Take the TRAIN to easier tuning

Tuning a guitar (or bass) is something all players need to do.

Humidity & temperature changes, playing or not playing, all affect the instrument and require regular tweaks to stay in tune. Easy enough, just fiddle with the machine heads (tuners).

But what about when you are changing the strings? That gets a tad more complicated and can lead to a frustrating experience because more things need to be addressed.

I came across this tip from Ron Thorn, Principal Master Builder, Fender Custom Shop who uses this approach to quickly zero in on an accurate tuning.

He calls it the TRAIN method:

• Tune
  
  
• Relief
  
  
• Action
  
  
• Intonnate
  
  
• Noodle
  
  
• Rinse and repeat if needed.
  

He strongly emphasizes that you stick to this order of operations. To do otherwise can lead to grief. The "noodle" refers to test playing something in order to help set the strings before repeating the tuning step.

Experienced players may already follow this instinctively, but it is still a handy acronym to tuck away and refer to so you don't miss anything.