A tuner is really the only kind of guitar pedal that a new player actually needs. But not all tuners are pedals!

There are four main types of guitar tuners:

  • Pedal
  • Clip-on
  • Rack-mounted
  • App

I’m just going to talk about the first three types of tuners in this post, mainly because I don’t have experience with app tuners unless they’re part of a recording app.

What’s a Chromatic Tuner?

A chromatic tuner lets you tune any note. If you are using an alternative tuning, or you’re playing something other than a guitar (like a bass or a ukulele), you need a chromatic tuner. A non-chromatic tuner will basically only work for an electric guitar with standard tuning (E, A, D, G, B, E). You can still use it with Drop D, but you have to remember what you’re doing.

I honestly don’t see the point of getting a non-chromatic tuner, because they’re limiting. All of the recommended tuners below are chromatic.

The Best Tuner Pedals

A tuner pedal is often the first pedal people get when they put together a pedal board. A tuner pedal allows you to mute your guitar signal so your audience doesn’t hear you tuning. This muting ability is also be handy in other situations, such as switching guitars in the same signal chain in the middle of a show. A tuner pedal with a power output (like both of the recommendations below) can be useful for daisy-chaining other pedals on a pedal board.

So which tuner pedals are the best? I’m recommending two options:

1) TC Electronic PolyTune 2

With the PolyTune 2, you can strum your guitar and it will tell you which strings are flat or sharp. It has modes for capo and Drop-D tunings. The brightness of the display automatically adjusts, so you can read it whether you’re playing an outdoor show in the middle of summer or just practicing in the basement. It is also very compact, so if you build a pedal board it won’t take up much space.

2) Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner

This is the updated version of the TU-2, which was one of the most popular tuner pedals of all time. It has the same straightforward, rugged design that Boss is known for. As one Reddit user put it, “You could shoot it out of a missile launcher and it would work fine.”

A key difference between these two pedals is that the Boss tuner is buffered, while the PolyTune has true bypass. Without true bypass, some of the guitar signal will flow through the pedal’s circuitry even when the pedal is “off.” Many people find that this affects their overall tone in undesirable ways. True bypass allows you to truly turn the pedal “off” and keep your tone clean. If true bypass matters to you, go with the PolyTune. (The newest version, the PolyTune 3, also has a buffer option.)

The Best Clip-On Headstock Tuner

Headstock tuners are handy for acoustics, and people who don’t want to devote pedal board space to a pedal tuner. They clip right on to the headstock, so you can walk around with them and tune on the go — no cables needed. They’re also significantly cheaper than pedal tuners. Throw one in your guitar case and you’re all set!

Snark SN-8

The Snark is the most popular tuner of this type, for lots of good reasons. It’s small and bright, and the display can swivel. (Some people complain that the swivel joint breaks easily, but hey, it’s $15 and made of plastic. You can just glue it.)  It has a bunch of useful features, like tap tempo metronome and a transpose function that lets you tune with a capo on. Unlike a lot of tuners, it turns on and off with a quick push of a button — you don’t need to hold a button down and wait.

Rack-Mounted Tuner

I’ve never been a rack gear kind of guy, so I don’t have much to say about rack mounted tuners other than that the ones I’ve run into the most in my travels are made by Korg.  So if you have a rack-mounted rig and want to keep your footprint on stage small, I’d recommend you look into a Korg Pitchblack Rackmount Tuner.  But if you are not already running rack gear, I see no reason for you to go out and grab one of these.  I’d stick to a pedal or a clip-on tuner.