This app was mentioned in 35 comments, with an average of 2.11 upvotes
Learning how to tune with Hz is truly confusing at the beginning. Drop off that for now and get a more intuitive tuner.
Ideally, you should buy a tuner at a music shop, they're very cheap since they are fundamental for several players. But, for now I offer some other options:
For PC: AP Tuner. You will find the download to PC link down below. This is more intuitive since it displays on the center the note your string is currently on, it shows how off you are (if you need to wind or loosen your tuner) and, at the right, it shows in which notes you want your tuning.
For Android: gStrings. This is the tuner I use on my phone, it weights less than 1 MB, it's incredibly intuitive and easy to use.
I don't know of a good app for apple devices, sorry.
So I checked guitar tuna, and seriously, fuck yousician and everyone else who locks alternate tunings and chromatic tuner behind a paywall.
OP, download the gStrings free tuner on your phone. Its a chromatic tuner, meaning it shows you what note you are actually playing, not a set of predetermined notes like guitar tuna does. Then just tune E down to C, A down to F and D down to C. And thats it.
If your phone doesnt supoprt the gStrings tuner, then just search for any other chromatic tuner.
Chromatic tuners are much more usefull than the one you have now, because it takes all the guessing out of what you are doing, you just look at the letters and there you go.
There are 3 main components to female voice: pitch, resonance and intonation. I'm no expert, but I'll give you my opinion:
Pitch - you seem to get the high pitch by going into falsetto register. This isn't natural for women so you'll need to work on that.
Try speaking only a little bit higher. One thing I did is to download a free app called gStrings that can show you the pitch of a note that you're singing. Measure your normal voice, then try speaking say 10 or 20 Hz higher.
Pitch isn't everything, and some women have deeper voices that overlap the high male range. Don't stress too much about raising your pitch.
Resonance - from the sound files you provided it seems you haven't done anything about resonance yet, but don't worry! You can practice by panting like a dog, and then panting in a higher and higher note. If you feel your adam's apple when you do that, you should feel it rise. This action should hopefully reduce resonance in your chest if you can learn to do it while you're talking.
Intonation - Men typically talk with a very flat intonation, meaning that the pitch doesn't vary much and that volume is used for emphasis. Women typically vary their pitch a lot more, and use pitch for emphasis.
To practice, try doing an impression of an exaggerated stereotype valley girl. That uses extremely varying pitch, especially if you imagine a valley girl getting, like, TOTALLY mad at something! Like, OMG! Did you totally see her at the mall?!?!
Yes it's a silly stereotype but it will help you get used to varying pitch and using pitch for emphasis.
Hope that helps, I'm just starting to learn myself so good luck!
> tried a free tuning app but it charges a fee for custom tuning.
Then try a different one. On Android, I currently have several installed that are chromatic:
For an Android app, I can recommend gStrings tuner.
I use a free tune app called "gstrings"
works fine for me
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.cohortor.gstrings&hl=en
What they said - tune your instrument. All that practice ruined for want of a ha'porth of tar, because people can't bear to hear you out.
Got a smartphone? Then you've got a tuner. Personally I use G strings for my Android devices, followed up by tuning to harmonics by ear if necessary. Many other tuners are available for different platforms, both free and paid for.
There are plenty of free Tuning Apps nowadays. I use and can recommend:
Tuning any string instrument is not easy, so be careful not to go too much over pitch as it can break the string. With some practice, I'm sure you will get the hang of it.
Good luck! :)
I use this Android tuner, and have done for years. Works great, and very accurate. Have used it for electric, acoustic, and even a double bass!
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.cohortor.gstrings
I tend to use http://www.tunemybass.com/ when at the computer.
On my Android phone I use gStrings. It seems to track well.
The bigges help is not to spend money on a tuner but to just download one of the the many Android apps.
I love GStrings. It's free and although the tuning won't be perfect it will allow the strings to be relative to one another and for the purposes of practising it will be just fine.
Just remember to check your tuning after you put on/take of a capo as some capo's (like mine) aren't very good.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.cohortor.gstrings&hl=en_GB
gStrings works well!
