So I just picked up my guitar again after a busy semester of college and I tried strumming some chords. Even though my guitar is in tune and I am playing the right notes, my tuners are saying that the A chord sounds like an E.
For reference, the notes I am playing are: A, E, A, C#, E, and I’m starting from the A string. My tuners are a Snark Super Tight tuner and a built in tuner to my Alvarez guitar.
Also, I am a complete beginner, so I don’t know many technical details about the guitar. Thank you!
Edit: It seems that I have misunderstood the purpose of tuners a bit. Thank you for the replies, they have been very helpful.
A tuner will single out a note, it can’t detect chords. In this case it picked up the e note, maybe it was just louder than the others, or it was the last note sounded when you strum.
Most clip on tuners are great at tuning a single string at a time, some will show you how they are relative to each other, but all can throw a wobbly if something isn’t quite right.
Playing a Chord whilst using my Polytune (TC Electronics) will usually show the root note, but only if I play it correctly!
Everything from ensuring you play each string (and miss those that should not be played) to the power you put into each string is going to affect what shows up on the tuner.
The other thing I have found is that ensuring everything about the guitar is ok makes a difference.
Often, after not playing for a while the strings may jam in the nut, or they may be a bit tired and need replacing can make even a single string note jump all over the place.
A simple starting place would be to slacken the strings slightly, pull the string out of the nut slot and rub a pencil in the nut slot (the nut is the bit near the head, where the strings rest) and then put the string back.
Tune it again, play some stuff, stretch the strings slightly (just find a video about how to do ‘Bends’ on the JG’s website - that will do fine) and retune.
Some tuners are designed to recognize chords. My Unitune will. Your snark probably won’t so it’s maybe picking up the last E? Also, if you notice your tuner not picking up individual notes accurately it could be time for a new battery.
Everything’s in tune. That’s the first thing I check every time I practice. I think I just misunderstood that a tuner doesn’t pick up chords, but just individual notes. Thank you.