Can I teach myself to tune a piano using only the internet as a teacher?

December 7, 2014 9:03 PM

Some people say this is a skill one cannot teach oneself; an apprenticeship is necessary.
posted by Opengreen to Media & Arts (5 answers total)

Depends on what you already know. I doubt it. It's pretty confusing at first, all the stuff you can hear and must unhear before you know what to listen to.
posted by Namlit at 12:09 AM on December 8, 2014

If you have a genius ear and a knack for learning things on your own then, yes. I know a musician that figured it out on his own and now tunes other people's pianos.
posted by myselfasme at 5:43 AM on December 8, 2014 [1 favorite]

Can you do it and slowly tune your piano well enough for a non musician to think sounds good? Probably, with a lot of time. Could you do it and teach yourself to the level that amateur or professional musicians are satisfied? Probably not.
posted by arnicae at 5:46 AM on December 8, 2014

Heh, I actually tried to do exactly that about a decade ago. I played piano, I had a great ear, and I had the tools. How hard could it be?

Really hard, it turns out. YMMV but I could not do it.
posted by a hat out of hell at 6:17 AM on December 8, 2014

Just kinda double-checking the possibly obvious - you've got access to an actual piano you can work on, right?

'Cause from having watched a variety of tuners at work I'd say you definitely need some hands-on experience so you can learn the feel of how and how much to tighten and loosen the strings. Tuning a piano is very much a physical process, and I don't think you could learn to to tune a piano by watching some videos and reading some theories any more than you could learn to play the piano that way. Sooner or later you've got to spend a lot of time with actual hands on the actual instrument.
posted by soundguy99 at 3:17 PM on December 8, 2014