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.cohortor.gstrings
Has network permissions but I believe they're for ads. If your device lets you disable internet for apps, this one looks great or you can pay for the ad free version
x2 on the recommendation of justinguitar website/YTube. Really good stuff, free and accessible (particularly with the current COVID pandemic). I might be a bit frugal, but it seem too often folks will many people spend big money on their first guitar and then it just sits collecting dust. I would recommend that OP take a look at pawnshops, thrift stores (Goodwill/Savers/etc), as opposed to going to Guitar Center or something like that... maybe if there is a small local mom & pop nearby (looks like the White House of Music in West Bend has some good reviews). If so, let them know you are on a budget and just starting out. I wouldn't recommend paying more $200 total for a used electric and small practice amp. I would start with a cheap electric guitar, as acoustics can be a bit more fussy and are less resistant to accidental damage. Need a cable (~$5), a few picks (medium with a bit of flex ~$1-2) and buy a couple spare sets of strings (you probably want .09s to start as those are the lighter action and hurt your fingers less, the brand of string doesn't matter that much, because they will break, especially the smaller strings, ~$6 a pack) and there are free phone apps will that serve as guitar tuner like this one. Good luck and have fun.
edit: added a few things.
> I used to have the best one until my phone broke and I had to replace it. Since then I've been unable to find it.
If you go into "My apps and games" then "Library" anything you've downloaded in the past will be listed there.
I use gStrings, and have for many years.
Nah man. I'm not letting you off that easy my man. You can get EADGBE notes from internet and tune to the note. Or better yet, https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.cohortor.gstrings
Edit: I mean you got gold tune that motherfucker up
Welcome to the hobby that will hopefully change your life. Some quick tips:
​
For tuning: download the gStrings app (or similar) to your phone and use it for tuning. Get a proper tuner as soon as possible though.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.cohortor.gstrings&hl=fi
​
Remember to always use your ear though, so you'll be able to hear your guitar going out of tune. Always tune before playing. And don't worry, even if you don't actively try to listen for the tuning, you'll subconsciously develop that skill anyway.
​
Just get around to learning fun, easy songs that you like. Don't try to force yourself into learning something you don't want to learn yet or don't think you'll need to learn right now; starting is the hardest point so the fun factor should be maximized. If you're not having fun, what's the point, right?
Lots of good info on cheap ukes already so I'll throw in my two cents about tuners. Attachable tuners are nice but you can also download free tuners on your phone and save some money.
I personally use gstrings. I've had it for years. I used it a lot back when I played guitar and I'm using it now for my uke. Remember ukuleles are tuned GCEA on soprano, concert, and tenor ukuleles.
Do you have a smartphone? There are some great free tuner apps out there, like this one. I'm sure there are similar apps for iPhones and Windows phones too. I play guitar, and it's been ages since I used an actual physical tuner :)
Any guitar tuner app. I like gstrings on Android, for the good visual feedback of where you are relative to the note you're aiming for.
gStrings tuner might be what you're looking for
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.cohortor.gstrings is the best Android tuner I've found.
First, determine the pitch of both reeds in each block by blowing through them and using a smartphone tuner such as gStrings. You need to test both sides since a beat up accordion is likely to be out of tune. You can now label the reed blocks, or just write on them lightly in pencil, and set them to one side. Be careful not to just write down the note but the octave too, gStrings will help you with this.
Next, figure out how many voices your instrument has. You can tell by counting the banks on each side. A full-sized 120 bass concert instrument may well have 4/5 voices, and that equates to a lot of reed blocks, many hundreds.
Your next job is to begin determining where all those reeds came from. You're going to have to carefully examine the pile of loose blocks, see if you can match them by size or appearance as well as their pitch, and match them to wherever they came from. You might need to see if any of your reeds exactly match any of the vacant spaces in the reed banks, remembering that each reed block can be mounted in two directions.
One you've found a home for each of the reeds, mark up the remaining blocks by note, octave, and bank, and remove them, they're going to fall out soon anyway. Clean your now reedless banks, removing as much as the setting wax as possible. You can help this process with the gentle application of heat to soften the remaining wax, for instance with a hair dryer.
