A Crash Course in Piano Tuning for the Complete Beginner

[@coyotegraysr]

When I was at university, I had to find creative ways to make money. I started rehabbing old pianos. I’m a musician, but never have taken to the piano, can’t really play them, but I learned how to tune them. A funny story: a classmate of mine asked if I would tune hers. I said yes, but I need a couple hours of quiet. When I got there the house was full of howler monkey like children, that it all went at a full roar the whole time. After three hours and it was tuned good enough, she asked why I took so long. I said I needed quiet, she it was quiet. 😝🤪😁

[@somes3cretcat]

How did you learn??

[@zootzoot9670]

i recently got an old worn piano for free. it was all around a semitone flat. bought a cheap tuning kit online and used a chromatic tuner on my phone. to my surprise it actually went well. I was surprised it went well because its made out like you need about 45 years of experience and a knighthood in piano tuning to do it to any acceptable degree, dont get me wrong, im sure a professional would have done it more accurately than i did, but to do it basically with a chromatic tuner isn't all that difficult, just very very time consuming.

[@dylanstites1535]

You do have to have some experience to be able to hear the beats when tuning unisons. Also, make sure that when you’re using a chromatic tuner on your phone… Tune A4 with it, and then tune the other notes by ear.. because a piano is tuned to be sharper in the treble and ‘flatter’ in the bass. It’s called stretch. Make sure that your tuning hammer is at the 12 o’clock position also so that you won’t bend the pins.

[@rohansamuel7341]

i guess Im asking the wrong place but does anyone know a trick to get back into an Instagram account..? I was dumb forgot the login password. I would love any tricks you can offer me!

[@moisesalec4604]

@Rohan Samuel Instablaster ;)

[@rohansamuel7341]

@Moises Alec thanks for your reply. I got to the site through google and im waiting for the hacking stuff now. Looks like it's gonna take a while so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.

[@rohansamuel7341]

@Moises Alec It did the trick and I now got access to my account again. I am so happy:D Thank you so much, you really help me out :D

[@dolphinberserk]

Recycling a piano frame into solid body guitar - now off my bucket list (good advice thank you)

[@rockers2rockers616]

I saw an add for a upright piano for sale by John Brinsmead & Sons of London asking $200.00. I cant stand the thought that this vintage hand built piano could end up in the rubbish. I dont care how much room it takes up i am going to buy it. And thankyou to this channel i can bring it up to pitch if needed. Im excited and cant wait to begin learning.

[@milkyroad9593]

If you touch the strings with bare hands they will get rusty. You could use gloves of cotton to overcome faster corrosion

[@potocnikhoce]

Sem hotel isto napisati...😅

[@alext8828]

Don't keep hitting the key when listening to the warble. Let it ring out. You'll have plenty of time to hear it and make your adjustment. Did he mention the warbling tone? I might have missed that.

[@jaredini]

Go too sharp before bringing it down to pitch, it holds better. Once each string it in tune give the key hard blow to settle the string.

[@robertcox9281]

Awesome! Easy steps to follow, thanks for posting!

[@cyaneous227]

what app did you use for the tuning?

[@johnpope1473]

Got my tuning kit (Chinese cheap star version) delivery from Amazon / turned a nob and hit that “not so great” sound / your video came to the rescue…..

[@TNBBNAYLOR]

Great video! What app did you use??

[@stjepanalukasevic8805]

How much time do you think you need to become a good tuner? :) I mean, I've been searching for courses but cannot find any (I mean official ones that can give you a certificate of some kind). Thanks!

[@ANTONZANESCO]

well ,being a trained Piano maker and Tuner ( 4 Years Apprenticeship) plus 2 years building Pianos in a Factory to be able to make my Masters and now 43 Years in the Trade , a long Time (: go to Europe where you can enter an Apprenticeship , just trying to help

[@dylanstites1535]

Join the Piano Technician’s Guild… or Piano Technician Academy.

