Tuning
Lesson time: (1min 30sec)
Doug MacLeod walks you through tuning your guitar string by string, plus his trick for checking it using only A's and E's instead of thirds.
Course preview
This lesson is part of the course 101 Blues Guitar Essentials
Watch a preview of the full course below.
Lesson transcript:
Music Lesson: Tuning and Techniques
Tuning the Guitar
The first thing we do is tune up.
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We'll start with the low E.
- Give you a second.
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Then we go to our A.
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Then we'll play the D.
- Sound good?
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Now we'll go to the G.
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Now we'll go to the B.
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And now we'll go to the E.
- We make sure it's right.
- Does that sound good?
Tuning Tip
Here's a tip for you:
"Here's a chord to use to tune the guitar where you don't use thirds. You just grab A's and E's."
And that sound right there will give you an idea.
- Yeah, that's all right.
Connecting with Your Instrument
So, you've got a piece of wood and steel that you love. You love to play it.
What we're going to try and do here is help you make it sound like a voice. This is inspired by the old blues guys who wanted their guitars to sound like a voice. They had some tricks and tools that they used to try and achieve this.
Upcoming Techniques
The first thing I'm going to show you is a hammer-on.
We'll be talking about hammer-ons and all these different tools that I'm going to explain to you as this DVD goes on.
- So, it would be a good idea to keep focused on this.
About the instructor
Doug MacLeod is known for his superb songwriting, guitar wizardry, warm soulful vocals, wit and unforgettable live performances. At the heart of a Doug MacLeod performance is his knack for storytelling, bringing characters - from the faceless to the legendary - to strikingly real life. Doug is a multiple Blues Music Award winner, including the 2020 Blues Music Award for Acoustic Artist Of The Year and the 2018 Blues Music Award for Acoustic Album Of The Year for 'Break The Chain', and a nominee for the 2021 Blues Music Award for Acoustic Artist Of The Year. His album with producer Jim Gaines was released in 2021. In 101 Blues Guitar Essentials, Doug passes on the foundations of his craft - the grooves, techniques and feel that underpin authentic acoustic blues guitar - so you can build a real vocabulary on the instrument and start telling your own stories through it. "Like all great blues men, MacLeod lives his music, and the songs are not just on the tips of his fingers and tongue, they are one with his being." - Blues Music Magazine "One of the great blues artists... period!" - Jorma Kaukonen read more