Thursday, March 26, 2009

Quick Music Fact....Setting The Intonation



Let's talk about setting the intonation on your guitar.Intonation keeps the guitar sounding in tune while playing an open chord to playing a chord on the upper frets.Or from playing an open string to fretting it,say,on the 12th fret.To do this you need an electronic tuner.You will do each string individually.Ok....plug your guitar into the tuner,select your bridge pick up position.This position helps to bring out the harmonic you will be playing on the 12th fret.Now,starting with the 6th string, play a harmonic on the 12th fret(do this by lightly placing your finger over the 12th fret WIRE of the 6th string,(barely press down),this will create an E note harmonic.Next..fret or normally play the note on the 12th fret.OK...the fretted note should be the same pitch,on your tuner,as the harmonic note.If the fretted note is flat in pitch(to the left of middle on your tuner),move the bridge saddle forward (towards the neck) and if the fretted note is sharp (to the right of middle on tuner) move the bridge saddle back,or away from the pick ups.Do this for each string and your guitar will be in tune all the way up the neck,and while playing open chords.Whew....another "quick" music fact!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Greg, Great post on intonation.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the update.
I have not tried to make sure that my intonation is correct or not, but knowing that there are people I can turn to, is great help in itself.

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