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How many people don't own or use a tuner?

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  • Strat54Strat54 Frets: 2331
    We'll blame Chuck Berry......
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  • StuckfastStuckfast Frets: 2393
    I know it's an unpopular opinion in some quarters but I'm a huge fan of the Tronical Tune / Gibson G force system. It seems like a natural next step forward from using a digital tuner, except that it's often quicker, and you don't need to think about it so much (which is important if, for instance, you want to talk to an audience while tuning). And the machine heads have very low gearing so manual fine-tuning is actually much easier than on most conventional guitars.

    Having said that, what always gets my goat is the number of people who blindly follow what their tuner tells them, then don't check by ear afterwards.

    There are also some pitfalls associated with digital tuners. One is that some tunings just don't sound right in equal temperament. I play a lot in DADGAD and will always tune the G string by ear so that when fretted at the second fret it forms a perfect fifth with the D below it and a unison with the A above it. For that to be the case it has to be slightly sharp of concert pitch.

    Another thing I've come across before is bass players who diligently tune their instruments to concert pitch, but when they're actually playing, attack the instrument so hard that every note comes out a quarter tone sharp.
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  • richardhomerrichardhomer Frets: 24793
    When I gigged regularly, I had one of those old grey plastic, hand-held Korg tuners with a 'VU' style meter at the top. 

    My guitar was tuned about five minutes prior to playing - after which, is was tweaked on the fly, by ear - usually while playing.

    My main stage guitar held its tuning particularly well, so the lack of a tuner during a gig never presented a problem.
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  • Once dropped my SG off the back of a flatbed lorry stage - electronically retuned it (amazingly the headstock was still attached, probably because it was a Yamaha not a Gibson) without hearing it, and realised inside the first three chords of the first song that my G was an octave lower than it should be - sounded huge and lovely until it got to the solo....

    Moral - check it through the amp as well before you start (if you've done something stupid)
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  • usedtobeusedtobe Frets: 3841
    My ears are pretty shagged, these days. I couldn't even contemplate playing without a tuner.
     so if you fancy a reissue of a guitar they never made in a colour they never used then it probably isn't too overpriced.

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  • SNAKEBITESNAKEBITE Frets: 1075
    p90fool said:
    ICBM said:
    p90fool said:
    Obviously an ability to tune your guitar by ear is essential, but I also think that if you only ever play a perfectly tuned guitar your ears get used to it and can tell instantly when it's out.
    I've come across quite a few players who actually can't tell whether they're in tune or not without a tuner, because they always use one.
    I honestly doubt that the tuner is the reason. They may be just shit.
    :)


     You called?
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  • BlueingreenBlueingreen Frets: 2584
    edited January 2017
    I'm old enough to have started playing before electronic tuners were available, at least to ordinary musicians, so it was all by ear.  I still remember the first time I saw a band using electronic tuners - Joe Jackson in Glasgow.  While listening to them it suddenly dawned on me that it was probably the first time I'd heard a rock band sound in tune.
    “To a man with a hammer every problem looks like a nail.”
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  • grungebobgrungebob Frets: 3300
    I only own one pedal and it's a tuner 
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  • I have a TU-2 on my board that was my second-ever tuner pedal (my first was a plastic-switched Fender one that broke quickly); I have used it regularly since 2002 and it refuses to give up; which is unfortunate as I don't actually like it very much. 

    I considered taking it off the board as I currently have a line6 M5 which has a built in tuner/mute, but somehow it felt weird not having the comfort of that white brick at the start of my signal chain for easy tune-ups and signal muting.
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