Once you've cleaned the banks, and since you've already got the whole thing thoroughly disassembled, clean the rest of it and take the opportunity to examine the keys, pallets, pallet boards, Stradella system, coupler mechanisms, etc.
Now comes your bonus big job that you weren't expecting. It's likely that some or many of your valves will be shot, and if so you're going to need to replace the Whole. Damn. Lot. :-(
Ready to reset the reed blocks yet? Good. Take your cleaned reed banks, melt some beeswax very gently over a tealight, and apply a thin layer of warm wax to the face of each and every one of the reed apertures in the banks. This will be the layer that your reeds rest on, and will help to keep everything airtight. Carefully set the reeds in place one by one, and apply melted beeswax with a small paint brush to set each block in place, ensuring each one sits airtight.
Now, simply reassemble everything and ... hope that it sounds okay!
Disclaimer : I'm not an accordion repairer, but I worked out and employed this process on three elderly boxes I bought many years ago. None was perfect; but all were vastly improved. It requires patience, diligence, attention to detail, and a shitload of time, but if a palooka like me can do it, then so can anyone else.
Good luck! If you're damn fool enough to actually take this on, share some pics of the process please.
Gstrings is a great free android tuner, been using it for quite some time
There are probably better ones out there, but the free ones I use are:
The Metronome by Soundbrenner: master your tempo
Honorable mention: Metronome Beats This one has a small selection of sounds to choose from, and I hate all of them, but some will cut through a loud room.
EDIT: I've never used any of the Soundbrenner wearables, but their phone app works fine.
Your open A becomes G#.
The A4 note (the 4th octave of A) will be equal to 440hz, no matter what tuning you're in - but this is as long as it's in 440 tuning. Whenever you see a tuning say 4xx tuning, it will always be referring to the frequency that your A4 note produces when you play it on your guitar.
Check this Wikipedia page out, and also check out other tuning standards to explore a new world of songwriting and music. I personally like 432hz and 445hz (most tuners are automatically set to A440. The D'Addario Micro Clip-On Tuner allows you to change the standard, as does the guitar tuning app gStrings.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A440_(pitch_standard)
gStrings (Android, Idk if it's on iOS)
Happy rocking, cheers
My favourites are the following:
> Can play a wide variety of indie folk / classic rock songs from memory.
For that you can go tab sites (like ultimate-guitar or songsterr) or check video lessons on YouTube. Eventually you will have the ear and experience to catch up chord progressions and melodies by ear.
> Can apply music theory to intuitively predict chord progressions to aid myself in memorizing songs.
For that I recommend learning the circle of 5ths & 4ths. Also learn how chord progressions work. Here's a site strictly for music theory and a video more focused on guitar.
Also, experience works, eventually, from learning several songs, you will catch up which chords tend to be together as a group and which follows which.
> Know how to adapt to different tunings (Drop D, half-steps down, etc)
Each tuning has its perks, Eb (half-step down) makes bends and vibratos easier, since the string is more loose. Drop tunings are more "heavy" sounded. Open tuning are easy for creating melodies with almost no effort at all but tend to sound "always the same" (since an open tuning is restricted to a single key). Here's a bunch of videos about that.
> I also should learn how to change strings
> and tune by ear.
There are two main methods, for both you will need an external source used as a reference point. This reference always plays the same key, it can be a tuning fork, a whistle (like the one the guy on the strings video uses), or other -already tuned- instrument. You always want to tune your low E string and then tune by ear the rest of the notes.
The first method is playing certain frets that have the same note as the note you want to tune to. Like this. The second method uses harmonics.
Although, it's a valuable skill being able to tune by ear, you can get a clip-on tuner, a tuner app (android - ios) or a pedal tuner.
For tuning I would suggest gStrings for tuning. It's free and it lets you add custom instruments.
G-Strings does a good job of counting frequencies on bass compared to other apps for some reason.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.cohortor.gstrings&hl=en_GB
gStrings ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
I just use an android app, Gstrings
Should do you nicely until you purchase your other tuner
I use an app on my phone, and pluck the string. I adjust till the note shown matches what I want.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.cohortor.gstrings&hl=en
G Strings is another good tuner, plus it's free.