Instrument tuners have officially taken place of the pitch pipe and other natural tuning methods in the world of stringed instruments today. This is especially true in the world of the guitar. When I grew up, my first lessons were how to hold and tune the instrument. While this is still a common first step for students today, the process of naturally tuning the instrument to a piano or another instrument or with a pitch pipe has been replaced with a less manual process. In steps the electronic instrument tuner in the place of the pitch pipe and ear training.
The electronic tuner works by either a mic input, direct instrument input, or by measurement of sonic vibration. Some tuners stand alone and are sized much like a deck of cards. Others are designed to "clip-on" to the head-stock of your instrument to give a more hands free experience. Popular stage tuners can line up on a guitarist's pedal board and as of late it is becoming popular to use a mobile based application to use your cell phone as a mic input style tuner. The most popular with students as of late has been the clip-on tuner because of its ease of use in virtually any environment.
The clip-on tuner is a popular tuning device because they are small in size but extremely maneuverable and inconspicuous. Higher quality tuners will read the signal digitally, while others will read an analog signal. It has been noted that digital tuners are more accurate and more stable than analog tuners. A bright LED display is another feature you want to look for when comparing instrument tuners. Some have full color displays making it easy to tune at a glance. Most clip-on tuners use a CR2032 button style battery. These batteries are compact, lightweight and an efficient tuner will not drain it very quickly.
In the testing of many electronic instrument tuners, I found that a few different tuners proved to be flexible, accurate, and fun to use.
The SNARK SN-5 Guitar, Bass, and Violin Tuner. This is a clip-on tuner that is stylish, and easy to use. I tested the SNARK SN-5 in a quiet studio environment, on a loud stage, and on a guitar, a bass, a violin, and an ukulele. This tuner has a high sensitivity vibration sensor that combines with a frequency of notes range tailored to the instrument. The Snark SN-5 is a great choice for any level musician from practicing novice to the performing professional.
The Qwik Tune GP-1 Guitar Professor Tuner, Pitch Pipe, and Chord Finder. This tuner is about the size of a deck of cards and has both a mic input and 1/4" instrument cable input. This tuner will teach you over 250 different chords while also training the ear with a pitch pipe, and it is a highly accurate desktop guitar tuner. With easily switchable modes, this may prove to be a great learning tool for the beginning guitarist.
The Pitch Pocket HST Digital Clip-On Tuner. This little head stock tuner features 4 select-able tuning modes; chromatic, guitar, bass, and violin. I found this tuner to be accurate in any environment and with all four instruments, the guitar, ukulele, bass, and violin. This tuner operates as a clip-on tuner, but is balanced enough and has a strong enough mic input to be used as a free standing desktop tuner too. The 360 degree rotating display along with the bright full color LED display proved this one to be my favorite of the three noted here.
I hope this little test helps you choose the best way to tune your instrument. I have found that these three above examples worked well and made a real technological advance while maintaining the quality of training your ear as well. Happy strumming!
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