1. Establish the setup before the first note
Open the tuner and select the complete tuning, not just the lowest note you recognise. Standard is E2 A2 D3 G3 B3 E4, but Drop D and D standard both begin with D2 and disagree on every other string. Remove any capo for the open-string pass. Keep A4 at 440 Hz unless the musicians or reference you are playing with deliberately use another value. A4 calibration and alternate tuning are separate controls: lowering A4 slightly is not a substitute for selecting a half-step-down preset.
2. Choose one measurement method at a time
For ear tuning, play a reference and compare your string with it. For microphone tuning, stop the reference playback, enable the microphone and pluck your guitar alone. A speaker playing the correct reference can be what the microphone detects, creating an apparently perfect result while your string remains wrong. In a noisy room, select the physical string target explicitly and mute the other strings with your free hand. Use a clean amplified signal if your electric guitar is too quiet unplugged.
3. Confirm the note and octave before chasing cents
The note name tells you roughly where you are; the octave tells you which register. Low E2 and high E4 share a letter but differ by two octaves. If the displayed octave jumps, improve isolation before moving the peg. Once the intended note and octave are plausible, make small adjustments and allow the string to settle after each one. A negative cents reading is below the selected target and a positive one above it. The centre is a target, not a demand for a motionless number throughout the entire decay.
4. Use a consistent attack
A very hard initial pluck can begin higher and settle, while a dying note can become too weak for a stable reading. Compare a repeatable part of the sustain at roughly your normal playing strength. Do not alternate an aggressive attack with a very soft one and interpret every resulting movement as a mechanical change. If readings remain erratic, follow the microphone troubleshooting guide before adjusting more strings. A clearer signal is more useful than increasingly tiny peg movements based on uncertain input.
5. Make a second complete pass
Changing tension can affect other strings, especially on a floating-bridge instrument. After the first pass, check the entire set again in the same order. TuneGuitar's guided mode builds in two passes so the last string adjusted does not become the last string you ever check. Use the second pass to confirm, not to start a new experiment with picking strength or reference pitch. If the guitar repeatedly drifts a large amount, inspect the physical setup rather than running endless corrective passes.
6. Check the music, then stop measuring
Play a light chord or compare a pair of octave notes. If the open strings are correct but the fretted notes sound sharp, check your hand pressure and consider an intonation comparison. Do not deliberately mistune a correct open string to compensate for one squeezed chord. If using a capo, now fit it and enable the capo check at the correct fret. Finally stop microphone listening and reference playback. The goal is a stable starting point for music, not keeping an animated meter satisfied while you perform.
A short session record
For a repeatable comparison, note the guitar, preset, A4 reference, capo position, input and any persistent problem. Save the intended setup in My guitars, but remember that this records settings rather than measuring or physically tuning the instrument. If the next session is different, the recorded conditions help identify what changed. You do not need to save audio to keep a useful tuning record.