Electric Guitar Tuning

John from Ontario Canada asks this electric guitar tuning question: After I tune my guitar I can play most cords and it sounds terrific, and all single notes sound great, except when I play an A major or A minor etc. When I play the B, G, D, strings together they seem off and out of tune and I'm not sure what corrective action can be taken. I have tried new strings and different manufacturers. I realize their is most likely a simple solution but I can't find it. HELP

John, If your strings are truly tuned correctly there are really only two possible problems in my opinion. Either your guitar is highly out of intonation, or it's simply technique.

Strings really shouldn't matter, even if they are old and rusty you can still get then in tune. Tone suffer from old worn strings much more than tune.

I'm guessing technique because you are so far down from the twelfth fret that intonation problems should not play much of a part. Try a different tuner, and then tune by ear. Remember the B string should ring the same as the G on the fourth fret, otherwise all other strings ring the same from the fifth fret of the lower string to the open of the next higher. Let me know how you make out, and at the risk of sounding insulting, just make sure you're fingering the chord correctly. Good Luck

Joe

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