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We always carry our phones in our pockets, and there’s a musical curiosity in them that almost nobody notices. For a musician, it can even come in handy. At least it did for me.
Two broken strings and no tuner
I was about to start a rehearsal when I noticed that two of my guitar strings had given up the ghost.
Since the others weren’t in great shape either, I changed the whole set. The problem came next: I didn’t have a tuner with me. I tuned by ear and the guitar sounded acceptable, but I knew it wasn’t in standard tuning. Maybe a little flat… or almost there? It certainly wasn’t perfect.
I needed a reference note. And that’s when I remembered the ringback tone on my phone.
Back then there were no smartphones with tuner apps: I had one of those phones from the age of the dinosaurs.
The ringback tone is (almost) an A
When we make a call, we hear that sound telling us the call is going through. I already knew that sound was a musical note, and which one. I made a call with a single goal — and there it was: the sixth note of the C major scale, my much-needed A. Listen:
With that reference I tuned the A string (the 5th string, counting from the thinnest to the thickest) and, from it, all the others.
The picture is labelled in Portuguese: string 1 = E (Mi), 2 = B (Si), 3 = G (Sol), 4 = D (Ré), 5 = A (Lá), 6 = E (Mi).
A note of honesty: I later checked, and the ringback tone used in Portugal, and in most of Europe, is 425 Hz, slightly below the reference A, which is 440 Hz. In other words, the guitar didn’t end up in standard tuning, but it was in tune with itself — and it saved the rehearsal. These tones vary from country to country, so the trick doesn’t work everywhere.
When I tell this story to students, the reactions range from “who would even think of that?” to “this guy has a screw loose”. Maybe. But anyone who spends their life in the world of sound starts hearing music everywhere: in the wind, in the waves, in cars, in kids playing football… and in the tick-tock of the kitchen clock.
Bonus: the kitchen clock is a metronome
One “tick” per second is 60 beats per minute (BPM). If you need to practice a slow song and can’t sleep, now you know: late at night, with the house silent, you can rehearse to the sound of the clock. I take no responsibility for any family “damage”.
Tuning guide to download
Above you’ll find a short PDF guide on tuning and the different types of tuners (in Portuguese). These days, of course, the most practical thing is to use a tuner app on your phone — but the curiosity remains.
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