As a guitarist, you should be tuning every single time you play. It may seem like a bother, especially when you just tuned it yesterday, but it is very necessary to sound good and for training your ear. Even if you don’t notice your guitar is out of tune, other’s will.
Like most beginners, I was quite cheap as I didn’t know if guitar was worth any additional investments yet. So, I started off with the free tuning app, GuitarTuna. It got me through the basics, but it was limiting.
For one, I shared a room and had a pretty noisy family. It was hard getting the silence I needed to tune via sound. Secondly, my favourite band had a lot of drop C# songs, but GuitarTuna only had standard tuning available. The couple times I did attempt their songs, I used our keyboard to tune.
When I was in the process of creating this band (Chromatic Dreamers), I knew I would need more than the bare minimum that I had. If I was serious, I needed to invest in some pedals, maintenance gear, and, of course, a better tuner.
I decided to go with a clip-on one so I could keep it on my guitar all the time, and honestly, it’s one of the best purchases I have made. While I like to be over prepared for band practice, the 3 things I MUST have with me is: a cable, earplugs, and my tuner. (If you’re curious about other things to consider, check out this article!)
When we started rehearsing together, it was nice being able to tune my guitar before plugging it in, or check my tuning while the drummer was making noise during breaks. I only needed about 10-20 seconds to tune and double check all my strings.
The bass player was relying on his phone to tune, but he started borrowing my tuner as it was hard for him to find a place to rest his phone or the silence required to do so. I ended up buying 2 more clip-ons, one for him, and another one for me. Now, I keep one at home and one in my guitar bag so I never forget it.
While I don’t own a tuning pedal, my amp does come with a tuner and I do use other pedals, so I have an idea of what it would mean to have a tuning pedal.
So let me give you an idea of when it may be best to have each, from a beginner’s perspective.
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Tuning App
Tuning apps are a life saver when you’re a beginner and just not ready to make additional purchases for guitar. These are great for at home practice and as a whole, they are pretty accurate.
It may take a bit more time to tune if your guitar isn’t loud enough or there’s more background noise, but otherwise, these are great.
For free versions, you usually don’t have the option to do alternate or drop tunings. When I was a few months in, I was really interested in playing One OK Rock songs, and many of the songs I loved the most was in drop C# tuning! Thus, a free tuning app was useless.
However, if you play other stringed instruments, an app that can switch between guitar, bass, ukulele, violin and so on may actually be the best option for you.
I find it can take about 2-3 minutes to tune with an app, assuming you’re in a quiet area and your phone isn’t always going off with notifications, and that’s another thing to consider.
When playing guitar, especially as a newbie, the last thing you want are distractions. When I used my phone’s tuner, metronome, and even tried Yousician for a while, it was easy to check other apps and notifications in the middle of practicing. So be sure to consider that if you choose this route long term.
Some of the best free tuning apps are: GuitarTuna (Android | iOS), Fender Guitar (Android | iOS), Boss Tuner (Android | Apple)
Clip-On Tuner
This is my favourite for various reasons. For one, it’s something I can keep on the head of my guitar at all times, making it easy for me to pick up my guitar and get right into it. They’re also quite small and portable.
I can turn it on with a single button and it doesn’t need to be plugged in, making it super convinient. The tuner I have can tune based on sound or vibrations. I use vibrations so I could tune quietly and without disturbance of background noise.
Unlike tuning apps which are fixed to a certain tuning for your whole instrument, clip-on tuners are simpler. They simply tell you what not you’re closest to, and if you’re a bit sharp or flat from that note, thus, you have complete freedom. Some clip on tuners also have other features like a metronome built in.
Most of these tuners are under $35, and considering how much you’re going to use them, it’s definitely worth the cost. The battery lasts a very long time (I’ve been using my first one for over 6 months now. A video review said he hasn’t changed his battery in 3 years!), and they are cheap to replace if you need to do so.
If you are an acoustic player, this is the best choice for you since a pedal, obviously, is not an option. If you have a quieter guitar or feel you have to strum really hard for your notes to be heard on the app, the vibration feature is especially useful.
