Piano with guitar, tuning issues

[Bob]

Is there any way to actually solve this?

If you have an acoustic piano and guitar, with the piano being slightly out of tune, how should the guitar be tuned?  If the guitar is tuned with a tuner, independent of the piano, then it's going to be sharp.  If the guitar is tuned with each string being tuned to the piano keys (assuming those individual keys are actually still in tune), then the guitar might not be in tune with itself.

The only things I can come up with is to not have the guitar play with the piano or to have the guitar play with a digital piano instead of acoustic. 

Are there any other options?

[pianisten1989]

if the piano isn't, like crazy out of tune, then I don't think it's a problem for the guitar (Maybe for the guitarist.. cause, you know, they're stupid).
Since it will sound more out of tune if the guitar is tuned with a tuner, I would easily go for tuning with the piano... Or maybe that wasn't your question?

[Bob]

I'm wondering what the best thing to do is.  I heard a performance where the piano was most likely out of tune, just slipping down since it hadn't been tuned in awhile.  I know the guitarist tuned to a tuner.  The performance sounded awful -- That type of intonation where they're almost in tune, and since they're both plucked/hammered strings, the pitch just sits and neither adjusts.  

You're saying the guitar should have tuned to the piano?  I was wondering about the piano -- All the keys wouldn't go out of tune at the same rate, so the guitar might be tuned to the EADGB, but other notes might be off.  Or if tuning the guitar to the piano would result in the guitar being out of tune with itself.  

Kind of a nasty combination, two unyielding string instruments, each a little out of tune.


I was sitting there thinking, "What would I do?"  It sounded bad, but... It's a typical old upright.  I doubt the organization would tune it a lot.  And I don't know what the guitarist should have done. 

[richard black]

Same as any other instrument - the guitar should take a note (probably an A) from the piano and then tune its other strings to that. Tuning to an electronic tuning gadget is self-evidently daft unless the piano has just been tuned to exactly the same basis frequency. Of course, if the piano is out of tune with itself the performance will sound odd, but if they basis for both instruments is the same at least most of it will sound decent.

[daniloperusina]

Well, the reason why an orchestra always tunes to the piano, if one is taking part, is that it can take up to two hours to change a piano's pitch (220 strings), compared to a few seconds for most other instruments, including the guitar. Any other way is, as Richard Black says, self-evidently daft!:)

If in doubt about how well in tune the piano is with itself, I'd play arpeggios (say, Amajor-minor, Dmajor-minor) covering a few octaves holding the pedal down, and the guitar would find a relatively suitable pitch for the A note, for example, and tune the rest of his strings after that note. Then check to see if it works ok. Any half-decent guitarist must be able to tune by ear, but if not, check what the tuner says about the piano's A pitch, and tune the guitar to get the same reading. It shouldn't take more than a minute.