For many months, I didn't have a clip-on tuner (I had given mine away with some ukes to my parents). During those months, I mostly tuned by ear because my tuners weren't convenient and I'm lazy.
Finally, I decided to buy a clip-on tuner. But the few months without it caused me to:
1. Don't like having a clip-on tuner clipped to my uke all the time.
2. Because I don't have the clip-on tuner on the uke, I still mostly do relative tuning by ear (since I'm too lazy to clip on the clip-on tuner), and...
3. I can tune the uke much faster by ear (relative tuning) vs a tuner (absolute tuning).
I'm glad that I was "forced" to tune by ear for those months. It saves me a lot of time whenever I feel like picking up my uke and play.
Now, I don't want to say that tuning by ear is absolutely great. It's got issues like being off key and deviating from equal temperament tuning (which can cause problems higher up on the frets).
I'm probably restating what many here already know; but for those who tune exclusively with tuners, try to use just your ears for a week. Here's my instruction:
1. You only have to tune 3 strings: g, E, and A against the C-string.
2. The 4th fret on the C-string is the E note, pluck the 4th fret on the C-string, then lightly touch the E-string. If it is already in tune, you'll feel it vibrating (sympathetic resonance). The strength of vibration indicates the in-tune-ness.
3. If the E-string isn't vibrating or vibrating very little, you can adjust its pitch relative to the C-string 4th fret. This requires your ear to compare 2 pitches.
4. In the beginning, your ear may not know which pitch is higher when the pitches are close. In this case, just adjust the E-string way off, then you can tell which is higher/lower easily. In time (like a week), your ear will be trained to tell pitches 8-10 cents apart; which will give you the sympathetic resonance, then you just need to use your finger to feel the strength of the resonance to tune the strings to within 1-2 cents.
5. The 3rd fret on the E-string is the G note. Use this to tune the G-string. And the 2nd fret on the G-string is the A note.
Like I said before, the good thing about this way of tuning is that most of the time, when you pick up your uke, all its strings are already in-tune relatively (i.e. you get a nice strong sympathetic resonance) so you can play immediately; or with very slight adjustments to 1 or 2 strings. If you had used a tuner, then most likely you'd have to make adjustments to all the strings.
I've debated about posting this since I believe most folks here already know. But, I also think it might be helpful to people like me. If I never gave away my clip-on tuner, I'd still have a tuner permanently attached to my uke and would have never bothered to tune by ear.
I think it is something easy to try and can save you a lot of time.
Finally, I decided to buy a clip-on tuner. But the few months without it caused me to:
1. Don't like having a clip-on tuner clipped to my uke all the time.
2. Because I don't have the clip-on tuner on the uke, I still mostly do relative tuning by ear (since I'm too lazy to clip on the clip-on tuner), and...
3. I can tune the uke much faster by ear (relative tuning) vs a tuner (absolute tuning).
I'm glad that I was "forced" to tune by ear for those months. It saves me a lot of time whenever I feel like picking up my uke and play.
Now, I don't want to say that tuning by ear is absolutely great. It's got issues like being off key and deviating from equal temperament tuning (which can cause problems higher up on the frets).
I'm probably restating what many here already know; but for those who tune exclusively with tuners, try to use just your ears for a week. Here's my instruction:
1. You only have to tune 3 strings: g, E, and A against the C-string.
2. The 4th fret on the C-string is the E note, pluck the 4th fret on the C-string, then lightly touch the E-string. If it is already in tune, you'll feel it vibrating (sympathetic resonance). The strength of vibration indicates the in-tune-ness.
3. If the E-string isn't vibrating or vibrating very little, you can adjust its pitch relative to the C-string 4th fret. This requires your ear to compare 2 pitches.
4. In the beginning, your ear may not know which pitch is higher when the pitches are close. In this case, just adjust the E-string way off, then you can tell which is higher/lower easily. In time (like a week), your ear will be trained to tell pitches 8-10 cents apart; which will give you the sympathetic resonance, then you just need to use your finger to feel the strength of the resonance to tune the strings to within 1-2 cents.
5. The 3rd fret on the E-string is the G note. Use this to tune the G-string. And the 2nd fret on the G-string is the A note.
Like I said before, the good thing about this way of tuning is that most of the time, when you pick up your uke, all its strings are already in-tune relatively (i.e. you get a nice strong sympathetic resonance) so you can play immediately; or with very slight adjustments to 1 or 2 strings. If you had used a tuner, then most likely you'd have to make adjustments to all the strings.
I've debated about posting this since I believe most folks here already know. But, I also think it might be helpful to people like me. If I never gave away my clip-on tuner, I'd still have a tuner permanently attached to my uke and would have never bothered to tune by ear.
I think it is something easy to try and can save you a lot of time.