The Practice Room

Six short reads, written by someone who has broken a high E string while reading their phone. Everything pairs with the tuner.

Accuracy

How accurate is this tuner?

We fed it notes we already knew. Exact on clean tones, honest in noise, and one surprise with chords.

How-to

How to tune a guitar (fast, and why it slips)

The right order, the always-tune-up trick, and what new strings do for two days.

Tunings

Drop D, Open G, DADGAD — alternate tunings explained

What each is for, which songs to try, and the one-string shortcut.

Ukulele

Why won't my ukulele stay in tune?

It's the nylon, not you. What stretching does and how to hurry it along.

Ears

Tuning by ear vs using a tuner

The 5th-fret method, harmonics, beats — and why doing both wins.

Winds

Why a B♭ trumpet reads C but sounds B♭

Transposition explained with a tuner in hand, plus the four presets this one knows.