How tight is the low e string meant to be?

It should not get tight enough to break when you are tuning. It sounds like you may be going past tune and not realizing it. Try loosening it and go up very slowly. I would do it with an electronic tuner to make sure.

Welcome to GN

Make sure you are in the right octave. There should be a refernce pitch around somewhere.
Try here
http://guitar.about.com/library/weekly/aa_tuning_guitar_2.htm

hi there
i do use an electric tuner, but it seems to get very tight when i reach the pitch of the 4D string; the next one up is the 6E but it it sometimes breaks just as your about to get the right note...i have no [problems with any of the other strings..just this thick e string

something is amiss here, i've never heard of low Es breaking.
have you tried a pitch pipe?

welcome to GN

Make sure you are in the right octave. There should be a refernce pitch around somewhere.
Try here
http://guitar.about.com/library/weekly/aa_tuning_guitar_2.htm

What a nice link and i love all the mp3s especially of strumming by dan cross.

Go for it.If my guitar goes out of tune , i listen to this one on the cd and bingo :)

And Welcome To GN ,

Rahul

something is amiss here, i've never heard of low Es breaking.
have you tried a pitch pipe?

welcome to GN

It's hard, but I think I manage to do it once, hmm, might have been on the junker with a bent neck when I really didn't know what I was doing.

If it's a new guitar, it's probably just a problem with the octave. I had a horrible time tuning when I started. It does get easier with practice. :)

edited to add
If it is an electric, there could be a burr or it's sticking in the nut, does it break consistently near any location?

something is amiss here, i've never heard of low Es breaking.
have you tried a pitch pipe?

welcome to GN

It's hard, but I think I manage to do it once, hmm, might have been on the junker with a bent neck when I really didn't know what I was doing.

If it's a new guitar, it's probably just a problem with the octave. I had a horrible time tuning when I started. It does get easier with practice. :)

i'm sure that if the neck wasn't warped when you started that it probably was afterwords, i just can't imagine getting a low E that tight :?

:D Hey, what can I say, I was never meant to play the guitar, it hasn't stopped me trying....

hi there
i do use an electric tuner, but it seems to get very tight when i reach the pitch of the 4D string; the next one up is the 6E but it it sometimes breaks just as your about to get the right note...i have no [problems with any of the other strings..just this thick e string

As everybody else has missed it, the 6E string is not supposed to be at a higher pitch than the 4D string - that's why it's breaking; you are trying to tune it an octave higher than it should be.

The 6th string, fingered at the 10th fret, should sound the same as the open 4th string.

Best,

A :-)

Loosen that string till it rattles againts the frets when you pick it(slight bit of tension), it should be loose, then slowly being it to E with a tuner.

Yeah, sound like tuning to the wrong octave.

hello everyone..
let me clarify...firstly i am talking about electric guitars..i have had 3 guitars in about a year; i have no problem stringing it up or tuning the first 5 strings perfectly with my electric tuner. when i string the 6E string and start tuning, it usually starts on the 5A on the electric tuner, then to 7B, then to 4A then to 6E. howver when it usually gets to 4A it seems like its very tight aready, and its usually 50-50 as to whether it will break before getting to the 6E. However if i do manage to tune it to the 6E it sounds perfect with all the other strings and during play it is never that string that breaks. it just seems to me it shouldnt be that tight.

Sorry, it's hard to get all the necessary info when doing this online... Does it break in the same place? burrs and sticky nut slots can be a problem.
The term E6 makes no sense to me, it's certainly not the notation GuitarPro uses.

it usually breaks from the stringpost..when i say 6E i mean the thick e string...also also im not to sure when you say its tuned to the wrong octave, cause when it does tune perfectly it sounds like it should sound with all the strings (if that makes any sense)

It's possible to be in tune, but to be in the wrong octave
The musical scale is a repeating pattern of notes
A B C D E F G A in the second octave or an octave higher than the first A
The sixth (thickest) E string should sound 2 octaves lower than the high E (thinnest). Without being able to hear it we can tell without asking, and it is a common mistake.

Examine the area around the stringpost for metal burrs and gently rub the string in the slot to see if passes smoothly. I once broke the 3rd string because it wasx binding up in the nut slot.