why do I have such an OCD with tuning?

[Christopher Caruana]

My friend calls it having "studio ears." Every time I play, I cant go for more then 5 minutes without having to pull out the tuner again and make my tuning spot on. Its not even bad out of tune, but it just bugs the crap out of me if its even a hair out of tune.

"studio ears" or not......im cursed lol :banghead:

 

[CTN]

Re: why do I have such an OCD with tuning?

1) Play more
2) worry less
3) ???
4) PROFIT!!!

 

[Christopher Caruana]

Re: why do I have such an OCD with tuning?

ya ive just been trying to force myself to NOT pick up the tuner every 5 minutes. Ill tune once before I start playing and unless tuning gets really bad as i keep playing (which it never does), I just keep playing and try to forget my ears picking out the very small imperfections in the tuning. Because I know a guitar is far from being a perfect design

 

[Jeff5]

Re: why do I have such an OCD with tuning?

I'm kind of the same way. Fortunately (or not depending on how you look at it!) I have a rackmount tuner and my effects processor has a cut off switch. So I can just hit the cut off, tune and come right back. No need to reconnect or even have it heard.

 

[speed2dirt]

Re: why do I have such an OCD with tuning?

Sounds like you need a Gibson Robot! : popworm: Let that bad boy tune for you.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: why do I have such an OCD with tuning?

Almost all fretted instruments have the fret positions determined by an arithmetical ratio. This introduces some errors (plus or minus a few cents) along the fingerboard. Sensitive ears will detect these.

Solutions have included compensated nuts, stepped frets and the like.

Since my first decent electric guitar was a Tele copy with a three-saddle bridge, I learned to bend notes back into tune.

 

[DankStar]

Re: why do I have such an OCD with tuning?

if you just kept it in the chain and on, you could do it on the fly almost automatically without making a scene. everyone in a band should probably operate like that actually.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: why do I have such an OCD with tuning?

Remember that thread last year in which somebody posted the isolated instrument parts to "Gimme Shelter"? The guitars on that were out of tune pretty much all the way through the song and, yet, this did not detract from the entertainment value of the song or the performance. (If anything, the indifferent tuning added a sense of menace to the proceedings.)

 

[SlyFoxx]

Re: why do I have such an OCD with tuning?

Perhaps your guitar needs a little work so it stays put longer.

 

[orpheo]

Re: why do I have such an OCD with tuning?

unless it's VERY out of tune, I don't care. I bend the strings ever so slightly so even if the strings are in tune open, they go sharp if I fret the note. so, it's to no avail.

 

[blueman335]

Re: why do I have such an OCD with tuning?

1) Play more
2) worry less

+1. Your focus should be on what you're playing and where you're headed with it. Tuning is a side issue, don't let it be a major distraction. You're onstage to make music and entertain, not be perfectly in tune. Loosen up. Whenever I sustain a note, I use vibrato, which masks minor tuning errors.

 

[Varg]

Re: why do I have such an OCD with tuning?

If your ears are good enough to hear its out of tune, why do you need to keep pulling out a tuner? Tune it by ear.

Nice avatar BTW, it was Steve's birthday a couple of days ago.

 

[uOpt]

Re: why do I have such an OCD with tuning?

Hate to ruin a good rant thread but...

so is the guitar actually out of tune?

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: why do I have such an OCD with tuning?

Every time I play, I cant go for more then 5 minutes without having to pull out the tuner again and make my tuning spot on.

Go buy a clip-on tuner like a Snark or Planet Waves. It'll change your life.

Anytime I'm not plugged into my pedalboard, I've got a Planet Waves clip-on tuner on the headstock. Those are the best guitar invention of the past 5 years.

 

[Christopher Caruana]

Re: why do I have such an OCD with tuning?

Go buy a clip-on tuner like a Snark or Planet Waves. It'll change your life.

Anytime I'm not plugged into my pedalboard, I've got a Planet Waves clip-on tuner on the headstock. Those are the best guitar invention of the past 5 years.

hmmmm i never thought of that :scratchch

 

[Christopher Caruana]

Re: why do I have such an OCD with tuning?

Hate to ruin a good rant thread but...

so is the guitar actually out of tune?

yes it actually is 'a hair' out of tune. im probably going to end up taking my LPC to a tech and have him widen the nut slots a hair. or i thought about just dropping a string guage and seeing if that worked. I think the strings are having some pintching issues. and a already did the graphite thing in the slots

 

[jeremy]

Re: why do I have such an OCD with tuning?

If your ears are good enough to hear its out of tune, why do you need to keep pulling out a tuner? Tune it by ear.

that was my thought as well. as others mentioned, the guitar is not an intune instrument. even with your intonation set perfectly the only notes that will be perfectly intune are the open and octave.

tempered tunings help

but heres the other thing, your guitar shouldnt be going out of tune that quickly

 

[GuitarGuy503]

Re: why do I have such an OCD with tuning?

Go buy a clip-on tuner like a Snark or Planet Waves. It'll change your life.

Anytime I'm not plugged into my pedalboard, I've got a Planet Waves clip-on tuner on the headstock. Those are the best guitar invention of the past 5 years.

+1 I really like my Snark.

 

[Christopher Caruana]

Re: why do I have such an OCD with tuning?

that was my thought as well. as others mentioned, the guitar is not an intune instrument. even with your intonation set perfectly the only notes that will be perfectly intune are the open and octave.

tempered tunings help

but heres the other thing, your guitar shouldnt be going out of tune that quickly

and its not even out of tune bad. Like I said, I might have to take it in and have the nut slots opened up just a hair

 

[GuitarGuy503]

Re: why do I have such an OCD with tuning?

I am ocd about tuning as well except I don't tune every five minutes. I tune for 1 or 2 pretty long periods of time when I have my guitar out and am fine the rest of the time. I find that it makes quite a difference even if the guitar is only a little out of tune. Having said that, I prefer to have it as accurate as possible for the best sound. Eventually I'll get my LP in to get a checkup and be sure it's performing at it's best....