Originally Posted by: poshgirl

In tuning - with an electric tuner- I think I have messed up something while tuning it (watched a tutorial) as now every time I play it twangs/buzzes and just recently began to rattle - annoying! Seems like the strings are too loose, but according to the electric tuner they need loosened more..?! So How to tune the 'right' way?

Just adding to Chris' excellent post; also learn to 'hear' the pitch you're tuning is in. You could be tuning to the right note but the wrong pitch based on what you said. A good way to get to the right pitch is using the GT Reference Tuner in the GT Toolbox. Being able to hear when you are close to being in tune in the right pitch.

Here's a little bit of music mumbo-jumbo to chew on. You may have heard it said on a piano something called 'middle C'. So, as a starting point, how do a group of musical instruments all tune to the same pitch? Recalling that 'middle C' on a piano, instruments all tune to what called 'concert pitch. This is know longform as 'A440 above Middle C' or just A440. If you click the link, it will give you a visual. It shows you where the middle C is and the A just above it. The '440' is the hertz, or vibration frequency, of that A note. How fast that note vibrates. that vibration makes the soundwave you hear and changes with every different note you strike on the guitar.

This is how pitch applies to guitar. Some other instruments like wind instuments need to be transposed.

So, lots of music-y mumbo jumbo. What it means is that instruments somewhat need a common pitch. To you, even though you might have a string in the right 'note' when you've tuned, but do you have it at the right pitch? Like the Three Bears, is it too high, too low or just right?

That Toolbox tuner lets you get close to the right pitch by ear. This is VERY important to be able to do. Get your ear to hear it.

[br]Funny sidenote...When I was in a band, we were trying out bass players. It was a demoralizing process. One dude comes in, had 'the look' so he seemed promising. In the end, he kept arguing what keys of many common songs. We were all like, 'No, the Immigrant Song is not in E'. He says, 'But my teacher told me.......' ...he needed a new teacher. But, he gifted us this gem: You know how I talked about A440 above, it's can be called the Stuttgart tuning. This dude is how I learned it was called that. Dude tuned up, looked at all of us and went 'STUTTGART!'. I guess he was signifying he was tuned. We all guessed his teacheer told him it was calleds that. We all looked at each other and busted out. It went downhill from there that night. However, before all subsequent practices, after when each of us was tuned, we'd yelp 'STUTTGART!'...hehe