In this age of modern technology, a portable electronic tuber is indisputably the easiest and most accurate way of keeping your guitar in tune. However, how do you handle times when you don't have your tuner with you or perhaps you have not been able to purchase one yet? It turns out that there are several other ways to get your guitar in tune.

Perhaps the easiest is to check the Internet: a variety of free tuners are available on the web. Keep in mind that they will mostly play the correct pitch and expect that you can tune your guitar strings to match: they will not actually "listen" to your guitar and tell you how to change the pitch of the string. This can take a bit of practice but can be an efficient means of tuning up.

You can also use another instrument that you know is in tune. The best examples are a piano or an electronic synthesizer. This requires that you play the note on the keyboard and match the guitar string to its pitch. This can be a bit difficult if you have not done it before because the guitar and piano sounds are so different even though each has a definite pitch that can be compared and matched.

Finally, you can get a guitar mostly in tune with no external tools or guides if necessary: this would be practical if you shipwrecked on an abandoned island with your guitar! The key is to realize that the strings on the guitar can overlap in pitch: By fretting the fourth fret of the lowest string, you will find that it should match the second-lowest string. By making sure that all of the relationships between strings are correct, you can get your guitar mostly in tune.