I started with a “C” tuning fork, tuned middle C, then a slightly flattened fifth (G), then through a cycle of perfect fifths, always slightly flattening each one, so that the end result is a perfectly tempered scale. Then I tuned in octaves all the way down and then all the way up. This takes practice! If you don’t flatten the fifths enough, you get the dreaded “Pythagorean comma”.

I don’t think there’s any way for a student to be able to flatten fifths well until they have played for years. I would use a tuner with a good sounding pitch and have them match it,

I don’t have perfect pitch but my partner does and can easily tune by ear. The other day I was warming up my flute and played just one note, Eb. He immediately said, “you’re flat”.

I said, “it was one note, how can you tell it is flat without a reference?”

He said reiterated that I was flat.

I checked with a tuner and he was right. My head-joint was not set correctly and my whole flute was playing flat. I never would have know but he heard it immediately.

i dont know if i have a perfect pitch or not, but i know if i play a string that is tuned or not and if it needs to be tuned a little up or down by ear, and then check the tuner and find that i am correct as the tuner, but maybe its different from having a perfect pitch and also as i said i sing well and clean, and know the fifth and fourth intervals and octaves, i think that is enough for tuning.

I don’t know if perfect pitch would necessarily be helpful in this instance. I have perfect pitch, but my sense of pitch is sometimes dependant on tone color of the produced tone. So if it is a warmer tone, I sometimes hear it as being flat, and if it is a brighter tone I sometimes hear it as being sharp. In either instance though, a tuner may say that they are exactly correct. So, switching between bass wires, gut strings, and treble nylons could be tricky.

I hate tuning by ear, but when I absolutely have to this is also the way I do it, by playing fifths and then doing the octaves. It is time consuming but it is the only way I can get a correct tuning without the aid of an electronic tuner.

I can hear when an octave is right and I can tell when a fifth is right, but if I am just doing a scale I may be able to tell something is off but I have a devil of a

If you’re going to tune by ear, here’s the jist of what the piano tuner told me. Throughout this process, what you are mostly, almost entirely listening to the the “beat” produced when you play two notes simultaneously. With the 4th and 5th intervals you are trying to slow the beat down. With thirds and 6ths you are listening to a nice roll to the beat. It takes time to learn to hear this beat accurately. Even piano tuners who stop tuning for a while have to get that skill back when they start up again. You can only tune by ear if you have DEAD SILENCE as you tune.

Start with A 440, matched to a tuning fork. The whole tuning should be done in C flat(all pedals in flat position). But for the sake of explaining this clearly here, without a flat symbol, I’ll explain it as if you were tuning with all the pedals in natural. Also, if your harp is not very well regulated, you’re probably better of tuning in natural.

Tune both D’s and both E’s from the A. There is less aural leeway with a 4th than a 5th, so chances are your 4ths will be more in tune. Use your tuned 4th to check the octave, i.e., the E below A is a 4th and so will probably be more accurate. Tune the E 5 above the A to A but check it against the lower E.

Next tune both G’s from the D, and both B’s from the E. At this point you have the major third and major 6th of G to B that you can check.

Now tune both C’s from the G. Since B to F is an augmented 4th without moving F into sharp or B into flat, you should complete the circle from the other side. With both C’s in tune you can check more major and minor thirds and 6ths.

Lastly, tune the F’s to C. In each of these steps, tune the new note from the previous one using both the 4th interval and the 5th. If you tune only using the interval of a 5th you could wind up wildly off when you complete the circle.

At this point you should have about 2 octaves that have been tuned intervallicaly. Make sure at this point that everything sounds the way you want and make any changes necessary. You may have to go over the whole thing again to get it right.

Now start tuning down the instrument using compound 4ths and 5ths(an octave and a 4th, an octave and a 5th). These are much more accurate than tuning octaves. As you get further down the instrument, tune by 2 octave intervals, i.e. 5th octave C to 3rd octave C for example. Also use the compound intervals to check. But it’s hard to hear 5th and 6th octave notes in 4th and 5th intervals, even compound.

Tune up the instrument the same way, using compound intervals and 2 octave intervals.