9 Best Acoustic Guitar Tuners in 2021

It is essential for you as a musician or a professional guitar player to have a reliable and easy tuner when it’s time for you to perform or record. There are numerous acoustic guitar tuners nowadays, and it would be ideal to get a good tuner. 

Choosing the Best Acoustic Guitar Tuner has been made easy for you, with our narrowed search that will help you pick according to your preference.

We have also split our expert recommendations down further by gears and accessories. So take a look below:

• Get a better recording with the best mic for acoustic guitar
• Choose your best acoustic guitar strings for beginner
• Boost the vibration and sounds with the best acoustic guitar preamp
• Do some blazing solos with the best jazz guitar amplifier

The line up at a glance

After a series of in-depth research on several products, we’ve selected these Best Acoustic Guitar Tuners. Read through each product with its pros and cons to find a suitable acoustic guitar tuner.

Our Picks For Top 9 Best Acoustic Guitar Tuners in 2021

Pro guitar players and musicians have chosen Snark ST-2 clip-on tuner for quite some time now. This tuner is one of the best and affordable tuners for acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. It is one great choice because of its tuning accuracy and precision. You can take it wherever you have a gig because it won’t demand much space in the guitar bag.

This Snark model is the newly improved piece of the lauded SN-2 tuner. Its processor is fast, and it features a high-definition screen that’s easier for the user to read. It is also endowed with lasting battery life. All of these comes with the portable and inexpensive clip-on tuner, having great value.

Its ease of usage is next to none; by simply clipping it on the acoustic guitar headstock and playing a string, the digital display will alert you to either tune-up or tune down the string. The clip is firm, and it helps the tuner rotate 360 degrees for an easy view from any angle. 

Finally, it is compact and can be kept in a moderate pocket. However, you should be careful with this tuner as the plastic case may be fragile and prone to break if it mistakenly falls off.

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Another top-notch tuner from one of the famous brands, known for quality and value. Behringer TU300 is a chromatic tuner for all acoustic guitar players. It is solid and affordable and even suitable for beginners as well as professionals.

Since this pedal tuner is built only for acoustic guitars with a pickup, your guitar needs to be plugged into the device for it to function. Some users may like this option, but it is a limitation. To start using this tuner, apply pressure on the pedal by pressing it down to engage it. Once you strum a string, the chromatic tuner will find the sound pitch with a led indicator that changes color when you go from a sharp note to a flat.

It comes with seven different tuning modes: 3 for bass, 1 for chromatic, and 3 for the guitar. These seven modes are useful for players who want advanced features in their tuner. There’s also a bypass or mute switch responsible for silencing the audio so your audience won’t be aware that you’re tuning the guitar.

Lastly, every element of construction is rugged for heavy-duty usage and prevent wear and tear. You can power the pedal by a power supply or a 9V battery. If you prefer the power supply option, you’ll have to part with extra cash because it doesn’t come with the tuner.

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Another remarkable chromatic tuner that comes as the updated model for the classic TU-12 version has always been a non-negotiable choice for acoustic and electric players. At this point, the brand’s reputation requires little or no explanation because it is one of the most sought for gear manufacturers for some years, rolling out efficient and affordable products that won’t fail.

This version of Boss chromatic tuner is a handheld gear having a meter display that’s responsive as you strum your guitar strings. One major talking point of this tuner is the jack that connects an acoustic guitar to a pickup and mic. This feature is meant guitars without pickups. This is one reason why a tuner like this is ideal for both acoustic and electric guitar tuning.

It is accurate, precise, and capable of lasting the user for years without faults. Some users testified that they’ve been using this tuner for over ten years. It is quite costly than an average portable tuner but is versatile, reliable, and the brand can be trusted.

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Do you need one clip-on tuner that’s hard to forget when packing? This portable tuner piece is your go-to tuner. This tuner is compact enough to fit the soundhole of your acoustic guitar, and only you can see it when it’s in use. It’s too small for your audience to notice.

This NS Micro model works on a piezo transducer to pick the strings’ vibration from the soundboard. This results in a fast and reliable tuning. It has a simple interface, with two buttons, which are the power button and a calibration button. When it is on, it is on standby for up to 10 minutes before it is powered down to save battery life. A CR2 battery powers it. 

This tuner has an LCD meter that displays the note’s pitch. The display has arrows that adjust when you’re playing a sharp or flat pitch. The calibration button allows you to tune the guitar to reference tones. It is simple and easy to use with easy tuning and accuracy. It can be kept in the extra pocket of a guitar case without consuming space.

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Another name for this powerful tuner is Sledgehammer Pro, it is a headstock tuner from Korg, and you’ll love it at first sight. It has a unique design with the head looking like a small tube and has a 3D display. Sledgehammer Pro can be changed to 3 different modes and is visible in the dark. 

A pair of shuttle switches are available on the sides, and their function is to switch in-between different modes. This makes this gear operation easier with one hand; if you’re good at multi-tasking, you can be hitting a chord on the guitar while operating the tuner.

