lesson! I've visited your RUclips channel many times but it was a presentation by physics professor Jerry Battista for Matt Warnock that referred viewers to this lesson on your channel. I've been playing since 1960 and this is the first time I've heard of this method!
BY GEORGE! I THINK I GOT IT!! (OR AT least one,, i did it then tested it and i was right!!! that felt so good,,, id been struggling with that for ages,, THANKU JUSTIN!!
Great video Justin! I believe this is the easiest and best way to tune without an elect. tuner. I hate it when I go to a guitar store and try a guitar that's out of tune, only to realize I'm helpless without my elect. tuner.
Tuning by harmonics is WRONG!
“Open Note Frequency, guitar!
--------------------
Low E: 82.41
A 110.00
D 146.83
G 196.00
B 246.94
E 329.62
Using this information, you can now determine the frequencies produced
by the 5th and 7th-fret harmonics on every string. For example, since
the A string rings open at 110 Hz, its 7th-fret harmonic will be at
330 Hz, and its 5th-fret harmonic will be at 440 Hz.
OK. Now that the groundwork is laid, let's see why tuning with
harmonics doesn't work. We'll walk through an example. Assume that
your low E and A strings are in perfect tune, but you want to
double-check them. According to the chart above, your low E string will
produce a tone at 82.41 Hz. Using the method you all know and love,
you'll pluck its 5th-fret harmonic. This gives an E two octaves
higher, at 329.64 Hz. Then, you pluck the 7th-fret A-string harmonic
and get a 330 Hz tone!…”
Good job, Justin. Thanks. I knew how to do harmonics since my late teens or so, but never could quite wrap my mind about which ones to use, after seeing folks tune that way in stores, etc. (usually where you need to tune the most, new Gibson guitars, etc., ha). I have tuned naturally by ear (intervals) and the fifth fret crossover for years (and fourth fret from G to B), but this harmonic tuning can help sharpen up the tuning mix, no doubt.
Yesterday I heard a guitar player using this method to check his guitar tuning during a set. When I try it on my acoustic guitar that has no electrics the harmonics are very quiet and hard to hear. It makes using this method difficult regardless of how useful it might be.
Very helpfull , again as usual . Thanks Justin.
We should never assume the person in the role of teacher is infallible regardless of how long they've been doing it. The learning process is a back and forth dialogue, not one person throwing information at another. Don't be so quick to dismiss or berate a person just because they question a lesson (as long as they do it respectfully).
You're the man Justin, really like your lessons!
can''t believe I search harmonics tuning and this video exists. Can't stand regular tuning anymore. Thanks for the new universe
This is brilliant m8!
This is so important no matter what level of guitar you are at and if your guitar doesn’t stay in tune you might need a pro guitar
I thought it was a lot harder than this. Didn't realise how easy it is. All you need is just a good ear and experience to tell if a note is out of tune when you play a chord at the end.
The warble or wobble is also called a "beat" (see Wikipedia article on "Beat (acoustics)"), though I find it confusing to talk about those beats in a musical context. But it helps to know the term, just in case someone mentions it...
excellent and very accurate lesson!
It works fine. The trouble with tuners is that a lot of recordings are not in concert pitch and if you want to play along, you need to tune to the recording.
Thanks for the tip, I found this tuning much more accurate.
Question: will this work if your intonation is off a bit?
Thanks Justin, it might become my favourite method. But what about the 4th fret of the 3rd string and the 5th fret of the 2nd string to tune a B chord ?
Extremely helpful video thanks. Will always use this method for tuning every time now. Does anybody know of a similar method for the Mandolin?
The guitar is not tuned to the harmonic series. If it was we wouldn't be able to modulate to another key without moving the frets. If you tune the 5th fret harmonic of the E string to the 7th fret harmonic of the A string the A will be just short of 2 cents flat. By the time you get to the G string its almost 6 cents flat which is a noticeable error. Harmonic notes = 'Just Intonation' , the guitar = 12tone Equal Temperament. Completely different tuning system. Stick to the electric tuner.
