Why does that G string never stay in tune!?

Hey Intermediate Guitar Fam,

Have you ever wondered why that damn G string is always out of tune? Many years ago, I found out about "True Temperament" guitars, (guitars that have those squiggly frets on them) and wondered what the hubbub was about. Apparently "to save on cost and time to manufacture" guitars are shipped with "Equal Temperament" frets (your standard straight frets). Equal temperament divides an octave into equal semitones which, keeps all notes consistent across the fretboard, but can cause slight intonation issues as a trade off. This is why, sometimes, when your guitars open strings are in tune but you go to play a chord higher up the neck, it can sound out of tune. It's because it is. And its usually that damn G string, which in equal temperament, is anywhere from 14-16 cents out of tune. True Temperament supposedly fixes this, but I don't have enough money, that my wife will let me use, to find out haha!

Where I'm going with this is our Tuesday HOT TIP OF THE WEEK!!!!

Learn to setup your instrument yourself!! If you don't know how to restring your guitar, learn how to do it! If you don't know how to adjust your truss rod to fix neck alignment, learn it! If you don't know how to properly intonate a guitar, learn it!! Don't know how to check the wiring in your electric, Learn it!!! Not only will this save you money in the long run, since you won't have to pay someone to do it, but it will also give you the satisfaction of knowing that all of your guitars are properly setup and are playing the very best they can be! It will make you sound better... well, it will make your guitar sound better. Actually maybe don't do this, leave your guitars out of tune and improperly intonated, that way when we make mistakes, we can still blame the guitar....just kidding. But for real though, if a light bulb burns out in your house, do you hire someone to come replace it for you? Nah. And really, most of these things on guitar (with the exception of the electronics) are literally a screwdriver turn or two away from being fixed anyway. You've got this!!!

If you are interested, I've been thinking of making some videos for the community on how to do some of these simple "setup" processes, let me know in the comments!

Have a great week this week, and I'll be checking in with you soon!

-Ben

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