No tuner tuning?

Rllink

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 14, 2014
Messages
4,566
Reaction score
292
Location
Ames, Iowa
All the tuner talk, anybody just pick up their uke, check the tuning off of one of their strings, and then go for it? I've found myself doing that more and more when I'm in the privacy of my own home or if I know that I won't be playing with anyone else. I started doing it because I met a guy recently who plays the ukulele and he doesn't have a tuner of any kind. Tuning to a specific frequency is not something he is even concerned with. He checks his A string by ear, if it sounds good to him, he tunes off of it. If he doesn't like the sound of his A string, he adjusts it until it does sound good to him and then goes from there.

If we are playing together, we tune to each other. He has a couple friends that join us once in a while and they are the same. We all tune to someone's A string. If I happen to whip out my tuner, they wait for me to tune, and then they tune off of mine, because none of them have a tuner of their own. Nor a tuning fork or a pitch pipe, or a phone app. They actually are humoring me.

I was just wondering if that is something other people do? I'm finding that tuning is just sort of relative. I mean, do you really have to be at 440 MHz? Evidently not, because these guys are really good and I've been learning a lot from them, and they are tuning wherever they feel like. This is not the first time I've done this, but it is the first time I've done it consistently. Anyway, I've found it to be quite liberating to not be dictated to by a tuner. Just to play what sounds good. I don't know. I'm throwing it out for discussion. Maybe I'm just being goofy.
 
All the tuner talk, anybody just pick up their uke, check the tuning off of one of their strings, and then go for it? I've found myself doing that more and more when I'm in the privacy of my own home

Definitely! I'll check the sound of each string and some chords. If it sounds reasonable, I'll play. When I'm with a group, I check the tuning occasionally.
 
There are generations that never used a tuner. The more savvy ones used a tuning fork. We had a piano do I’d tune a guitar string to that and then tune string to string. Thousands of garage bands tuned to each other’s instruments. It is pretty funny that as instrument intonation has improved, electronic tuning has increased. Once upon a time you had to do a compromise tuning to fudge a little because the intonation was always off some.

And yes, I use a tuner all the time these days. But I also do string to string afterward to check it in real life.

John
 
I started playing guitar many,many,many, years ago. I always tuned using an "A" tuning fork. Today I play ukulele and use an electronic tuner.
I really think using the tuning fork was beneficial because you really had to listen to the sound your strings and their vibrations.
 
I try, but I'm not good at it yet. What I often do is to tune my G string to a tuner, then tune the rest to that string by ear, then go back with the tuner to see how close I am.

How close is close enough depends on your ear: I can always get it close enough for my ear, but not close enough for my wife. A pro at the Koaloha factory looked physically pained by my "in tune" and swapped me for one he'd tuned (by ear) while he fixed it. I think (hope!) I'm getting better since I was there
 
I try, but I'm not good at it yet. What I often do is to tune my G string to a tuner, then tune the rest to that string by ear, then go back with the tuner to see how close I am.

How close is close enough depends on your ear: I can always get it close enough for my ear, but not close enough for my wife. A pro at the Koaloha factory looked physically pained by my "in tune" and swapped me for one he'd tuned (by ear) while he fixed it. I think (hope!) I'm getting better since I was there
I'm not real good at tuning off of something else, be it a tuning fork, a piano, a pitch pipe, or even another string, but I think it might be because I've never actually tried. I'm lazy. I've just always put my tuner on and get it done. Quick and easy. But these guys have me going now.
 
Even professional rock groups like Grateful Dead were often in live situations so badly out of tunes.
The invention of electronic tuners is such a blessing for our ears :)

Whoever tries get as good a tuning with only a fork can never achieve it, but can use it together with an electronic tuner to get to know his/her instrument's imperfctions. And then can maybe get a good enough tuning with only a tuning fork or some other single reference pitch.
 
I was just wondering if that is something other people do? I'm finding that tuning is just sort of relative. I mean, do you really have to be at 440 MHz? Evidently not, because these guys are really good and I've been learning a lot from them, and they are tuning wherever they feel like.

Some people are cursed with an absolute pitch, so to them the reference pitch is not as flexible thing to adjust. They are very few, and in the above general post I mean't instruments being out of tune relative to each other or even relative themselves.
 
