I know this is an old topic but, I was watching this video of Mollie Tuttle and Tommy Emmanuele this evening and one of the the things they said reminded me of this discussion. I wanted to share.
So at about 10:20 seconds or just after they discuss it. Its worth a listen. The whole interview and also the other parts of the longer interview are fantastic.
I caught Tommy and Molly on tour last year and they were very entertaining 
The two things that caught my ear even more than the tuning was the importance of 'the grooveā or timing, and above all practice. Tommy says youāll notice yourself getting a lot better when you practice more than four hours a day 
The biggist takeaway is when Molly says donāt practice out of tune because it gets in your head. There are a few people here take post videos that are very out of tune and when you mention it they get all pissy and insist they are in tune.
This is because they play out of tune all the time and have gotten used to it.
My ear will adapt very quickly. I need to maintain good tuning or I can not notice.
I missed the original post when it came out. That video was pretty funny! I can notice my guitar when one string is out of tune from the others, but if everything was a 1/4 step low - maybe even a half step, Iād never know it until I heard it with a backing track or looked at a tuner. I also notice that string bends are better when my ear is freshly hearing it, if I practice too many times, I get sloppy and donāt notice.
I must have missed thoseā¦ 
I can only recall one person ever being called out for playing out of tune and that was when Justin pulled me up. I hope I wasnāt āpissyā 
I alone have spoken to at least 5 people about it and sometimes several times (Iām not including the people who go out of tune by pressing the strings too hardā¦becauseā¦wellā¦me too 
) ā¦ and not everyone responds equally well 
Greetings and please tune your guitar if you are going to play it 
Woah!
I stand corrected
Now Iām wondering if Iām one of those guysā¦ 
ā¦Yyyyyyye ā¦noooo
But I once spoke to you about it when you said that you usually donāt tune your guitar, and that is a big risk as Rick describesā¦
But posting a video with a guitar out of tune should be 2 strike is out (in my head and comment though )
Have a great Saturday eveningā¦Iām going to wrap up here
Not everything is about you Brian.
Good share. Musicians can hear out of tune a mile away. lol. Sometimes I make a chord out of tune by poor finger placement on the fretboard. Either way everyone can tell when something sounds terrible. At least Iād hope so.
I would love to see them. How fantastic that you had a chance to see them olay live.
What really struck me is they look like they are having a blast togeather. I also thought it was very classy of Tommy in this and the other videos of the series of how he would defer to Molly more times than not. They both are so talented and have really great and solid tips. He just seems to have a love for playing.
Donāt hesitate to mention any constructive criticism to me. I dont have any problem with having stuff mentioned to me, especially if it helps.
I have been playing a lot in drop tuning lately and wow, makes a big difference I the necessity of having to record and keep that tuner on the head stock.
Thank you. Tuttle is great, I only found her looking for different ways to play the classic hippy song White Rabbit. I still have not found anything better than the original but hers style is really great in itself.
Interesting, Very Interesting.
I agree that playing āin tuneā is important, especially if the player is playing solo. Campfire songs arenāt really as fun if the guitar is off-key!
In a band setting however, I find it difficult to aurally pick out a certain instrument & decide if itās in tune or not. This would even be true of the backup vocalistsā¦ if one of a group of three backup dingers was off, I wouldnāt necessarily notice.
SIDEBAR -
A few years ago I found out that one of my coworkers was a gigging Jazz trumpet player. He & another controller had a band & did the local bar circuit on weekends. The only Jazz group Iād heard of in town was a group calling themselves āThe Jazzmeistersā. Asked my buddy if that was who he played with. His replyā¦ āThose guys! No way! THEIR trumpeter plays a trumpet thatās OUT OF TUNE! I canāt believe anyone goes to see them!!!ā
Trumpet?
Out of tune?
How the hell are you supposed to tune a trumpet?
Guitar, bass, violinā¦ sure. But, TRUMPET?
Might have been fun to watch Beato sit through one of their jam sessions!!! 
Tod
Yeah, thatās not going to happen.
Just a shot in the dark here: could it be the way you mention it?
Probably the playerās embouchure was not good enough to play the correct pitches.
Also, Wikipedia says that āA trumpet becomes a closed tube when the player presses it to the lips; therefore, the instrument only naturally produces every other overtone of the harmonic series. The shape of the bell makes the missing overtones audible Most notes in the series are slightly out of tune and modern trumpets have slide mechanisms for the first and third valves with which the player can compensate by throwing (extending) or retracting one or both slides, using the left thumb and ring finger for the first and third valve slides respectively.ā
As I understand it, this sort of tuning can be done while playing and Iām sure that also requires practice.
Good to know! I love little āfactoidsā like this!
Thanks!
Tod
How else would you mention it? Your guitar is out of tune. Thatās it.
Not criticizing here or anythingā¦
butā¦
thereās a difference between FACT & TACT.
I sometimes read a response to someoneās post & think āMy feelings would be hurt by that responseā. That being said, I almost never feel that the fact was intended to be hurtful or that someone is being āflamedāā¦ still, a more tactful response might be taken more in the spirit in which itās being offeredā¦
My 2 cents, pesos, pence, rials, yen ā¦ you get the drift!
Tod
I donāt know, but I can think of ways that are helpful and constructive, and ways that are rude and abrasive. Or ones that are neutral and factual, like you mentioned. But there are clearly more than one way, and different ways are likely to bring different reactions.
@CATMAN62 @markr31
I agree with you both. If we were talking about someoneās singing, timing, finger placement causing poor chords, that sort of thing, of course a bit of tact is required and youād give advice in a way thatās not going to hurt feelings.
But we are talking about guitars being out of tune here, a thing that is not dependant on a natural ability or skill level.
So to tell someone in a direct way that their guitar is out of tune seems reasonable to me.
You also have to take into account how well āknownā to each other the posters are. Some of us here are thick skinned and enjoy a bit of banter with our virtual friends.