This is something that surprises many people, especially beginner guitarists: brand-new electric guitars priced at $500 or more often have trouble staying in tune, and some chords sound painfully out of pitch. No, it's not because they come with old, worn-out strings. No, the nuts (the string guides on the headstock) are well-made, without any burrs or geometry issues. No, their necks are straight, the frets aren't defective, and they're installed correctly.
Everything about these guitars seems fine. Yet, they still go out of tune—including instruments costing two thousand dollars or more. What causes this phenomenon, and how can it be addressed? That's what we'll explore today.
The issues affecting the tuning stability of electric guitars fall into two categories: first, there are problems that can't be resolved within the traditional design of the neck, and second, there are those related to certain nuances of instrument maintenance, setup tricks, and individual playing styles. Let's start by discussing the insurmountable challenge.
Attention! This article focuses exclusively on six-string guitars with standard tuning and traditional, standard designs. Everything mentioned below applies only to such instruments.
Until the late 18th century, European musical tradition predominantly used pure temperament for all instruments. This meant that all primary intervals were tuned to frequencies that corresponded to whole numbers. For example: an octave was set as 2:1, a perfect fifth as 3:2, a fourth as 4:3, a major third as 5:4, and so forth.
Within one key signature, such a tuning system sounded nearly flawless. However, once composers and performers ventured into different keys, the orchestra's instruments would no longer harmonize, resulting in a disastrous sound. What's worse, even within the same instrument, using pure temperament could cause it to lose its own internal harmony—a situation that, you must agree, is simply intolerable.
Composers and conductors sought a solution to this problem, dreaming of orchestras that stayed perfectly in tune. And indeed, a remedy had been invented two centuries earlier—almost simultaneously in China and Europe. It's called equal temperament. This involves dividing the octave into 12 equal segments (semitones), which we now take for granted, though we may not realize there's also something slightly off about it.
In other words, the division of the octave into semitones that we use every day is somewhat formalistic. Its strength lies in the fact that equally tempered instruments generally stay in tune with themselves across all keys, and they blend well together in various groups, whether small ensembles or large orchestras.
The downside of applying temperament is that it introduces slight deviations from perfect tuning, particularly noticeable on fretted instruments—including, as you've probably guessed, guitars and electric guitars.
If musicians who play unfretted instruments like violins, violas, or cellos can compensate for these tonal deviations by slightly adjusting finger placement up or down the neck, owners of fretted instruments don't have that luxury. Frets on traditional necks strictly adhere to equal temperament. One of the most troublesome intervals for guitar players is the major third, causing generations of guitarists plenty of headaches.
Musical memes about the 3rd guitar string emerged around the same time as internet memes did, and they've remained relevant ever since. Despite a slight decline in interest towards guitar music during the late 2000s and early 2010s, the sweet "disease" known as "guitarism" continues to infect new waves of young people each year. Fresh generations of aspiring musicians repeatedly encounter the issue where the 3rd string insists on living its own life, regardless of the disagreement from the rest of the strings and the guitar owner themselves.
The issue with the 3rd string is partly due to equal temperament and the standard tuning of a 6-string guitar (E-B-G-D-A-E). The thing is, the 3rd string carries the third note of many major and minor chords played in different positions. Since equal temperament introduces deviations specifically with thirds (especially major ones), the 3rd string can produce very discordant sounds, even on expensive guitars.
The discordance of the 3rd string becomes particularly pronounced when major triads are played near the nut of the neck. You might get the strings perfectly in tune for a G major chord in one position, but then switch to E major in another position, and suddenly its third note veers off course.
You adjust the tuning to make the E major chord sound good, but as soon as you return to G major, the tuning vanishes as if it never existed. This can drive even seasoned guitarists crazy.
A second reason why the 3rd string behaves poorly is that in standard string sets (like the popular rock set 9-42), it has less tension compared to its neighbors. On one hand, this makes it easier for guitarists to perform expressive bends on the 3rd string. On the other hand... it goes out of tune, horribly so.
A brand-new, shiny 3rd string can easily be thrown off by a simple forte without any bends at all—it’s just very sensitive to intense playing.
Seasoned guitarists tackle this issue quite effectively by opting for non-standard string sets offered by reputable global brands. Typically, the gauges in a balanced rock music set (such as blues-rock) measure 0.0095, 0.012, 0.0165, 0.024, 0.032, 0.044.