Probably the best bet would be to try tuning by ear and check yourself on the tuner, using the tuner to train your ear.littyle by little. In time, it will improve. If you have a tuner or app that will play reference pitches that is a great option. If you are only using a meter, you are doing it visually and not aurally.

If you are playing with others, being in tune with each other is needed. Whether it is 440, 438, 442, etc really does not matter as long as you are the same. If playing with piano you would have to be pretty precise as they cannot adjust. Different groups, especially classical ensembles around the country and world tune to different standards. Some early music groups tune to a much lower pitch, while groups in Germany may tune to 444 or 446.
 
Some people are cursed with an absolute pitch, so to them the reference pitch is not as flexible thing to adjust. They are very few, and in the above general post I mean't instruments being out of tune relative to each other or even relative themselves.

I'm not really talking about playing out of tune, I'm talking about playing relative to each other. No one it advocating for playing out of tune. I am far from perfect pitch, but I can still hear out of tune. These people are not out of tune, they just are not tuned the 440 MHz.
 
Back in the day, if the band leader had a tin ear, the band usually didn't get the gig. Course that was 55t years ago. Thank G. for the tuners today cause my tin ear has turned to lead.
 
I'm not really talking about playing out of tune, I'm talking about playing relative to each other. No one it advocating for playing out of tune. I am far from perfect pitch, but I can still hear out of tune. These people are not out of tune, they just are not tuned the 440 MHz.

You are mixing things now or misunderstood by purpose. But search Google for an absolute pitch ear. It is developed at very young age and is not maybe such a good thing for a flexible musician, But you asked if 440Hz A4 is needed. Of course it is not.

Also if people can't play in tune relative to each, then they are playing out of tune!
 
I believe absolute is what people also call perfect pitch, where someone can hear and identify pitches. Certainly as you refer to playing in tune, that would be about having/developing good relative pitch. That is very important to have.

I sometimes hear performances on line which feature people performing or reviewing an instrument which is quite out of tune. It makes it tough to listen to or really get a sense of what the instrument sounds like. The instrument resonates differently when in tune with itself.
 
Occasionally I do play at home without tuning, as you described (but I tune the strings properly relative to each other). However, that's just occasionally. Most of the time I use an "A" tuning fork, and tune from that.
 
My wife was a music major in college. I can play one note and she will yell out that’s flat so I always get out a tuner to try to get as close as I can to A = 440 Hz.
 
I have a friend that thinks she can tune by ear, and she does get it in the ball park but always between an 1/8 and 1/4 tone sharp. But, yeah, it's painful for me to play with her and I try to gently encourage her to use a tuner. When she steps out for a smoke or bathroom break I quickly fix her tuning and she's none the wiser...
 
I have a friend that thinks she can tune by ear, and she does get it in the ball park but always between an 1/8 and 1/4 tone sharp. But, yeah, it's painful for me to play with her and I try to gently encourage her to use a tuner. When she steps out for a smoke or bathroom break I quickly fix her tuning and she's none the wiser...

...unless, of course, she joined the UU Forum yesterday... :rolleyes:
 
I'll tune by ear when I'm trying out ukes in a music shop, but I'll usually double check with my phone. Sometimes I'm close, sometimes not. I'll usually listen for the "my dog has fleas" rather than fretting one string to the next open string - you know, just for the challenge. I'm always up for the challenge, but I'm not winning. :p
 
Just kidding there, Peter! I remember back in the early seventies, my band utilized two guitar players and a bass player, we didn't have electronic tuners, and honestly I'm not sure we'd even heard of them! We'd just show up to the gig, and knowing we'd all been doing last-minute private practicing of some of our tunes "with the record", it was likely that we were all pretty close to the same range tuning-wise, and from there we'd all just start plucking open-string notes (sort of like a symphony orchestra getting tuned up), looking at each other, until we collectively agreed that we were all where we needed to be. And although we did insist on precision tuning, Lord knows how much "drift" might've taken place during each set, but we'd re-check occasionally, in between tunes, to make sure we were still "good". It's entirely possible that at the beginning of the night we were in tune with each other at a specific reference level ("440" or whatever), and that by the end of the night we were still in tune WITH EACH OTHER, but at a little bit lower reference level, and the "drop" probably went unnoticed because it was so gradual !!
 
Top Bottom