This is absolutely correct, it's a scientific fact, but most importantly, your ears can tell the error.
Thanks Justin 🙂
Ferry common to tune a bass this way, I found that the 9th fret harmonic's on the G string and the 5th fret of the B string are also the same.
Very helpfull video! thanks!
A better way to harmonically tune the B string is to play the 5th harmonic of G (4th fret) and the 4th harmonic of B (5th fret).
Doesn't work,
Duh
Did this years ago....I have thoroughly checked though, and it will be Good enough but will always be ever so slightly off in the actual tuning. Totally intonated guitar with show a slight sharp on harmonics but that's nerd stuff. Hahaha. I use a tuner now ....
You are right. And that’s because the 5/7 harmonic method Is flawed.
British Norm McDonald. Love you man
This is great for those times when you don't have an electric tuner handy. It's embarrassing to be dependent on a tuner.
I can hear all the harmonics described in the video except for the one on the 5th fret of string 6. Is it possible that the guitar needs a setup?
Thanks man
Yes, the big IF is the accuracy of the frets. In my experience even the best guitars can have flaws here. I will continue to use my Korg but leave the fine adjustments to me lug holes :-)
This is WRONG! A myth that keeps getting plugged! Not the way to tune a guitar.
Whilst you can get the 5th fret and 7th fret natural harmonics to sound exactly at identical frequencies the fretted notes will be out. If you do this with all the strings when you play FRETTED notes and chords the guitar will not be in tune with itself!😱 CHECK OUT the laws of equal temperament and other videos that tell you this is incorrect. For perfect guitar intonation the 12th fret natural harmonic MUST sound exactly equal to the fretted 12th note but that is another issue/lesson.
EXCELLENT VIDEO
Also, the number of beats equals how many cycles per second that the string is out of tune, if I recall correctly, so the closer the notes are to being in tune, the slower the beats get. The faster the beats, the more out of tune the strings are to each other.
Exactly. The number of beats per second, let's call it f3 = f1-f2. If you hear exactly 3 beats per second, then the two signals (tones, strings) are exactly 3 Hertz apart in frequency.
In electronics this is used all the time. We call it frequency conversion. The resulting tone (f3) is also called a heterodyne. This method of changing the frequency of a radio signal was invented in 1901 and is used in virtually every radio you've ever used.
Here we're using this principle in the audio range but the rules are exactly the same. It works the same at any frequency.
Technical part you can skip: Why is this used in radios? Lets say you want to build a radio that receives a signal at, say, 500 Mhz. At this frequency, it's extremely difficult to build high-performance, selective electronic circuits because the physical dimensions are so small. But it's easy to build them at 500 kHz. So, you generate a signal locally at 499.5 MHz and mix it with the incoming signal, which translates the signal at 500 MHz down to 500 kHz, where it's easy to work with.
I play pipe organ and this trick is used in pipe organ building to simulate pipes that are too large to build or install. You use two smaller pipes tuned a fifth apart to produce a tone that's an octave lower than you could otherwise go. The organist can also do this himself to create a thunderous bass note by playing a fifth on the pedals. So if the low C on the pedalboard is 32.62 Hz and the G above it is 49 Hz, playing the two together gives a resultant of 16.38 Hz. Nice and thunderous. Larger pipe organs have pedal pipes twice as large so you can divide those frequencies in half and get a resultant around 8 Hz, which will shake you like an earthquake.
Speaking of earthquakes, back in the 1970s there was a movie called Earthquake. Gene Czerwinsky (a friend of mine), founder of Cerwin-Vega designed a special system for theaters called the Sensurround or Earthquake system. This used two large bass horns powered by 18-inch speakers. One was fed a frequency of around 10 Hz and the other horn at 12 Hz. The two audio tones mixed in the theater to produce a 2 Hz tone that shook the theater.
The principle we're talking about is the same in all cases. Here, we use it to tune a guitar. A piano tuner does the same thing working up from just a 440 Hz tuning fork, all by listening to the "beats".
