Overcoming tuning issues when recording- help please

Yvonne01

KeenBluesWoman
Can anyone help with advice on tuning guitar when trying to record a solo over a jam track? I tuned my guitar to concert pitch and used a Circle of Fourths Jam track by Griff. No matter how I tried to tweak the tuning, the final recording still sounded out of tune. Okay, so it was a basic way of doing things via my smartphone with the guitar plugged into computer via Multitrack Mix with the Jam track playing from a computer file so quality was never going to be good. I would like to know why it didn't sound in tune. Does anyone have an answer please?
 

dvs

Green Mountain Blues
You're talking about your Fix-It, right? To me, your guitar sounded pretty consistently sharp relative to the backing track. Triple-check the tuning of your open strings (using an electronic tuner), then play a few fretted notes at various positions up the neck into the tuner and see if they are also in tune. If the strings are in tune but the fretted notes are not, your guitar may have intonation issues (esp. if you have a very high action ). Also, or alternatively, you may be using way more pressure on the strings than you need. I don't know how long you've been playing, but that's a pretty common way to start out and sometimes it becomes a persistent habit. Edit: As paparaptor mentions below, tall or jumbo frets would make this an even bigger problem. Experiment with the lightest touch possible to allow the note to ring out and see if that makes a difference.
 
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PapaRaptor

Father Vyvian O'Blivion
Staff member
Could you share a recording where the problem exists?
If the intonation is not spot-on, the string may show in tune when open, but it goes out of tune as you move up the neck.
The action of your guitar, especially if it is high, can cause a string (note) to go sharp as you fret it.
Taller frets, such as jumbos require a lighter touch. If you press the string to the fretboard, you may be pulling the string sharp.
Tune to a touch similar to how you play. If you play with light picking tune your guitar with light picking. If you pound on your guitar, tune it with heavy pick strokes.
With a really good tuning instrument (such as a Peterson strobe tuner), you can see that the harder you pick a string, the higher its initial pitch will be. The pitch will get lower as the string rings and the tone decays. This can make a big difference in how a guitar sounds when strummed loudly, vs. picked lightly.
 

PapaRaptor

Father Vyvian O'Blivion
Staff member
@dvs and I are saying pretty much the same thing.

Once you have a string in tune, check it at the 5th or 7th fret to make sure it is reasonably close to pitch. Check it at the 12th fret to make sure it is an exact octave above the open string.
High action or improper intonation (or both) can cause the guitar to go out of tune as you move up the neck.
 

Yvonne01

KeenBluesWoman
Thank you @dvs & @PapaRaptor . I've checked everything through and I think I need a lighter touch. I've been playing nylon string and wire acoustics for backing my vocals for years and recently been giving my very awkward 12-string way too much attention. I am fairly new to playing electric, especially a quality one with light strings, so I think you have both hit the nail on the head. Thanks again for your great advice. Tips on how to improve my playing are always welcome.
 
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