Is it okay if my guitar isn't perfectly tuned?

Question

I was tuning my guitar a couple minutes earlier, and the strings aren't perfectly tuned. They're just a little off tune, but when I played a couple songs, they sounded just fine. So does it really make a difference?
I know I'm not breaking any laws if my guitar is off tune, but I was just wondering.

Answer 1

Hi Zhong



Some of the answers here are a little off. A guitar is hardly ever in tune and like a piano, the guitar has a tempered-tuning which means that you have to tune it in octave here and there to get an acceptable tuning in open position and at the 12th fret.



A guitarist can compensate easily as he is playing by bending a note slightly or whatever to get it in tune. When you are playing, it is hardly noticable but to yourself.



The only time your guitar sound perfectly in tune is when you put brand new strings on it. The next time, it is slightly off. As long as you can play well, its not tht important. At my studio, half of my recordings are done with a half-tuned guitar and its up to the guitar player to adjust to it.



When I see these so-call guitarist tuning and tuning and tuning the guitar is mind-boggling. You are there waiting to see something amazing come out after all that effort only to see a G chord or en E open.



edit...Brad...nice post. Have to remember that one LOL.



edit.... Any good Guitar player, even with a broken string on stage (happened to me) will camouflage for that broken string if he knows his scales on a fingerboard.

Krist sake, I even broke a 4th string and nobody noticed. If you practiced string-skipping, broken strings are never an issue.

Secondly, when you shred and do lots of bending in between riffs, the guitar is never perfectly in tune. I would like to see a guitarist pick only one sour note while I shred on 1/32 or 1/64th notes. Good luck.



Simply put, the guitar is easy to compensate no matter what. Obviously, I am not implying that a guitar that is completely out of tune is the norm. But like the song Desafindao >> "Slightly out of tune"

Answer 2

haha... it makes some difference because it not only depends on how out of tune it is, but also how it is out of tune.



It's better that you keep it in tune, because as a general rule, it should sound better when in tune. Sometimes it's a little out, but it still sounds ok, yes this is true, but could it sound better? Usually being in tune makes it sound better. Although, some people have their own tuning preferences, and if that's how you like it, keep it that way. But if it's in tune, and it sounds better to you, then keep it in tune. Why settle for "just fine" when you can have great?



Like the other person was saying... if it's already out of tune, then well... it'll only get more out of tune as you go along, which is also a bit of a problem.

Answer 3

I gotta go with the answers that tell you to tune it.



To the "average" listener it might not bother them, but to any person who has a "musical" ear or is an instrumentalist themselves, it will sound awful. For me, it's like fingernails on a chalkboard. If a musician in a club is singing a bit off key or the guitarist is not in tune, I run for the door!!! Because it drives me up the wall.



But please, don't pay attention to "retired roadie". That dude is a sour, sour, sour old man, who has nothing better to do than insult every person who asks a question. I've read some more of his answers because he's always YELLING at PEOPLE who are STUPID (LOL),

And every one of his answers treats the question as if was asked by a complete moron who has no business even daring to insult him by asking a question.

I'm tempted to advise the powers that be that he's abusive. But I think I'll just let him go on making a spectacle of himself.



He has a point, buying a tuner is a great idea, but he doesn't have to be a jackass about it.

Answer 4

Ew. No, your songs will not sound "just fine" if your guitar is out of tune. Listening to someone playing an out of tune instrument is actively painful.

Answer 5

This is America and you're free to do what you want. You don't have to tune your guitar a certain way. Just do what makes you happy. You can tie your guitar strings to your bedpost and use a red Swingline stapler for a pick if you want.

Answer 6

sure why not... if you have such a tin ear and lack of any kind of pride that you can put up with playing a guitar that is out of tune... that's your business... BUT... if you get accustomed to hearing CRAP when you play... then that will start to sound NORMAL... and if and when you try to play with people who don't like playing out of tune.. then YOU are going to have a BIG problem



It doesn't take any longer to TUNE the damn thing than it does to just slop anything up and convince yourself it doesn't matter.



You DO have a TUNER... right? I suspect you don't.... so BUY ONE... they are cheap and then you won't be listening to CRAP while you are playing..



BTW... jerseycliff... I AM a professional musician and have been for over 50 years AND I USED TO TEACH until I got tired of the "anything will do" attitude of the tweens, teens and twenty somethings and decided it wasn't worth my time and effort trying to turn tin ears into golden earrings.



As for Bach... Having a slight beat that is out of tune on a stringed instrument is an old idea. ORGANS are always tuned so there is just a very slight dischord which tends to make the notes sound fuller... BUT THAT IS NOT DONE BY AMATEURS.. it is only done by people who KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING and under very controlled conditions or it will destroy the sound they are trying to achieve



I can't say I didn't learn from my mother though.. and, even though she has been DEAD since 1973.. she was my early piano and music teacher and I learned alot from her.

Answer 7

When I tune it I just go for perfect tuning because it'll take it longer to go out of tune.



But it entirely your perrogotive

Answer 8

Please, for the sake of anyone who might hear you, tune your guitar. You *can* tell if it's out of tune. At least, I can. It only takes a second to tune up and once you do, whatever you're playing will sound 100% better.

Answer 9

??? You've never heard of BACH??? a WELL-TEMPERED CLAVIER???



Bach discovered that if certain stringed instruments were not PERFECTLY TUNED sounded INFINITELY BETTER when played than if they were.



This is an old idea, it's been around, well, since BACH.



And don't listen to those other three ninnies. they're obviously NOT musicians. They're just parroting what they think their MOTHERS want them to say.



And BTW Retired...where does zhong say "anything will do"? He asked a question, I ANSWERED IT. I didn't read the fiction you seem to weave into it. And second, YOU CORROBORATED MY POINT!!! So WHY are you arguing with me???

Answer 10

Part of playing music is having a good ear, and part of anything you do you should take pride in whatever your doing.