Physics-wise, the 5th/7th fret harmonics are not exactly the same note as the equal-tempered ones. So while it's a convenient technique, it won't get you exactly in tune. There are a number of in-depth tuning sites that discuss the physics of what works and what doesn't. It would be good if we phased out the 5th/7th fret harmonics tuning method. But guitar tuning can never be perfect all over the fretboard because of the equal temperament fret positions.
Amen. But too many teachers don’t do any research.....
..so what would be the better alternative?
What tune or cadence would it have this way. Is it 440?
Thank you
Hey Justin, with a Floyd rose type guitar would this also work or with Floyd rose double locking trems do you recommend tuners more?
i love you!! ... i mean... your videos... yes, your videos
I always used to tune with harmonics and a few other tricks but I haven't played in so long I actually forgot a lot :(
This technique is the closest thing to having a strobe tuner without needing any actual tuning device.
You just tune and hear the beating between both notes, the fastest the beating the more apart they are from the fame frequency.
i don't understand one thing , lets say I replace new strings, and all of them are out of tune, how do I get that 1 IN TUNE to tune other ones after it? Also I used tuner, and even tho guitar is tuned, harmonics on G and B sounds totaly different, any other sounds the same
hey justin, please posting video how to play just like heaven (katie melua version) :D
OMG WRONG, WRONG, WRONG< WRONG!!!! Ur all wrong!! All you have to do is make sure your tuning pegs are all facing in the same direction!! I like my tuners with the shiny chrome side facing the audience, it just looks way cooler. Are they perfectly in tune????? Maybe not but they should be close and within range. You are welcome!!! BTW Justin you are awesome and ive learnded so much, up until this video!! Cheers
you are nuts
One of the funniest things I have ever seen posted...lol
Hoof Hearted wowwwww. I sure hope this person is just a super new beginner 😂 don’t tell other newbs this. We will have a whole bunch of out of tune guitarists around the world. We don’t want that. 😂
Hey ashely, let me tell you a little secret ok? He is JOKING. Sometimes humans do that. This is important, so pay atencion: if you miss a joke, people will call you stupid and dumb most of the times, so be careful and dont do this again! (just a tip since you are a beginner, i MIGHT be joking as well).
Good commitment to the troll, 6/10
you can even SEE that they are in tune because plucking one will make the other resonate and you will see it vibrating if they are in tune.
This works well when you don't have a tuner at hand, but even when your guitar is setup correctly harmonics don't always sound perfectly in tune.
I don't know how much bearing this will have on this discussion, but only a piano can really be "in Tune". At least, that's what I learned in college. If I remember my definitions right, a piano is a "equal tempered" in that: every note has a string dedicated to it. A guitar Has a string that can play 22 -24 notes (depending on how many frets, and not including bending at the highest fret ETC). If you really want to be "in tune", know what key the song you are about to play is (lets say for instance G Major), have a piano player G Major chord ( guitar voicing: open or Barre) and tune your guitar to that, and you'll be in tune (but just for that song and any other song in G Major), Even with that I believe the guitar still son't be 100% in tune with the piano, particularly if Chord substitutions are played. I don't do this, ( I usually tune by harmonics) but I think it's worth bringing up.
I've been using tuners more actually, but I find them a little frustrating.
+Soussherpa Robert T. Baumer I realize this post was a year ago but you might be interested to know that pianos are not actually 'in tune'. Even electronic keyboards are not perfectly in tune as you get to the higher notes, I believe it has something to do with the way people used to tune pianos by ear, the higher notes ended up a bit sharp, we've gotten used to this sound so keyboards are tuned the same. Try using a guitar tuner on a keyboard, interesting stuff.
Also, equal temperament isn't really a thing specific to pianos, it's a way of moving all the notes slightly so they fit perfectly in an octave. Western music is predominantly in 12 tone equal temperament, but people do mess around with other divisions of the octave such as 19, 22, 31 tone equal temperament (it gets really weird when you use less than 12). Search "microtonal funk" to hear a really cool one in 19 "edo" (equal distance octave).
