Guitar won't stay in tune

one-angry-dwarf

I got new strings for my guitar today, and i know when you first put them on, it slips out of tune easily, but the damn thing just won't stay in tune. anyone have any ideas whats wrong.

MrJoeSoap

it usually just takes time, eventually they should stay in tune.

parasite

when you first put on new strings, you're meant to stretch (i.e. pull them out from the fretboard) them all along the length of the string to eliminate the slack, careful now

sound_wave

or alternatively you could tune them up a semi tone higher and leave them over night to return to normal pitch otherwise pull the strings off the fretboard and keep retuning till they stay in tune

feylya

You should stretch your strings. Place a finger on the 1st fret of the 1st string and pull the string at the fret two frets down the neck. Do this for every string and every fret. Then retune and it shouldn't be loosing tune so easily.

Doctor J

Putting on an tuning strings is a science. Snip the strings about 1" past the tuning peg (don't leave the end flailing around past the tuner, you'll take your eye out and it can cause the string to slip. Insert the snipped string and leave maybe.5cm sticking out past the tuner. Start winding the string using the tuner, don't wrap the string over, it won't sit properly and it'll twist the core, meaning you're more likely to snap the string. Twist the tuner in one hand and pull the slack string away from the tuner, back towards the bridge. When the wrapping string reaches the exposed end, guide the first wrap over the exposed end and all subsequent wraps under. Your tuner peg is more than likely shaped like )( - wrapping the first loop over and the rest of the loops under will lock the string in place, meaning it won't slip(the wrap over is naturally pushed down and the wraps under push up against the string end). No matter how long it takes, use the tuner to tighten the string, don't manually twist it over, all the whille pulling the slack away from the tuner.

Tune the string to pitch and then pull it away from the fretboard over the 12th fret. You'll notice it goes massively out of tune. Repeat this until it stops going out of tune. Don't go nuts, just pull with reasonable force, not enough to break the string but enough to stretch it. Finally, when you're tuning to the pitch you want, always tune up to the note, never down, if you tune up past the note you want, tune way back down under it and tune up again. There is a certain amount of give in tuners which will cause the string to loosen slightly if you tune down to a note. This slack is not present when you tune up to the note.

RicardoSmith

Its likely to go out of tune for a day or two then after that it will hold its tunning for longer. The more you play it the better it will sound.