When I was just starting out, I didn't have a tuner to tune my guitar. So I kinda tune my guitar according to my friend's, who was an ameteurish guitarist back then like me. So I didnt know how a proper guitar sounded like in the first place. It took me a few years to finally recognize the proper sound of a real tuned guitar.
Adding to it, I didn't know that there is such thing such as guitar intonation. I have to admit that this mistake has taken a toll for me for a few period of my guitar life because even though I have
tuned my guitar properly, it will still sound like it is not in tune. This is because the guitar, as a whole, is not in tune with itself.
Let's talk more about intonation. When we intonate a guitar, we adjust the length of the string that vibrates. In other words, we are adjusting the length of the string from the nut to the bridge. If you tune a guitar that is not intonated properly, you will realize that your guitar will remain out of tune when you eventually play a chord because the strings are not intonated together and hence, they won't work together as well. Thus, intonation is quite important for beginners like you.
The way you do this is simple. Below are the steps that you should follow (**NOTE** the example below is based on guitar that is tuned to standard tuning):
1) Get a tuner
2) When intonating the guitar, you need to move the saddle on the bridge. So, get the appropriate adjusting tools to intonate your guitar.
3) We'll just do an example for one string. Do a harmonics on the 12th Fret of the 6th string. How to do harmonics? First you have to lightly touch the string on the 12th Fret and hit it. Then release the finger off the string as soon as you strike it. **NOTE **Do not push down the strings like you
are playing a note. You should get a high pitch note if you do it successfully.
4) Press the 6th string note exactly on top of the 12th fret. Your tuner should be showing the tuned 'E' note.
5) Next, play the note 'E' on the 12th fret as per normal and check. If step (4) and (5)
produces the same result on the tuner, that means your guitar is intonated correctly. If not, proceed to step (6)
6) If your guitar is not intonated correctly, the tunings for the normal note should show that the note is sharper or flatter when compared with the harmonics.
7) When the note is sharper, all you have to do is to bring the saddle back i.e. make the string length a little bit longer. If the fretted note is flatter than the harmonics, then you should bring the saddle forward towards the nut i.e. make the strings shorter. Adjust accordingly.
8) Repeat step (4) onwards again.
9) Repeat the whole procedure on other strings.
For other types of guitar, the saddle might be different that the normal fixed bridge, but the idea is the same.
Hope that helps a lot.
