Guitar tuners

Abelard · Post by **Abelard** » January 15, 2004, 6:13 pm

anyone know how those hand held electric guitar tuners work exactly? I can't find anything on the net about them and I need to do a lil project on them and how they work.

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » January 15, 2004, 6:22 pm

I use this:

Abelard · Post by **Abelard** » January 15, 2004, 6:23 pm

haha yeah i can't tell the difference with a lot of chords yet but i'm suppose to explain how those guitar tuners work. come on

Traz-KOE · Post by **Traz-KOE** » January 15, 2004, 6:29 pm

If I recall correctly, here's how it works:

Input from the guitar is fed through to the tuner via a microphone.

The piezoelectric vibrations of the microphone's pickup generate an analog signal which is in turn interpretted by the tuner's internal circuitry. Some tuners have a jack for input from an electric guitar, in which case the analog conversion is done by the pickups on the guitar, and the microphone is bypassed entirely.

The tuner returns a musical equivalent based on the frequency of the guitar's pitch.

Most tuners are calibrated to a middle A (440 Hz), though that can usually be varied.

Some tuners also have the option to sound a tone to which the guitar's pitch can can be matched.

Canelek · Post by **Canelek** » January 15, 2004, 6:36 pm

No idea, but my relative pitch is for shit most of the time, so the little electric doodad tuners are good stuff! I can use a tuning fork with an acoustic guitar, but it tends to take me forever to get it right... uhhh, what Traz said, yeah.

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » January 15, 2004, 6:37 pm

oh sorry how do they work for some reason I read it like you were looking to buy one.

the way they work is pretty basic. it's not hard to translate specific soundwaves and come out with their pitch. this site explains it pretty well.

XunilTlatoani · Post by **XunilTlatoani** » January 15, 2004, 8:30 pm

A tone is defined by a frequency, and each tone in the scale has its own specific frequency. If you download the software below, there is an option where you can see the frequency graph that the software is using to analyze whether the input is in tune or not.

http://www.musicmasterworks.com/tuning_software.html

Arborealus · Post by **Arborealus** » January 15, 2004, 10:41 pm

Pitch is directly related to frequency of the string vibration...

Chromatic tuners measure frequency and yield an analog measurement of pitch typically via meter or a simple "- on +" scale: "-" being too low a frequency, "on" being on the correct frequency, "+" being too high a frequency.

Input for most good tuners is either via mic or direct connection via pickup...

Most Chromatic Tuners also include and output allowing one to keep it inline during performance...for people like myself who spent too damn much time in front of a Marshall stack as a foolish adolescent...

...I sooo wish that earplug monitors had been available back in the late 70's early 80's...:/

Abelard · Post by **Abelard** » January 15, 2004, 10:48 pm

ok so let me see if i have this right...

the tuners have the right pitch programmed in (or string vibration) for each chord and have a little mic inside to pick up the sound? with some you plug into them so it picks up the sound from the amp.

that basically the jist?

Arborealus · Post by **Arborealus** » January 15, 2004, 10:57 pm

Each note E A D G B E being the "normal" tuning of an guitar from 6th string to 1st, not chord...a chord is a collection of notes...most tuners cannot read chords as they are the result of multiple frequencies...

Some use a mic, some use the electric output from the pickup (not the amp)...they are also a number of tuners now that actually stick on the wood and pick up vibrations directly (though I hate those as the glue will damage the lacquer)...