guitar tuner mp3
I’m almost certain this has been done before, but I used audio tone generator to generate E, A, D, G, B, E. Tune as you’d tune against a piano or another tuned guitar. I’ve saved this guitar tuning audio file as a mp3 since just about everyone should be able to play this. I generated a pure sine wave so as to make it easier to zero-beat against. You should be able to zero-beat as accurately as a commercial guitar tuner device.
The frequencies I generated for 5 seconds each in succession are as follows:
- 82.4 hz (E)
- 110.0 hz (A)
- 146.8 hz (G)
- 196.0 hz (F)
- 246.9 hz (B)
- 329.6 hz (E)
Because there is artifacting introduced in the mp3 compression, I’m also making this file available in good ole PCM wav form. Because of mp3-related patents, I’m also releasing it in ogg vorbis form. This should satisfy most everyone, the audiophile purists, and the OSS-purists. Pick your preferred format. (although 99.9% of everyone will be happy with the mp3)
- guitar-tuner.mp3
- guitar-tuner.ogg
- guitar-tuner.wav
- guitar-tuner.m3u (works for xmms if you save to file)
This type of tuning, tuning each string to an exact piano pitch, is called equal temperment turing. It is noteworthy that this method is a compromise, but is probably the only method to use when playing along with other instruments based on 1/2 steps like the piano.
What I present below is another way to tune in equal temperment based on harmonics. It is much more accurate than the common tuning method using 4th and 5th frets, but still results in an equal temperment tuning. If only playing with other pitch-agile instruments, there are other methods of slightly de-tuning each string that can result in a better tuning. They are beyond the scope of this discussion right now, but I suspect an experienced guitar player probably considers these slight adjustments a product of intuition.
If you don’t know how to play a harmonic, the best way to learn is to try the easy ones. Lightly put your finger on the strings right above the 12th fret. You’ll notice you’ll get a sound an octave up from the open string. This is what is known as a second harmonic. Once you can play a good loud second harmonic, try the harmonics located above the 5th fret (4th harmonic) and the 7th fret (3rd harmonic). Although there are plenty of other harmonics to explore, you’ll only need these 3rd and 4th harmonics to tune with.
Fun with harmonics:
You can tune a guitar by harmonics and tune it as accurately as if you had tuned each string to a reference tone (as in the mp3 provided above). The resulting tuning really isn’t any better than tuning each string to a tone, but it’s useful if you only have one reference tone handy (tuning fork, etc). Fret tuning (commonly tuning using the 4th and 5th frets) really isn’t that accurate and should be avoided because by pushing the guitar string down to the fret, you end up bending the pitch a slight amount.
Zero-beat the harmonics at the 5th fret of the 6th (lowest) string and the harmonic at the 7th fret of the 5th string, then the 5th fret of the 5th string and 7th fret of the 4th string. Do the same thing to tune the 4th and 3rd string. To tune the second string, zero beat it as an open string against the harmonic at the 7th fret of the 6th string. Now tune the 1st string against the 2nd string as we did for the 5th, 4th, and 3rd strings.
If you still don’t have an idea of what it means to zero-beat tones, take a listen to this demonstration file of zero-beating I created.
August 5th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Wow…I’ve been looking for something like this.
I played the mp3 into a guitar tuner, and it reported back as each “string” being in proper tuning. I must say, this really helps when you don’t feel like messing with a tuner or the old “tune to itself” technique.
September 17th, 2008 at 3:40 am
This is cool. I needed something to tune my guitar without having to turn the pc on. I haven’t bought a tuner yet. So i just downloaded the mp3 file and placed it in my mp3 player. Thanks. This is such a great help.
September 21st, 2008 at 7:10 pm
Wow, thank you so much! This is great…
November 25th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
You’ve got something here a lot of guitar players can use!
December 6th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
hey this is a great idea. actually i just spent some time looking for almost just this thing. the only problem is that I find the tone doesn’t go on for long enough to tune the string to it. maybe 20 seconds would be enough, but a minute or even more would be okay with me. maybe keep the short version for people using dial-up and have a longer one that’s 10 meg or so. actually a ten-second-long file with just low E would be perfect; that way I could put it on repeat to tune the E string and then tune the rest by harmonics.
Anyway thanks for putting this out here, I do still find it useful, it’s just annoying to have to kind of spastically click stop then play then tweak the pitch a bit then stop then play then ..
on an unrelated note i’m finding that I can’t use shift and the arrow keys to select text in this textbox. other selection strategies, including CTRL-A and the mouse, are vying successfully. I’m running Firefox 3 dot whatever’s current in ubuntu hardy heron right now. i’m not having any complications with other textboxes.
December 6th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Hi, in case somebody’s interested I’ve generated a file like the one I described in my earlier comment. it’s 30 seconds long and contains just the low E so you can tune from harmonics from there. you can find it at http://www.mediafire.com/?mttmgxxaeet
cheers
December 9th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Having discovered that my laptop’s speakers are not able to produce a low E, I’ve created another file. This one is 30 seconds at 329.6 hz (high E). This is also the pitch of the harmonic you get from the 5th fret of the 6th string (the lowest-pitched string). This means that you can use this file to tune the 6th string first, as you normally would, and then continue from there. the file is available at http://www.mediafire.com/?xtuus0utynw
Cheers
January 5th, 2009 at 2:13 am
Excellent. Exactly what I needed. Thanks. Nice sound. I have a tuner but prefer to tune by ear and this will work wonderful for the top string and to check my work.
February 5th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
VERY cool - thanks!
I was having one of those moments… BRAND new guitar strings, so I took ALL the old ones off. Ahh! What do I tune to - I don’t have a tuner?!
I know - Google will provide! It did, and in turn you, Michael, provided.
Really smart idea - thank you so much for taking the time to do this!
ROCK ON!
July 16th, 2009 at 5:04 am
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR SOMETHNG LIKE THIS FOR AGE. SO SIMPLE BUT SO BLOODY USEFUL!
GREAT WORK!
September 27th, 2009 at 12:58 am
how should i download this mp3 file ?? i am clicking on it but nothing happens ..please help
January 20th, 2010 at 11:16 am
Finally, got what I was looking for!! I definitely enjoying every little bit of it. Glad I stumbled into this article! smile I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you post
April 4th, 2010 at 6:08 am
wow!!! thanks