Additionally, its usual tuning range is between AN (27.50 Hz) and  C8 (4185 Hz). Its battery life is not too impressive, with about 14 hours for a  CR2032. You’ll need another pair, and that may set you back around 1 or 2 dollars.

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Strobe tuners produced by Peterson are often called the heavyweight champion of the tuner world. In the first place, they were never proposed to be compact. Today, we live in a world that allows the technology of strobe tuners to be applied to a pedal tuner. Thus, allowing musicians worldwide to play smooth tunes.

StroboStomp is accurate and supports up to 135 tunings, with an incredible range. You’ll hardly find a tuner as perfect and packed with as many features as this type. The tuner has a switchable bypass and buffered modes. These modes are ideal for the player that have a large pedalboard. It can be used with the Peterson Connect app. You get a 3-year warranty on this product in case anything goes wrong.

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If you’re looking for an affordable tuner to help with your stage performances, this Fender chromatic tuner is one to look out for. It is a Bullet clip-on that’s sleek, strong, and price-friendly. The low price should not hinder you from accessing its standard features, tuning one string at a time as some users would prefer.

The build quality is reliable to keep you tuning your instrument for years. One major limitation of this tuner is that you can’t enjoy it when recording unless you’re buying it for gigs. Aside from that, it is a waterproof tuner that can withstand any stage conditions with its aluminum casing.

This Fender model tuning range is between 27.5Hz and 4,186Hz. The accuracy stands within 1 cent; this isn’t bad for the price. As a user, your audience won’t notice a slight shift in its pitch all that’s going on.

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A classic tuner of this nature from TC Electronics is a top innovation priced within an expected range. It is robust but won’t take much space in the pedalboard. Since you’ll be stepping on it, the size won’t be a concern after all. 

This tuner is a next-level gear that provides multi-tuning modes that include chromatic, strobe, polyphonic. All these are complemented with an onboard BONAFIDE BUFFER that maintains the tone over extended cable runs on the pedalboard. The LED display is an upgrade for better tuning accuracy.

You can get a full reading by strumming one or all six strings. This is the principle upon which it is being operated. It is most suitable for acoustic-electric guitars since you’ll need cables for it to function. The improved innovation has an analog circuit and retina display while it offers clarity and precision. Regardless of what mode you switch to, your tune remains perfect.

This powerful tuner can recall your preferred tuning, which means you don’t have to start setting pitch references and tuning modes again. The tuning magnet is responsible for its tuning precision.

The BonaFide buffer helps balance your impedance input without lousiness to avoid high-frequency roll-off, inconsistency from another pedal, and harmonic distortion.

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If you prefer a smaller tuner option that’s affordable and offers value to your music, Donner DT-1 is a perfect choice. It comes in a mini-pedal fashion and has some basic features as well as specs. This tuner is the definition of simple, accurate, and compact gear. It isn’t a main effect pedal type that will consume space in the pedalboard. 

Its user interface is a friendly type made up of three elements: a half-step indicator, footswitch, and an LCD. Another good thing to note in this tuner is the true bypass. There’s no need to worry about signal bleeding or other nuisances. 

Talking about the precision, you have a 1-cent error margin in this tuner, which is acceptable for gear like this. Its bargain cost is lesser than its value. A 9 volt DC power supply also powers it, but it won’t work on batteries. If you don’t fancy a clip-on tuner, this pedal format tuner is one for you.

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Criteria used for evaluation

Display

One critical factor attached to viewing what the tuner is indicating legibility. A needle-based meter is used in many tuners to indicate your closeness to the pitch when you adjust the string tension. Other tuner models use LCD with graphics or LED light arrays that change from red to green when the strings reach the right pitch.

Most displays use various colors to indicate a sharp or flat pitch and also indicates the tuned string. Advanced tuners make use of strobe technology to indicate a real-time relative pitch. These tuners are built primarily for instrument technicians and sound engineers. 

You should take into consideration the stage lighting where you’ll do your tuning. Therefore, your ideal tuner must be brighter with large displays as it will be useful on stages with dim lights and where there’s too much sunlight.

Tuning modes

Many digital tuners come with optional tuning modes that match instruments like a 7-string and bass guitars. Some models support drop tunings, which are based on specific keys, instead of a standard reference. If you own a capo, for example, find a tuner that supports capo tunings. Versatile guitar tuners enable you to switch to different and tempered scales.

Bypass

Pedal tuners with bypass feature won’t color the signal output sent to the amplifier. Silent tuning bypasses the signal output to the sound system, thereby allowing your tuner to only display the tune’s visuals.

Auto pitch detection

High-quality tuners will automatically find out the played tone by showing its relation to the right pitch. Models of lesser standards require you to set the right pitch for individual strings, which can be tasking at times.

Mics and speakers

Tuners with an in-built mic can detect an instrument’s tuning naturally. They are useful for tuning different instruments. The ones with in-built amps and speakers can generate sounds that will develop your ears to pick the right intonation.

Frequently Asked Question