I’ve been gigging as a guitar player for almost 30 years, and nothing is more annoying than hearing that awful sound of an out of tune instrument. But why guitars go out of tune? How can I avoid this situation?
There are many reasons it can happen. It could be old strings that need to be changed or too new, the tuning pegs could be loose, the environment (temperature, humidity), the intonation of the guitar, the nut at the top of the fretboard, using a capo or a tremolo, or simply your playing.
Here are 8 reasons why guitars go out of tune
The strings
The most frequent situation your guitar goes out of tune is using old strings. With time they will not hold tension as efficiently, and if you sweat a lot (like me), they will get dirty and rusty.
Another reason could be new strings. You may need to stretch the strings a little bit before they are ok. Also, it could be that you haven’t enough windings around a string tree, so it doesn’t handle the tension.
Tuning pegs
Sometimes it’s the tuning pegs that are loose and the tuning isn’t held correctly. There is a screw that can be tightened to prevent that. If you don’t feel comfortable you can ask for a professional to do that.
Another thing I encountered in my playing years is simply the quality of the pegs. With that scenario, you have the choice to change them or simply live with it. With my Fender Stratocaster, I have no problem with that, it’s high quality, by the way, check out my post about my beloved guitar.
Environnement
The climate can be a huge factor, especially outdoors with humidity. The change in temperature can make the strings expand or contract, so it’s important to tune your guitar regularly.
It is a good practice to tune just before the first song if you can, even if you were in tune perfectly during the soundcheck. The temperature may have changed with people coming to the place.
I remember a gig in Dubai, we played 2 hours after the soundcheck. We had to run on stage quickly and start after the previous artist. I was really out of key at the beginning and it was non-stop sequenced one-hour sets, it was a nightmare.
Intonation
Great adjusted intonation is the key to a great sounding guitar. Without that, you may tune your guitar perfectly on your open strings, but you’ll realize that the higher you play on the frets, the more out of tune you will sound.
The intonation is adjusted by adjusting the truss rod inside the guitar neck. It’s not something I recommend doing unless you really know what you’re doing. And if you know how to adjust the intonation of a guitar, you’re probably not learning anything new in this blog.
The nut
The guitar nut at the top of the fretboard can be a reason why guitars go out of tune. It’s a sneaky one because it’s not that obvious. I suspect I have this problem with at least one of my guitars, I’ll eventually have a pro to check it out.
What happens is the nut could be too narrow or too shallow for your sting. Maybe you’re using a string gauge that is too high for what the guitar was made for.
If you hear a little ‘ping’ sound when you’re tuning a string, combined with irregular change in frequency when you turn the knob (a great tuner helps), it’s a good sign of that, have a professional look at it.
Capo
Using a capo is great for playing in a different key, but it can cause problems when it’s badly placed. The thing with capos is that it creates pressure on strings towards the fretboard and they will sound sharp.
One thing you can do, especially on guitars with jumbo frets, is to place the capo on top of the fret, just at the beginning. If it’s well placed you should hear the open strings without a buzz, and the tension should be minimal.
Tremolo
If you plan to use the tremolo bar often, you need to have a quality guitar, it’s even better if you have a locking nut as I have on my Jackson.
When you press or pull the tremolo bar, you create intense changes of tension. That could change the position of the sting in the nut, or affect the tuning pegs. In these cases, there’s not much you can do about it, it’s really related to the quality of your instrument.
Your playing
Finally, it could be the way you play. To explain what I mean, you could do a little experiment. If you have a great tuner, play a note on a fret, press gently, just enough to hear a note, and watch the pitch. Now, press as hard as you can on the string in the fret. Notice the pitch change, it will go sharp, it’s because you are adding tension to the string.
So it could be something you’re doing without realizing, it has an impact. Practice playing with the less tension possible, it will help you stay in tune but it will also help your playing.
Conclusion
So now we know why guitars go out of tune. Most of the time you can do something about it, you may also send the guitar to a professional, it’s always a good thing, especially for the intonation. Sometimes it’s just the quality of the instrument, there are reasons why some are more expensive than others, this is one of these.
