Tuning an electric guitar should be done using an electric guitar tuner. It is the method of tuning that I strongly recommend to anyone asking for advice on tuning a guitar. Almost all professional guitarists use an electric guitar tuner. There are at least two reasons why. First, they know the value of being in tune. Second, they know electric guitar tuners are the quickest way to get in tune.

The first time I played a guitar was when I borrowed a friend\’s instrument in college. The friend came over a few days later to see how I was doing. I strummed a few chords. He cringed. Since I had been playing so much the instrument was no longer in tune; in fact, it wasn\’t even close to being in tune. Having had very little real musical experience, I could not even tell that the guitar was no longer in tune.

Some parts of playing the guitar are obvious, for example: fretting chords, picking, strumming, etc. Developing a musical ear, while not as obvious, is just as important, if not more so. The best way for a beginner to improve his or her ear is to consistently play in tune. In fact, playing out of tune will, not surprisingly, reduce the speed at which a beginner will develop his or her ear. Making matters worse, many beginners do not want to spend much money on their first guitar. Sadly, they end up with cheaply made guitars that go out of tune easily. The result is often real frustration – frustration that easily can be avoided through the combination of a decent guitar and a good tuner.

For many years, the Boss TU-2 was the electric guitar tuner of choice. But, there was a problem with the TU-2. It was only accurate to +/- 3 cents (a cent refers to 1/100 of the distance between consecutive notes). Three cents is discernible by somebody with a good ear. Furthermore, when two musicians would tune their guitars, each using his or her own TU-2 tuner, the guitars could be out of tune by as much as 6 cents.

In the not-too distant past, a number of well-known professional guitarists used Peterson strobe tuners. One such guitarist who used a Peterson tuner was former Guns N\’ Roses guitarist Slash (he now uses a different tuner). Andy Timmons, a guitarist\’s guitarist, also has used Peterson strobe tuners. The good thing about Peterson strobe tuners is that they were accurate to +/- 1 cent. But, despite the good accuracy, there were a couple problems with the Peterson tuners. First, they were just downright expensive. Second, they were known to break down. If you search the internet, you can easily find several stories of people who bought a Peterson electric guitar tuner and, a short while later, it stopped working.

Thankfully, in recent years, a new generation of electric guitar tuners has become available. These tuners are accurate (+/- 1 cent), high-quality and relatively inexpensive.Dan Denton is a guitar enthusiast with twenty plus years experience. Read more of Dan\’s opinions on electric guitar tuners, including the make and model of the best electric guitar tuner on the market. If you are a beginning guitarist, you may also be interested in Dan\’s advice on purchasing a high-quality electric guitar pack.

Dan Denton is a guitar enthusiast with twenty plus years experience. Read more of Dan\’s writing at http://better-guitar.com.

Author Bio: Dan Denton is a guitar enthusiast with twenty plus years experience. Read more of Dan\’s opinions on electric guitar tuners, including the make and model of the best electric guitar tuner on the market. If you are a beginning guitarist, you may also be interested in Dan\’s advice on purchasing a high-quality electric guitar pack.

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Keywords: guitar, electric guitar tuner, beginning guitar, guitar lessons