Before you pick up the electric guitar and begin performing, practicing, or even leisurely strumming your favorite songs, there is one critical step that always needs to be taken—checking the tuning of your instrument and adjusting as needed. Knowing how to tune the guitar properly is an essential skill that guitarists of all levels need to master, and is crucial for beginners to learn. Hearing the guitar in its proper tuning is especially important for first-time players as they begin to navigate the fretboard and develop their musical ears.

In this online guitar lesson for beginners, Associate Professor of Guitar Performance at Berklee College of Music and ArtistWorks “Beginner’s Guide to Rock Guitar” instructor, Kevin Barry, demonstrates how to tune the guitar. He supplies detailed, step-by-step instructions outlining the process so that first-time players can easily repeat the process, and provides an in-depth breakdown of standard guitar tuning and the fretboard to help beginning students better understand the mechanics of the instrument.

“There are some basic things that you should know to help you tune your guitar more easily,” Kevin explains. “The first and most critical thing is knowing your string names and how the strings are arranged on the instrument. So, that’s where we’re going to start.”

LEARN MORE: Want to learn how to play rock guitar from a master musician and Berklee College of Music Professor? Try some free online guitar lessons from Kevin Barry now!

In addition to outlining how to tune the guitar in this lesson, Kevin also provides information on the guitar’s construction and tips for navigating and understanding the fretboard.

“In order to begin to understand how notes are organized on a guitar, it’s important to understand what frets and the guitar’s fretboard are,” explains Kevin. “Basically, everything we’ll be learning from here forward will rely on knowing your string names and your fret numbers. These are critical for every guitar player to know.”

To learn how to tune the guitar, how the fretboard is organized, and other fundamental mechanics of the instrument, dive into this online guitar lesson designed specifically for adult beginners from Kevin Barry:

How to Tune the Guitar with Kevin Barry:

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Have you always wanted to learn how to play rock guitar? Through our comprehensive beginner guitar lessons online and Video Exchange Learning platform here at ArtistWorks, you can learn directly from Associate Professor of Guitar Performance at Berklee College of Music, Kevin Barry, and get personal feedback on your playing.

Kevin’s comprehensive course teaches all the fundamental beginner guitar basics to quickly get you playing your favorite classic rock tunes on the electric guitar. This is the perfect course for adult beginners and first-time players and will lead all students to grow and improve their skills as guitarists and musicians.

Try out some free sample music lessons here and see what makes ArtistWorks courses some of the best online music lessons around!

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