This ensures a smooth transition in tension between the strings (notably for the 3rd and 6th strings, which both pose unique challenges) while enhancing tuning stability, as each string is subjected to more consistent tension.
So, what else can mess up the 3rd string?
Got used to memes about the 3rd string only? How about some spine-chilling tales about the 6th string? Some passionate guitarists, who love slamming out power chords with a shoulder-swinging attack, often wonder why the 6th string decides to bail midway through the fretboard, proudly marching off into the sunset and ruining the song.
Turns out, it’s also affected (though to a lesser extent) by issues with equal temperament. Combined with a wild, animalistic assault from a rocker or metalhead, it can sound higher than it should for the first few dozen milliseconds.
The temporary increase in pitch ("overshoot") when picking aggressively is common for the 6th string, especially in open position, because it has more mass than the others and therefore greater inertia.
Former hippies turned laid-back, respectable gray-haired dudes with guitars deal with this in two ways: similar to the 3rd string, they lower the tuning of the 6th string. Oh, and they don’t bash away at it like maniacs.
Here’s a cheat sheet on how much to lower the pitch of these strings in Hertz:
For the 3rd string (G): instead of 196.00 Hz, tune it to ~195.50 Hz.
For the 6th string (E): instead of 82.41 Hz, tune it to ~82.20 Hz.
Now, here are the drawbacks of this approach:
So, your guitar tech swears the material on your guitar's nut is top-notch, the grooves aren't too tight, and they're even polished. But after using a quality tremolo machine and bending strings, your guitar's tuning still goes haywire. What to do? Use graphite lubrication!
Regular folks grab a plain ol' pencil and carefully rub the lead onto the nut grooves. Cool regular folks might borrow a bit of automotive graphite grease from their garage for the same purpose. Rich regular folks buy fancy guitar care products from manufacturers. But we're not naming names here because they didn't pay us.
As we've already learned, after performing a bend, the string involved can go out of tune. Here's the fix from metalheads: after bending, mute the strings with your left hand and discreetly wiggle the tremolo bar. The slightly stuck string in the nut groove will "snap back into place."
In reverse, on some (quite decent) guitars, the tuning might not fully recover (especially that damn 3rd string) after moderate tremolo action. Metalheads suggest: after fiddling with the tremolo, quickly mute the strings with your right hand, then subtly bend the 3rd string with your left. This often helps bring it back in line.
If you're a left-handed guitarist, you'll undoubtedly figure out which hand to use in each case.
A little bit of unpleasant music theory. Keep in mind that on a standard-tuned guitar, the 3rd string contributes the third note in triads and seventh chords, determining whether they sound major or minor. Here’s the thing: to indicate basic triads and sevenths, you can play them with just three or even two notes (on three or two strings). This frees up your fingers for subtle vibrato.
Another trick—this one's a bit more complex. Use incomplete minor and major chords starting from the 2nd fret, holding down strings 3 through 6 (kind of like partial barre chords), while letting the open 1st and 2nd strings ("E" and "B") ring. In several keys, such as E minor, A minor, B minor, and their parallel majors G, C, and D, the open 1st and 2nd strings create interesting harmonic "overtones," effectively masking any slight tuning issues with the 3rd string. These complex chords still clearly define the major or minor tonality.
The magic here is that the open strings in the chords provide a stable foundation of natural frequencies, covering or "filling in" minor tuning discrepancies in the other strings. Open strings, tuned according to harmonics, seem to borrow elements of pure temperament (which we discussed earlier) and introduce something organic into the equal temperament system.
Additionally, the open strings complement the chord with intervals that naturally align with the guitar's tempered tuning, concealing minor tuning issues.
Both the listener's brain and the musician's perceive this harmonic richness, feel the "foundation" of the open strings, and subconsciously compensate for any tuning deviations in the other strings.
Try applying this technique in different keys that include "E" and "B" in their scales, and you'll be amazed at how beautifully expansive and enriched these chords sound.
Bonus: your harmonies will become richer, smarter, and more distinctive. Plus, you'll look down on those who rely solely on boring barre chords.
With that, let’s wrap things up. Our brief summary: unfortunately, a standard-tuned electric guitar, with its conventional neck, frets, nut, and tremolo system, will never achieve perfect tuning. It simply can't, no matter how expensive it is.
