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Blind and Visually Impaired Community

Full History - 2022 - 03 - 28 - ID#tqclt8
13
What's the best way for a blind musician to tune a guitar? (self.Blind)
submitted by PungentMushrooms
I've been playing guitar for a long time and since I've lost my remaining vision last year, I'm finding it hard to tune my bass and my guitar. I can get close enough but not nearly as tuned as I would get using a tuner. I've tried using reference tones like a sound that plays specific notes but I don't think my internal pitch is good enough for that. Like I said, I get close but nothing as perfect as I would get with a tuner back when I had some vision.

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any solutions?
bradley22 5 points 1y ago
I think there’s accessible tuners. Try applevis.com and search for tuner.
34Emma 3 points 1y ago
Talking Tuner works great for IOS. With my ukulele, it sometimes takes a bit of fiddling until it recognizes the sound, but with a guitar you probably won't have that problem.
DrillInstructorJan 3 points 1y ago
On android, SmartChord. It vibrates when you hit a whole note, which will get you there from being somewhere near. The one Bradley mentioned is called talking tuner and it's good if you have apple stuff. A lot of people I know have it. But usually can't you do it by ear? Maybe I've just been doing it a while, I don't know!
synthpopolis 2 points 1y ago
If I know at least one of the strings is correct I can tune the rest by ear. I don’t imagine many people can just pluck a perfect E note out of thin air though if they don’t have some kind of reference. Some people do have perfect pitch but that is uncommon
DrillInstructorJan 2 points 1y ago
Oh yes I completely agree then. But if someone has a keyboard, usually it's better to tune to that, they tend to be more accurate than phones anyway. I have heard that people have had problems with accuracy on phones. It's like if you play some music back from a phone, sometimes it is actually a tiny bit sharp or flat depending on how well made that phone is.
Future-Ad326 2 points 1y ago
I've made my own web page to help me tune my guitar. This way I can use it from my computer or my phone. If anyone wants to give it a shot, try https://ashleygrobler04.github.io/gt/index.html
synthpopolis 2 points 1y ago
I sometimes use Talking Tuner on iOS as has been mentioned here, but more often I will just play a key on one of my keyboards since I know those are always in perfect tune and then just tune my guitar accordingly
TXblindman 2 points 1y ago
Hey there, i use talking tuner, been blind 7 years and it works great.
sorressean 2 points 1y ago
I just youtube guitar tuner EADGBE. If I'm around my recording gear, I plug into logic, set a tuner meter on the track and go that way. Electric is a bit harder, but doable. You can also use tuning forks. I'm also working on the setup for a pedal board box that will handle tuning if you're blind and let you plug in a guitar/ukulele. It would work just as well without a pedal board as long as you have pickups and an instrument 1/4 to 1/4 cable to plug in, though.
AceyAceyAcey 2 points 1y ago
Use beats to tune two adjacent strings to each other. Basically you start with the lowest string, then hold the 6th fret and play it at the same time as the next string, and listen for the beats (volume increasing and decreasing). Tweak the pitch on the second string until the beats get longer and longer, then go away. Repeat for the other strings (one of them is 5th fret instead, I forget which). You should be able to find videos demonstrating beats if you’re not familiar. This is a great method to get strings tuned relative to each other, though they may still be off absolutely.
synthpopolis 4 points 1y ago
Yep. This works well if you have at least one of the strings already in tune, but if you are tuning from scratch you aren’t going to know where standard tuning is unless you have perfect pitch… Which I certainly don’t. Lol
PungentMushrooms [OP] 3 points 1y ago
This is basically what I've been doing and it does work pretty well but like you said, it only tunes the strings relative to themselves so this technique is no good if I plan to play along with something, which is most of the time in my case. People are mentioning talking tuner and it sounds like exactly what I need so I'll take a look
DannyMTZ956 1 points 1y ago
Tuning fork, I have a fork that vibrates to an A.
rory-games 1 points 1y ago
There are accessible apps on a phone that can do this. I can't think of any off the top of my head since I got perfect pitch but try applevis.
napoleon88 1 points 1y ago
As another poster said, if you’re looking for a hardware device, the Roadie 3 automatic tuner really is quite good it is a small device that you literally turn on, tell it the tuning, and connected to each of your tuning pegs. It will then robotically tune the guitar. I use it all the time now, but, I also can tune by ear from a reference pitch if I need to. The tuner is a fantastic gadget, but I think before you use something like that, you really should have the ability to tune to a reference pitch first. Because that is a key skill
Bsmith0799 1 points 1y ago
You could use the be my eyes app and a regular tuner and have the person tell you when the tuner says its tuned properly
TechnicalPragmatist 1 points 1y ago
What exactly is the point of this when there is already a tuner that is already accessible and that works?
Bsmith0799 1 points 1y ago
If you can't afford it, its out of stock, not available in your country, you need a quick fix for today. Etc
TechnicalPragmatist 1 points 1y ago
Well this tuner is free or very cheap and is a piece of software.
Bsmith0799 1 points 1y ago
I didn't even know there WAS an accessible one
Bsmith0799 1 points 1y ago
Ah I didn't know that
jofish22 1 points 1y ago
I love the Roadie 3 automatic tuner. The setup isn’t great for anyone with poor eyesight, but once you’ve got it set up you just turn it on, hold it to the tuning pegs and it tunes them automatically. It’s amazing.
SpektrumKid 1 points 1y ago
You can train your ear. I used to be able to tune better than a tuner, but that was back when I was obsessing about perfect pitch.
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