This post is for you guitarists out there. After all these years -- decades actually -- I finally learned how to use my electronic tuner pedals.

Trouble in Tunerland

I don't know about you, but I've always had trouble getting my pedal tuners to lock in with my Strat. Especially the lower strings.

I strike the string, the tuner thinks a bit, and then flashes the string it thinks I'm playing. Nope. So I keep plucking, and usually, after several plucks, I see the correct string number pop up.

After agreeing on the string, sometimes the tuner freaks out a bit, calling the string way sharp, or flitting back and forth between extremes.

Pedals Tested

I've had a few different tuning pedals. The Boss TU-2 is my main one, but I also have a recent Planet Waves PW-CT-04, a Fender PT-100, and Fender PT-10.

The Answer Comes from Understanding Tuning Nightmares

Then I read about Jack Endino's website, Guitar Tuning Nightmares Explained, in a recent guitar magazine (sorry can't remember which).

And it's really simple.

• Switch to the neck pickup.
• Turn the tone all the way down.
• Pluck the string right over the 12th fret.

Worked like a charm. I got lazy a couple of times and didn't follow the instructions, which led to the standard tuner nonsense I related above.

So I'm a convert.

Try it out. And if you'd like to peek under the hood and understand why this works, check out the Tuning Nightmares website.

--blue dave