Before you can play a guitar, you’ll need to check its strings to see if they’re in tune first. Guitar strings go out of tune for all sorts of reasons—new strings may need time to break in and settle into their proper tension, playing the guitar changes the temperature of the wood and strings, the tuning pegs might slip—so most of the time, you’ll probably need to tune it again. 

It’s normal to take time to tune a guitar, just like it’s normal to warm up before a run or a basketball game. In fact, it’s the same for many aspects of life. Derek Sivers shares this guitar analogy about adopting new mindsets in his book, Useful not True; tuning the guitar, in a mindset perspective, looks something like, “Every week, back in the journal, reflecting, talking with friends, and making adjustments.”

We’re all sold a story of, “Happily ever after,” or, “Set it and forget it,” but that’s not how most things work. If you want to make a change, you won’t often do it in one setting; it’ll take many tries, probably daily, and you won’t always succeed. That’s normal too. When something sounds out of tune, it’s probably a good idea to tune it.