Estimated reading time 3 minutes
Table of Contents
Introduction
How many of you want to know how to tune with guitar harmonics? Tuning using the 5th and 7th fret harmonics is the most common way to fine-tune standard tuning on the guitar. It yields better sounding chords than tuning using frets. However, it doesn’t restrict what you can use for open chord forms. Read more to learn how it works.
This article uses musical terms. For definitions, see the Glossary at the end of the post.
How to Tune with Guitar Harmonics
Mobile users: for best results reading the examples, tilt your screen 90o to the right.
Do you want to know how to tune with guitar harmonics? Using the frets to tune is the standard method (see chart above). However, tuning using harmonics remains a popular option.
- Nevertheless, a major guitar magazine has criticized tuning with harmonics because the octaves don’t yield the exact same note.
- However, intonation studies have shown that if the cent variance remains under 15 cents, that won’t be a problem. (For an explanation of cents, click here.)
- Conversely, this tuning makes the major thirds in most of your open chords sound just a little bit better than when you tune using the frets. (Hagerman and Sundberg found that the major third is the most important interval to tune in a chord.)
So, how do you tune with harmonics?
Harmonics are produced by touching the string lightly at a node for the desired mode of vibration at the same time the string is… plucked. (The New Harvard Dictionary of Music 364)
The node is the place where you touch your finger to the string. The plucked harmonic will vibrate in two, three, or four parts, depending on where you touch above the string.
For more information on harmonics:
The videos below show two popular methods for tuning with harmonics.
- The chart below shows the theoretical cent values for Justin’s tuning method. Since he mostly uses the 5th and 7th fret harmonics, this tunes the strings to pure fourths.
- Unlike the Standard Tuning chart above, you can see that the cents values (in the ones place) of the strings get progressively smaller on Justin’s chart.
- The exception is the second string, which has been tuned to a pure fifth instead of a pure fourth.
Video: Justin Tunes the Guitar with Harmonics
Video: Allen Mathews Tunes the Guitar with Harmonics
How Many of You Want to Know How to Tune with Guitar Harmonics to Make Your Chords Sound Better?
How does tuning with guitar harmonics make your chords sound better? Since the strings have been (mostly) tuned to a smaller interval, it impacts the intervals within each chord.
- Look at the major third and the root on the string to the left of the major third in the C, D, E, and F major chord diagrams below. The major third is just a little bit smaller than the 400 cents you find in an equal tempered major third.
- For example, in the F major chord the fourth string F = 496 cents and the third string A = 894 cents. Therefore, 894 – 496 = 398 cent major third.
- However, the G major chord gets mixed results, and the A doesn’t get any help at all. This happens because the second string has been tuned to a larger interval.
Conversely, if you use the tuning in the next section, the A and G major chords will also have smaller major thirds as well.
Nevertheless, the major thirds have been tuned only slightly smaller than equal temperament. That makes it practical to switch between the different open chord forms.
For more information:
How Many of You Want to Know How to Tune with Guitar Harmonics: Tuning in the Real World
How does this work in the real world? The chart above comes from the tuning track from the popular guitar method Rock Shop 3 by Aaron Stang.
- You can see that it looks very similar to Justin’s chart with much of the variance likely due to string inharmonicity.
- However, the second string doesn’t look like it’s been tuned using the 7th fret harmonic.
- It probably was tuned using the 4th fret on the third string as a tone reference which however had been thrown off by the guitar’s straight frets. (For more information on the frets, click here. Then, read the section What’s wrong with straight frets?)
Not comfortable getting into standard tuning without using the frets? Try this free online guitar tuner for rock style standard guitar tuning tuned with harmonics!
Aaron Stang Plays 007 Theme
Final Thoughts on “How Many of You Want to Know How to Tune with Guitar Harmonics?”
To sum up How Many of You Want to Know How to Tune with Guitar Harmonics:
- The sixth, fifth, fourth, and third strings will usually be tuned using the 5th and 7th fret harmonics.
- The first and second strings can be tuned with harmonics, frets, or a combination of both.
- This gives somewhat better sounding chords while still allowing you to use all the open and barre chords.
- All the octaves will be acceptably in tune.
- This tuning will be especially suitable for rock styles.
Have fun playing!
Related Posts
- How to Tune the Classic Rock Open G Sound Using Harmonics
- How to Tune the Blues Rock Open D Sound Using Harmonics
- How to Tune Like a Rock Star
- Play Like a Rock Star with Open G Tuning
- Sound Like a Rock Star with Open G Tuning
© 2023 Geoffrey Keith
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