Tuning; tune to attack or sustain/decay?

Pelikanen

Pelikanen

Inspired
When tuning, do you tune to the initial attack of the string, or do you let it ring out and tune to the sustain/decay? Do strike hard or soft?

I have for the longest time tuned hitting the strings quite soft. It has worked pretty well for me. But I saw a interview with the guy from Gear Gods and the guy from Produce Like A Pro, and the Gear Gods guy said he always tunes "like he's playing it", IOW, hard, tuning to the attack. But this can't always apply, right? How would you go about this in a live situation?
 
If you pick softly when tuning, then go and play picking hard, then your guitar will be sharp on the attack.

Playing a guitar in tune is actually quite a difficult skill - but developing the ear for really fine pitch takes a long time for most people.

If you are recording then tune to the exact way you'll play the phrase. So if it is all fast picked notes tune to the attack. If it's held notes you'll have to tune and play them so the pitch envelope isn't too severe, relative to the phrases played.

If you're playing live then just keep picking every second or so at a moderate kind of strength and that'll be a good compromise. If you let it decay too long you'll probably end up being quite sharp when you play, since the pitch envelope of a string goes up then down, and if you're only tuning to the decay you're only accounting for the down portion.
 
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Yes exactly. The way I've always thought about it is if I tune every stringed instrument that way they will be in tune in relation to themselves and each other.

Yeah tell me about it! I think I've spent more time tuning and trying to play in tune than anything else at times.

But that makes sense. And from what I've read so far on different forums this always seems to be the answer. Tune for each part during recording and some sort of compromise for live playing.
 
Interesting, I've never thought about this.

I play HARD, but rarely have a problem keeping in tune with light picking to tune. The only time as out of tune string might be super noticeable is when I'm soloing, and I know I adjust playing to strings that might be a hair off. I think we all do it at some level as live it's not that cool to hit the tuner/mute button and sharpen that pesky G-String in the middle of a song.

Aren't you killing any dynamic playing if you tune based off of only ONE way of picking?
 
Jeries said:
strum at the 12 fret with a finger- gives you a more accurate attack for tuning
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It does, but if you normally don't play fingerpicking over the 12th fret, you will sound slightly out of tune when you are performing.

I think that the best approach is to tune as you are normally playing. e.g: if you normally play long sustained notes, tune when the tuner is already stable. If you normally play short palm-muted notes, tune on the attack of the note (while the note is sharp)

Interesting reading:
http://www.endino.com/archive/tuningnightmares.html
 
i want my guitar to be in tune as the strings ring out, not when i hit them hard, which will deliberately knock them out of tune.
 
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chris said:
i want my guitar to be in tune as the strings ring out, not only when i hit them hard, which will deliberately knock them out of tune.
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That is not possible, due to the physics of the strings vibration. The lower strings are sharp during the attack and get flat on the decay. So, we have to compromise when tunning.
 
Piing said:
That is not possible, due to the physics of the strings vibration. The lower strings are sharp during the attack and get flat on the decay. So, we have to compromise when tunning.
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That’s exactly why I tune with the strings ringing.
 
Wound strings have a tendency to go sharp on attack more than plain strings do. Ever since I switched to tuning the wound strings on attack, the guitar has been more consistent with tuning. I'm not obnoxious about it, and it is a compromise. It can make playing very quiet open chords just a little iffy for low open strings if you overdo it. But the majority of the guitar seems to have better tuning this was, at least for me.

Playing style, finger pressure, sliding up to notes, down to notes, etc. all have an impact on tuning. We all know how difficult it is to play in tune. I tend to play too aggressively live, so I tune accordingly. Sometimes in a studio setting , I tune for the part. That's not as necessary if the guitar is set up properly, but it still might make a difference when you're trying to be picky.

Here's a tip. If you are playing a Telecaster with the traditional 3 saddles (NOT compensated) tune your open G string 3 cents flat.
 
Everyone tunes differently. I'm a fan of the guitar being in tune while it is being played. It pains me to hear power chords drifting sharp while chunking away on 1/8 and 1/16 style rhythms. Often I will run a tuner in line and leave it on to see how stable the tuning is while the guitar is being played at "normal" average velocity and adjust accordingly.
 
Tune to the decay, not the attack. Whatever style you play, you’ll always get note decay, unless you always play staccato notes and nothing else. If a string jumps a bit sharp during an attack, that’s not as objectionable as a note or chord sweeping into flatland.

If you have problems with notes going way sharp when you hit them, maybe it’s time to work on your picking technique. The goal is to keep your playing under control, even when you’re playing your heart out.
 
Whatever you do, just be consistent. And above all else, learn to trust your ears over a tuner in the end. You'll need to adapt your tuning to how YOU play.
 
2112 said:
Neck pickup, time control all the way down, pluck over the 12th fret does the trick for me
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Interesting... I've always found the tuning more accurate using the bridge pickup.

Also, I am assuming you meant "tone" not "time"?
 
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