[@Jack-hy1zq]

@@dylanstites1535 Rule of thumb: 2-3 years college...2-3 years working for a large piano company, tuning many hundreds of pianos. Then ur up and running.

[@davidhelweg1449]

After a few hundred pianos and play piano for over 10 years should help. And have a old tuner around so you can ask questions.

[@mariaroncalli863]

What do you find to be the biggest source of wood, in your experience (since you are talking about piano NOT being worth it)?

[@fanbladeinstruments]

Excellent question, I tend to look for old furniture in places where others may not have. Garage sales and recycling centers can be good, I also have a keen eye for pallet wood - this can be a double edged sword though, lots of nails and sometimes they're treated with nasty chemicals, if there's no sign of that then I'll grab them. Sometimes friends find things, I've got a lot of mahogany that was stashed in someones attic for several decades, and just yesterday I was given a chest of drawers that appears to be solid oak. We have a demolition yard a few minutes drive from our house, they sell a huge and ever changing selection of reclaimed timber, I pop my head in at least once a week and I've got some stunning pieces over the years. I very rarely go to a lumberyard and buy new stock, I just can't really afford it, especially when there's free - or nearly free - wood all around, you just have to know what to look for and the only way to develop that knowledge is to gather a huge pile of everything and try working with all different kinds. You'll discover what works best fairly quickly. Thanks.

[@mariaroncalli863]

Fanblade Instruments thank you so much for the info! I guess I first need to educate myself on how to identify the different types of wood... :)

[@mariaroncalli863]

...and thanks for the tip about trying with ukuleles first! That’s smart! Actually, due to my job where I interact with a lot of homeless people, I have been trying to find a way to provide them with a way to make music and lift their spirit a bit while staying safe; initially I thought I’d try to learn and make cheap guitars and give them out to the homeless, but then I thought that guitars are cumbersome for someone who is transient, it attract attention (they get robbed very frequently of much less!) and can become a reason/instrument for/of violence, which sadly is also very common in that world. So I thought that ukuleles might be a great alternative. Plus it’s such a cheerful instrument! I will give it a try. Thanks again

[@fanbladeinstruments]

Well good on you - if you can take on a tough job like that you'l have no problems with instrument building. They're different skill sets but they'll both work the area of the brain that does problem solving. I honestly believe it's impossible to feel depressed while playing a ukulele. I might make a batch next after the mandolins are done, it's been a while since I dabbled with anything acoustic. Cheers.

[@mariaroncalli863]

@@fanbladeinstruments that would be awesome

[@dolphinberserk]

I will be taking your advice as intended and just using this as a reference to adjust the odd key here are or there (to try to keep the piano in the general range) when necessary until the tuner comes by.

[@by3176]

Cool thanks for the heads up

[@alext8828]

The best tip in the world??? Don't remove the tuning hammer from the tuning peg until you are don't with it. As soon as you do, you won't find that pet again. LEAVE IT WHERE IT WAS UNTIL YOU'RE READY TO MOVE ON.

[@W-HealthPianoExercises]

Per quanto ne so, la chiave andrebbe usata un po' a colpetti, per evitare la possibilita di torcere the caviglia 🙂

[@ANTONZANESCO]

hahahahaha (:(:(: stay tuned to learn how to build a piano for complete beginners !!(:(:

[@gabriellepeacock2709]

I'm happy to be the 'fifth idiot' and try this out :)

[@andym264]

Nice

[@keysoffire2085]

So its possible to do it yourself but better to get a professional? See how you said you still need someone to do it who knows what their doing

[@fanbladeinstruments]

Indeed. My piano had been shifted several times over the last 5 years and was 1/4 tone flat, I just brought it back up to standard pitch and then got a pro in to finish and refine.

[@MultiPetercool]

Why can’t we find tuning hammers that work like ratchet wrenches?

[@sebthi7890]

turning the tuning pin needs a lot higher sensitivity, it is often only a little knocking at the hammer and you should approach the pitch from above.