Why tune with a strobe tuner instead of a needle
A needle tuner shows a single position that jitters while the note rings, so close to the target it is hard to tell whether you are a hair flat or simply watching noise. A strobe tuner shows motion instead. Its bands slide one way when the string is flat and the opposite way when it runs sharp, and the speed of the slide tells you how far off you are. When the pattern freezes, the string is in tune.
Strobe Guitar Tuner brings that display to the PC. Play an open string into a microphone or audio interface and the app works out which string it is, then writes a plain headline such as Low E · 18 cents flat, with advice underneath: Tighten the peg slowly, Loosen the peg a little, or Hold it there. A second line shows the frequency it heard against the frequency it wanted, to two decimal places.
Above the strobe sits a drawn headstock with the right number of pegs for the instrument you picked. A peg's lamp lights once its string stays on pitch, and when every string is there the headline reads, for example, All six strings in tune.
How to tune a guitar on your PC
You need a microphone for an acoustic, or an audio interface for an electric or bass. Then:
- Choose your input under Microphone. Windows default is preselected, and the Input level meter confirms the signal is arriving.
- Pick a Tuning, and a Capo position if you use one.
- Pluck a string and let it ring. Watch the strobe: bands sliding left mean the string is flat, so tighten; sliding right means sharp, so loosen.
- To focus on one string, click its peg. The app plays that string's reference note and tunes only that string until you click it again, or press A to release it.
- Glance at The last 8 seconds chart. Steady to ±0.5 cents means the string has settled; Wandering means it is still stretching or the peg is slipping.
Drop D, open G, DADGAD and other alternate tunings
Guitarists get ten presets: Standard; Half step down and Whole step down for detuned rock and blues; the dropped Drop D and Drop C; DADGAD for Celtic and fingerstyle playing; and the four open chords, G, D, E and C, for slide. Bass players get 4-string, 4-string drop D and 5-string, and ukulele players get standard high G, Low G and Baritone. The Tuning row lists the target notes for whichever you choose, so you can see at a glance that Drop D drops only the low string.
Capo moves every target up from the 1st to the 7th fret, for players who retune with a capo on. For anything outside the list, Any note reads every pitch rather than six open strings.
Checking guitar intonation and tuning by ear
Intonation is whether a fretted note is in tune once the open string is. With Any note on, play the open string, then the same string at the 12th fret: if the 12th fret reads sharp, the saddle needs to move back; if flat, forward. Set Counts as in tune within to 1 cent for studio work, or 5 cents for a noisy rehearsal room.
If you would rather use your ears, Hear every string plays each open string in turn, lowest first. Under Sound choose Plucked string, the easiest to match, or Pure tone, which has no overtones to confuse you. The tuner pauses listening while it plays, so it never chases its own speaker.
