The Single Best Tool for Improving Your Tuning
Nope, it’s not a tuner.
Yes, tuners are useful. A tuner, with its wavering needle, can tell you at a glance if you’re sharp or flat to its reference pitch, and this information can help you know if you need to adjust, and if so, in which direction.
But here’s the thing: We get better at what we practice. And if you practice satisfying a needle, you get better at…. satisfying a needle
This is of limited utility in real life, where people playing other instruments, instruments to which you need to tune, do not come with a handy visual feedback mechanism hanging over their heads. If you’re practicing tuning to a needle, you’re practicing using your eyes to guide your tuning when what you need to practice is using your ears.
And that’s why the real hero of tuning practice is a drone!
What’s a drone? In the musical context, it’s fixed pitch (or sometimes pitches) that is sustained over time. Preferably it’s a tone that’s loud enough for you to practice playing alongside.
Accessing a drone isn’t difficult. Your analog tuner may generate them. Your tuning app almost certainly does (you may need to use headphones or a speaker to make the tone loud enough to be useful to you). There are also numerous drones available on Youtube and other streaming platforms. (One of my favorites is here.)
When you practice tuning to a drone, you are practicing a skill that you will actually use in real-life playing, where you have to match a sounding pitch, not a visual cue. This is a game changer.
There are an almost infinite number of ways to improve your tuning via drone practice. But if you’re new to using a drone, pairing it with your old friend the needle might be the most powerful place to start. Here are three of my favorite ways to use your drone and your needle to build your skills.
Begin by lining up your tone with the needle. Then, swap to a drone using the same reference pitch. This can help you experience the feeling and sound of playing in tune if you’re not sure you can tell without the visual cue.
Begin by attempting to tune to your drone. Once think you’ve achieved this, use the needle (with the same reference pitch) to check yourself. Adjust as needed. Again, you want to focus on what if feels and sounds like to play in tune (or not).
Using the drone, start your own tone deliberately flat. Slowly, using your air, bring your tone up to match. Then reverse the process, starting sharp. This allows you to practice making adjustments in a facilitative setting (i.e., slowly, and with foreknowledge of your direction).
Want to know more about improving your ability to play in tune? I have a short course coming up!
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