I find it interesting that every one has problems with this tuning method when if they watched the video's of Joe Walsh this is also his preferred method. That said my guitar has a built in tuner so I get lazy.
What if your low E string is out of tune and you don't have a reference for the other strings?
5:35 See? He didn't touch his low E string but the other 5 strings.
In this case only a electric tuner can help
On WUN Oh, there is also pianos, tuning forks. Doesn’t have to be an electronic tuner.
How to set your amp up to utilize harmonics would be a much much better subject.
4th fret harmonic on G string is the same as 5th fret on B-string,
What if the initial string is out of tune
how to tune apply same method with acoustic guitar?
yes
They ring out for ages...
Well, it will not necessarily be 14 cents flat, only in theory. In practice, the reference string/note is never exactly tuned and as soon as you start fretting notes, the precision gets only worse. You also have to hear and compare the frequencies using your ears and brain, which isn't an exact signal processor. So, in theory, you are right, but in practice you "just" have to listen if your guitar sounds good or not...
Tuning with harmonics is a good way to play out of tune. I mean, harmonics will get you in the ballpark, but then you have to make adjustments.
Yes of course you do. Just the same as using the fifth fret method. You’re still tuning by ear. You get in the ballpark and then you fine tune - using octaves and chords. At least that’s what I do. It’s good practice for ear training. If a beginner only ever uses an electronic tuner or an app then their ear doesn’t get trained very well.
For those claiming the electronic tuner is the best method...well, no. The problem is that guitars are not perfect instruments. Your OPEN strings may well be perfectly 'in tune' using the tuner, but when playing you don't simply play open strings. Go down the fretboard and there I'll be variations: slightly flat notes, slightly sharp notes. No matter how well your guitar is set up for intonation this is inevitable. So slight adjustments after using the tuner are normally necessary to get a better overall result. Using this method is great for this.
George Blair
Mark HarrisThe reply above was a glitch !! I did not purposely enter it !!
Mark Harris NOW here is my reply to GBlair : All guitar tuners are electronically tempered exactly like the frets on the instrument.. Using a Snark, Korg, DiAdario tuner ARE compensated/tempered (compensated) same as the fret placements. They give you the correct open-string frequencies and, as long as your frets are mathematically in their proper positions on the fingerboard, all the fingered notes' readouts will be correct also. That's why the ARE called GUITAR/bass tuners and not, say trombone or cello tuners (non-tempered instruments).
As he said before guitars are imperfect instruments. Even if tuners are tempered, the only way to get dead on perfect intonation is with a true temperament fretboard. That is literally the only way to be in tune all up and down the fretboard
Mark Harris simple logic and physics - intonation depends also on the distance between the fret and the string. Pushing down the string on the fret changes it's tension. And the lower the tuning, the more this becomes obvious. Cheap guitars rarely have optimized height between fret and string
But if the low E string is off....
Equal temperament has no bearing if you're tuning octaves.
You'll never be able to tune a guitar perfectly by ear, that's why you check it with a few chords
harmonic tuning do sent work
check out
The 5/7 harmonic method is flawed. Please don’t. Harmonic on the 7th is not a perfect octave
This method is easy to hear and an OK beginners method but not accurate. You are better tuning 5th fret to open strings, if you can hear well enough.
There are other, even still better methods but too much to go into here.
This way to tune your guitar is absolutely incorrect. There is only one harmonic is correct. It's 12 fret on each string. The 5th and 7th frets will ALWAYS sharp. Who think I'm wrong take tuner and check it yourself.
P.S. Scott Groove has a video about that. It's called "Do NOT Tune Your Guitar Using Harmonics".
Игорь Петров
an electronic tuner is more accurate.
but harmonics has been a tried and tested method for years before electronic tuners came out.
think about it, how did piano tuners tune piano's and Harpsichords back in the 18th /19th centuries, no electronics then ?
usually a couple of tuning forks, and go from there, with a highly trained ear (and a lot more than 6 strings LoL).
if you are a hobby player like me, harmonics are a fine way to tune and it's fun.
if you want perfection use the electronic tuner (boring).
tuning forks, pitch pipes and harmonics, then came electronic tuners.
