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How Often Do Your Guitarists Tune?
- Thread starter mstillman
- Start date
Depends on the guitar, the tremolo (if present) and the way the guitar has been strung. Newly installed guitar strings have to be stretched, otherwise they'll stretch bit by bit, over a long of time.
IME most guitarists that I have ever jammed with usually tune once before we start and maybe another time many songs into the jam/show. So in most cases they only tune a couple times a jam/show. The guys you're working sound like there's something up maybe. Could be a lot of things though. Seems a bit excessive to me though IME. A tad.
fft who cares. Tune between every song if you have to. It would be annoying, but I'd rather have my guitar player do that than play one single song out of tune.
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It depends on so many variables: the guitarists technique, quality of the machine heads and bridge, string freshness, competently strung, setup, humidity, climate, of where you live, temperature, locking system or not, etc etc etc......I also don't confuse guitar quality and pricetag: some budget guitars, like Dean VX and ZX as an example, have decent quality parts including tuners and stay in tune very well
- Oct 18, 2012
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Every guitarist I have ever played with tunes between almost every song. They usually go no more than 3 songs between tuning.
Stage lights and an audience getting hotter inside mean you tune on stage, have a tech to swap and tune for you, or you play out of tune because it’s “rock and roll”.
I’d rather someone tune when required than play out of tune
I’d rather someone tune when required than play out of tune
Yes this especially. Sometimes guitarists learn they “need” to change strings just before a gig but don’t learn how to stretch them so they can hold tune for a minute.
Our lead guit has a Kahler from the 1980's and I'm pretty sure he has to retune after every song.
I tune up at the beginning of the practice/gig.
I tune up at the beginning of the practice/gig.
Other than the tuners, often times lubricating the nut will take care of tuning issues. Cheap and easy to do. If they use a tremolo, that can cause it to go out tune too. Again, lubing the nut will help with that.
It may also be an issue with electronic tuners -- they don't know if they're audibly out of tune or not, but the tuner says they're out of tune, so they tune.
Whammys make tuning far more frequent.
My Strat rarely goes out of tune all night, not a hardtail but rarely use the stock tremolo.
Great set of tuners and a well made bridge mean nothing if they don't know how to wrap a string properly around a tuning post. If the winds are not neat......
I'm also plugged into a tuner all night, just in case.
Is the problem they can`t hear they are out of tune or they are always tuning. Sounds like the latter.
What is “a few” Songs? Two, three, four? How many times a set? How long do they take? With a pedal, they should be able to tune in 15 or 20 seconds. What is the problem it’s causing, too much time between songs?
if you have two guitars, bass and drums, you could arrange the sets so that periodically the drums or bass start a song to give them time to tune. That’s one of the things that I do. If I’m not starting a song, I’ll usually take advantage of that to do a quick tune.
this isn’t rocket science. A bunch of guys with more than 100 years of combined playing experience should be able to figure it out.
if you have two guitars, bass and drums, you could arrange the sets so that periodically the drums or bass start a song to give them time to tune. That’s one of the things that I do. If I’m not starting a song, I’ll usually take advantage of that to do a quick tune.
this isn’t rocket science. A bunch of guys with more than 100 years of combined playing experience should be able to figure it out.
Your guitarists tune/know how to tune? Next you're going to assert that they also know how to intonate their instruments.
Haha, mine is atleast every other song. He gets it done fast, or does it quickly while not playing in the middle of a song, but it seems to work out.
He loves his guitar even though it is a POS Musicmaster from the 70's that has an unstable floating bridge, as well as the original crappy tuners. He also found new pickups for it but they too sound thin and tinny.
However, our guy makes up for it with amazing skill, and uses an EQ pedal to fatten up his tone a little to compensate for the pickups, so it's all good. I offer him to use my glorious Telecaster (absolutely amazing tone), but he is invested in his Musicmaster.
All that said, he is an amazing player and seems to make it all work in the end, and that's what matters. If your guy gets it done without holding up the band to start songs, or finds another way to compensate for it, than there should not be a problem.
Good luck
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