a good tuner

Peterson strobe tuners are probably the standard; prices range from a couple hundred US$s to several thousand.

I highly recommend the Korg Pitchblack as an economical stomp-box style.

Yep, if you look backstage at "guitar world" at a major concert, you will see that the pros will have a strobe tuner . Any well equipped repair shop will use one too, especially useful for setting intonation, etc. Or a professional piano tuner.

They're costly, but they are the ultimate in precision.

For us normal folks, a chromatic tuner is the one to get (as opposed to a "guitar tuner").
A guitar tuner generally only knows how to deal the 6 open string notes, while a chromatic tuner can tune any note on the staff.

Korg is a good brand for an electronic tuner. YOu should be able to pick up a Korg chromatic tuner in any music shop for 20-30 bucks, give or take.

Not as accurate as a strobe tuner. But plenty accurate for most purposes. (good enough to gig with, or play with others. And it will let you tune to any note you like. Purpose built guitar tuners, only tuning to six notes, are a waste, imo.)

Best,
Ande

I'm onto my third cheap tuner!

First was a Seiko Key fob one - which was ok - but not very clear when you we getting close to the pitch..
Second, cant remember the make, did Chromatic, Guitar, Bass and Violin, with flat and double flat settings. had a built in metronome too. The tuner was too slow and the metronome sounded horrible with no way to turn off the 1st beats emphasis.

The one that i'm most happy with at the moment is a Rockburn BC850, no metronome, but the tuner is fast the needle responds when you pluck not 2-3 seconds later. It has built in mic, it will take a direct feed from an electric, or it comes with a clip on mic that you can attach to the headstock.

Rockburn LCD Electronic Tuner

You can get it of the shelf at the larger Tescos in the UK too!

If i ever get an iPhone then, Peterson do have a Strobe Tuner App called iStrobeSoft and a PC/MAC version too ( phone version is $10 and the Desktop one $50)
iStrobeSoft

although...d'addaro/Planet Waves have a guitar app with a stroboscopic tuner, + metronome, +chord library, + other bits too!
(- shame the free string offer is only for US residents :( ) Guitar Tools for $9

I have an Intellitouch tuner... and it is great... really quick, and accurate.
http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/Intellitouch-PT10-Mini-ClipOn-Tuner?sku=502816

Would recommend it for sure. It is clip on style, so you can tune in a noisy room. Mine works well on my acoustic, classical and electric.

So Korg is good way to go?

My tuner is Korg GA-1

It's just preset to only tune guitars and bass, Now that people are saying it's a good brand I don't want a new one, I guess I'll just have to tune the note and then fret it when playing it, to tune it to the tuning I want :mrgreen:

Can't remember model number- Korg is a decent brand for electronic tuners, but personally, I really dislike the "guitar strings only" tuners. Get a chromatic one if you can- it will save headaches...

Best,
Ande

If you don't need one with a built-in microphone, the Korg Pitchblack is leaps and bounds better than the one you've got, in both sensitivity and accuracy. Check out the reviews.

I have several types of tuners. None of them is the mother. But I recently bought a Snark and find it to be very accurate. It has a built in microphone and also can be used to pick up vibrations. It's very readable and easily clips onto any guitar or mando. And it has a flexible neck so you can twist it to an angle where you can see the display.

Here's the info from the company that makes the tuner:

http://www.snarktuners.com/prod_ai1.html

And here's a place that has the tuner on sale for $14.95 right now. (I'm not in any way affiliated with this company or the manufacturer.)

http://elderly.com/accessories/items/SNARK-AIT.htm

Oops! Missed the fact that you're in the UK. But at least one place there carries the Snark:

http://www.bonnersmusic.co.uk/buy/Qwiktune/SNARK_All_Instrument_Clip-on_Chromatic_Tuner

That's an interesting look on the snark.

For the original poster, first there are chromatic tuners (all 12 notes, or 15 if you listen to noteboat...) and standard tuners (EADGBE only) I'm not sure why they make the later at all, can't be much easier to make.You really do want chromatic if you ever want to try alternate tunings (and I think they're a bit easier to use as you get a better sense of where the next note is if starting from a long way out).

There are small tuners with microphones, my first one was one of those and it's hard for them to get a good fix (plus you have the problem of trying to hold it in the right place, hit the string and tune, obviously you don't need to be able to hit the string and tune at the same time, but it helps). I haven't looked at many, but I get the impression they're all standard tuning only. After this there are clip-on tuners which get a much better signal by being clipped onto the headstock. Much handier too and about the same price as the microphone ones, they tend to come in standard and chromatic tuning.

After this there are tuners I don't have any experience with. Pedal tuners you plug your guitar into like an effects pedal, same idea as the clip-on, they get an even better signal and are hands free. Some of the good ones should be able to pick up all the strings at once. As for strobe tuners, I haven't looked into how they're used, but they're more accurate than normal digital tuners and much more expensive.

So my guess is for home use you want a clip-on tuner, for professional musical use you may want a pedal tuner. A strobe tuner if you're a luthier or guitar technician.

A funny aside- when I bought my bass, they gave me a small clip on tuner free. I really liked it- chromatic, so useful even when tuned non-standard, which is standard with the groups I've been playing with. It has a nice, big display, and clearly turns all green when you're "on" the note. The dislplay is backlit, so I can read it in the dark. It's piezo (picks up vibrations from the headstock itself) so you don't have to plug into it, and since it doesn't need a microphone, you can use it in a noisy room, no problem. Overall, very cool.

I'd gotten in the habit of just leaving it on the headstock of my bass, so if I wanted to tune up on the fly, it only took a second.

But at last saturday's gig, I was jumping around a bit too enthusiastically, and it went flying. It might have survived the fall, but it fell near the feet of the other guitarist- also jumping around. There weren't any pieces big enough to keep.

Moral of the story- if gigging, take TWO tuners. And spare batteries for each.

Best,
Ande

this might be a bad idea, but if you are just getting started there is actually a gibson app for iphones and droids that seems to be right on, its chromatic as well and has a light that tells you when you are right on, one thing tho....tune up...in other words, if you think your close....go flat first and then tune up to the proper string note

I'm gonna chip in another plug for the Korg Pitchblack. It's the best pedal tuner I've used.

+1 for a Korg tuner. My pedal tuner is a Boss but I have a small hand held Korg CA-30 tuner that can't be beat for the money. (Under $20 if I recall) If the store had a Pitchblack I may have bought that instead of the Boss just because of how reliable my CA-30 is.