Honestly, how did the world get along without electronics ?
I don't know, but it did, and beautiful music was played anyway and in tune !
+Игорь Петров www.schrof.net/guitar/articles/harmonics.html
Mark Chambers I mean if you will tune for example your open 5th string A by tuner and then 5th and 7th fret harmonics will be sharp.
By that link there's a detail explain of my words.
k thanks for explaining
harmonics 5 and 7 is not accurate tuning. yeah i know alot of people do it. sorry not accurate. buy a guitar tuner or use a app with cent increments. see james taylor guitar tuning method.
2019. Me
This doesn't work. I've tried it.
It does work, but it takes a bit of getting used to. It's worth the effort.
Ummmmmm, no.
Bruhhhhhhh
Not accurate. Save the trouble, buy a tuner and take it with you everywhere you go.
This is absolutely wrong. The harmonics at the 5th and 7th frets should NOT be the same. The guitar is an equal tempered instrument. You can't force just intonation on it.
notes go sharp as you fret them anyways, i don't see why they shouldn't be the same. If it's close enough your ear won't tell anyways.
@@arsenalfanatic09 We're talking about harmonics. They don't go sharp. In any case, why tune to the wrong frequency when it's just as easy to tune to the correct frequency?
This is wrong! You’ll get an out of tune guitar!😰🥺 Why? The open A string when perfectly in tune will vibrate at 110Hz. The 5th fret natural harmonic vibrates at 440Hz. This is universally accepted concert pitch.👆Check with a tuning fork! The 7th fret harmonic for the A string vibrates at 330Hz. The low E string (Wiki) vibrates at 82.41Hz. It’s 5th fret harmonic will vibrate at 4x82.41= 329.64Hz! [2 octaves higher]. Not at 330 Hz! Appreciate the difference in frequencies by the slight out of tune “beating”.
Doing it like this across all the strings will compound the errors and hence the guitar will not be in tune with itself! 😰🥺CHECK THIS OUT seriously! Only 12th fret harmonics should be used. They’ll work with fretted notes. Understand the Physics properly!👆
Well I just learned this but he is wrong with b use 9th fret g string harmonic and 5th fret b string harmonic, I have confirmed this with my tuner his method is half a note off and mine is spot on.
Wrong..does not work,
This is so wrong! please see; Do NOT Tune Your Guitar Using Harmonics. By Scott Grove ,,just goes to show you, ya cant believe everything these so called "professionals say"
Scott Grove is just plain wrong and this is right!
Amen
Nope, I'm dead on correct. I feel sorry for all of you falling for this garbage. I teach the truth and I can't make you all listen and learn. I can't force you to believe in TEMPERMENT. Keep on playing blind and deaf.
noobs this is not how to tune....i knew this at 13....hit the harmonics with a tuner plugged in and you will be...AMAZED
This didn’t help at all lmao
So you, NOT the teacher is telling THE TEACHER how to teach? Leave Justin alone, bro.
With all due respect, this is a pretty lousy way to tune your guitar. It's much better to get the high E string in tune with a tuner/pitch fork/sound file and then tune all the other strings to that.
The reason this is better is because it makes it easier to tune accurately. When you tune in this chain-like way, any small error in your tuning could compound to become a larger error in the lower strings. When you compare every string to the SAME string, there's only one source of error each time.
Here's how I do it: 1st string high E compared to 2nd string E, 6th string 5th fret harmonic, 5th string 7th fret harmonic, and 4th string 14th fret artificial harmonic with second fret held down. 1st string G compared to 3rd string 12th fret harmonic. Play a bit in the key you'll use and adjust to taste. You're done!
all these RUclips vids is pretty much a waste of time..you can use an app for this, save a headache and time. or just carry a tuner always.
If you actually watched his videos about tuning, you would know he says a tuner is best, but if you don't have one handy it is very good to know other methods.
Yeah n I'm saying. .not just this vid....all of them.