If you’re an electric player, I find this is best if you only have one guitar and may not always want to go through the effort of setting your amp just to tune. I for one, like to practice acoustically at night for example.
Some of the best rated clip-on tuners are: Snark ST-2 Super Tight Chromatic Tuner, KLIQ UberTuner Chromatic Tuner
Tuning Pedal
Now, unlike the top two which have a bit more flexibility between different instruments, a pedal is usually dedicated to guitar and bass since they need to be plugged into an electric instrument.
I find a clip-on is better if you have one device but may use different amps and setups, but a pedal may be better if you have multiple guitars or bass and tend to use the same setup.
Instead of possibly misplacing your clip-on every time, the pedal will be in the same place; by your amp or on your pedal board, ready to tune which ever instrument you plug into it.
What more, pedals allow you tune silently. Let’s say you’re tuning on stage before a performance. With a clip-on, you would need to lower the volume of your guitar and turn it back up to avoid other’s hearing it.
With a pedal, however, you don’t need to adjust any of your settings. You can just turn it on and it will silence the output while you tune. Once you’re done, turn it off and it will be a ‘true bypass’, meaning it doesn’t interfere with the signal, speed or tone.
If you’re someone who cares about aesthetics and don’t want to clip an oddly colored tuner onto your headstock, or you’re on stage and don’t have a place to hide your clip-on after you’re done tuning, a pedal is nice as it’s always with you but out of sight to the audience.
The main downside to a pedal is that…it’s a pedal. Pedals are quite bulky and they won’t fit in most flat guitar bags. They require not only an additional cable between the guitar and amp, but they also require an AC plug and an outlet, or a 9V battery (which may only last so many hours before requiring replacement). If you forget anything, you can’t use it, and that’s a huge downside as tuning is essential.
Thus, if you’re someone who is or will be out with your instrument quite a bit, having to take apart your setup and carry all this extra stuff just to tune can be more trouble than it’s worth. If you’re already lazy with tuning, then this may only discourage you further as it requires more effort to put together when you’ll only use it for a minute.
However, if you have a nice home setup, or already have a pedal board with a travel case, this may actually be more convenient. It’s one less thing to think about since it’s a part of your set up. If you know you’re always going to plug your guitar(s) where your tuning pedal is connected, this could be a great choice!
What is it worth? The average tuning pedal costs between $30-$60, but there are others that cost over $100, even hitting $300 and above!
Some of these have extra features like a buffer, but in the end, it’s mainly a tuner, and there’s only so many differences one can add to make it worth the extra money.
As a beginner, I think it’s better to spend that extra money on pedals that can alter your tone, such as an overdrive, distortion, reverb, or wah pedal.
Some of the best tuning pedals under $50 is: Donner Dt-1 Chromatic Tuner Pedal, KLIQ Mini Chromatic Tuner Pedal
Conclusion
All tuners are great and they all have their advantages and disadvantages. As long as you’re tuning, it doesn’t really matter which tuner you use, but it’s good to consider when and where you will tune, and how many guitars you plan to tune.
If you’re a beginner who always plays at home and always plays in standard tuning, then a tuning app may be all you need.
If you’re playing with others, playing in louder environments, or need more flexibility when it comes to your tunings, then a clip-on will save you a lot of time and trouble.
If you’re someone who plans to have many guitars or you’re a regular performer and you already have a pedal board, then a pedal may be the optimal choice for you.
The best, in my opinion, whether you play acoustic or electric, is the clip-on tuner! It’s fast, convenient, portable, and quite cheap considering how much you’ll use it. The battery can last you years as well.
Even if you have a pedal, you may still want a clip-on due to the inconvenience of carrying a pedal and the power sources needed for it to work.
If you’re a bedroom guitarist and you don’t plan to play in other tunings, then a phone app may be all you need. The ones linked above do have pre-sets for alternate and drop tunings. But if anything is locked, the cost is pretty cheap for other features.
As a beginner, I definitely recommend looking around, and trying each of them if you can. See what works for you. My preference may not be your preference. There’s a reason why there are so many options to begin with!
I hope this article has been useful and insightful to you. Feel free to share your thoughts and preferences in the comments below!
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