tuning guitar to piano?

[Bob]

What's the best way to accompany a guitar for tuning?

Tune each of their open strings to the piano?


And then add in that the piano's a bit out of tune....

[faulty_damper]

Isn't the guitar already tempered?

[ajspiano]

Isn't the guitar already tempered?

If the person who tuned it knows what they are doing, and the quality of the guitar is VERY high.... so generally, no.

Bob, I suspect it would be dependent on exactly where the piano is at. Because every individual note on the piano is tuned by itself I imagine it would be possible to have say, the A on the piano be more out of tune than any other note..

Perhaps the "best" option would be to pick bottom and top E's with the piano and then tune the guitar on its own from there? Don't know..  I usually just grab A (probably because 'A 440' is the standard) and then do the guitar by itself. Which would be fine assuming the piano is in equal temperment..  if there are issues with the pianos tuning you'd have to consider them to get it perfect, and I doubt it would be as simple as just doing each open string to each subsequent piano note..

[quantum]

If the piano is at pitch with odd unisons out of tune, then just use those notes that are in tune for reference.  Alternately you could use a guitar tuner as reference. 

If the piano pitch is a bit low, have the guitar try to match that lower pitch. 

It would be more important that the guitar be in tune with itself than try to match it exactly with the piano. 

[faulty_damper]

It would be more important that the guitar be in tune with itself than try to match it exactly with the piano.

This sounds like a diss against the piano.  I guess after a while, a pianist just ignores that it's out of tune.

[quantum]

This sounds like a diss against the piano.  I guess after a while, a pianist just ignores that it's out of tune.

I guess it could come across that way 

Seriously though, when one needs to do two piano works the same thing applies.  It is more important for a single piano to be in tune with it self than to match the tuning note for note on both pianos.  A certain degree of "stretch" is applied in piano tuning due to inharmonicity.  The amount of stretch is different depending on the make and model of the instrument, or the taste of the technician.  Thus it really is preferable to have two identical make and model pianos for two piano music. 

[Bob]

They tune the second piano to first though don't they?


I don't think there is a good solution for out-of-tune piano with guitar.  If the guitar is in tune, it's going to hit sour notes with the piano.  If you tune the open guitar strings to the piano, the guitar is out-of-tune with itself and when other notes are played on the guitar, shortening the string, it's going to hit sour notes against the piano.  Even if you tried to tune the guitar to a certain key center with the piano... The strings will still be shortened for some notes.  No luck any direction.

[mileysmith]

According to me if any person who know the mechanism behind the guitar,Always be careful about the guitar and tune well,as far as i know...

[quantum]

They would match the reference pitch on both pianos, i.e. A 440.  However, each piano would have its temperament set independently.  You would not match note-for-note pitches across both pianos. 

[Bob]

I thought they had to match a second piano to the first one at least somehow, not sure if it's note-for-note.  The second piano isn't quite in tune with itself but it's matched as much as possible to the first one.   I'm not quite sure.  It hasn't come up much.