Tuning a guitar with flageolets
This article shows an application of flageolets, the guitar-playing technique shown by iliks in his Hugi 23 article, "Guitar Flageolets: How are they played". In particular, flageolets (also known as harmonics, which is a physical term more than a musical one) are very useful when you want to tune a guitar and don't have an electronic tuner or another instrument (like a piano) at hand.
This is because of the property that harmonics keep playing even after you released your finger from the fret (indeed, to make them sound best you have to remove your finger quickly from the fret!). Let's take a look at the traditional way to tune a guitar:
1. Tune the 5th string (A) with a diapason.
2. Pluck the 6th string to play an A (5th fret) and the 5th string.
3. If they don't sound the same, modify the tuning, hope you've fixed it
and go to step 2.
4. Pluck the 5th string to play a D (5th fret) and the 4th string.
5. If they don't sound the same, modify the tuning, hope you've fixed it
and go to step 4.
6. Pluck the 4th string to play a G (5th fret) and the 3th string.
7. If they don't sound the same, modify the tuning, hope you've fixed it
and go to step 6.
8. Pluck the 3th string to play a B (4th fret) and the 2th string.
9. If they don't sound the same, modify the tuning, hope you've fixed it
and go to step 8.
10. Pluck the 2th string to play an E (5th fret) and the 1st string.
11. If they don't sound the same, modify the tuning, hope you've fixed
it and go to step 10.
The problem with this procedure is the "hope you've fixed it" part. You usually release the fret to modify the tuning, and this will kill the note. You cannot rely on your ear to decide whether the tuning is correct, only experience can help you associate "how much a string is out of tune" with "how much you have to rotate the key".
With the procedure I suggest, instead, you rotate the key by trial and error until you don't hear beats between the two vibrating strings. This procedure is widely known across bass players, because the higher pitched sound of harmonics are a lot easier to discern than the low pitched sound of bass strings, but not very popular among guitar players (especially self-taught ones).
So here is the procedure (steps 1 to 7 are those needed to tune a bass):
1. Tune the 5th string (A) with a diapason.
2. Pluck a 5th-fret harmonic on the 6th string and a 7th-fret harmonic
on the 5th string.
3. Rotate the key until the 6th string is tuned.
4. Pluck a 5th-fret harmonic on the 5th string and a 7th-fret harmonic
on the 4th string.
5. Rotate the key until the 4th string is tuned.
6. Pluck a 5th-fret harmonic on the 4th string and a 7th-fret harmonic
on the 3rd string.
7. Rotate the key until the 3rd string is tuned.
8. Pluck a 7th-fret harmonic on the 6th string and the 2nd string (B).
9. Rotate the key until the 2nd string is tuned.
10. Pluck a 7th-fret harmonic on the 5th string and the 1st string (E).
11. Rotate the key until the 1st string is tuned.
Coders will surely appreciate the lack of GOTO statements in this algorithm. :-)
Happy tuning!
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