A more
accurate way to tune a
guitar than with the frets is with
natural harmonics.
Frets are inherently slightly inaccurate, and can give you a slightly out of tune note.
Harmonics are dependent only on string
tension, not the frets at all, and so are a much more accurate way of tuning. Also, you can hit the harmonic and take your
hand away, so you can tune while the
note is still playing.
To tune with harmonics, for strings 3, 4, and 5, the harmonic at the 7th fret is the same note as the harmonic at the 5th fret of the
string above it. So if you want to tune the 5th string, hit the 7th fret harmonic on the 5th string and the 5th fret harmonic on the 6th string. These notes should be the
same. To tune the 2nd string, use the 8th fret harmonic on the 6th string. Those should be the same note, or possibly an octave apart, I can't remember. The 1st string can just be tuned to the bottom string since they are the same note 2 octaves apart.
That said, I usually tune my guitar with frets because I have a lousy
ear and I find it difficult to tune higher pitches, so it's more difficult for me to tune the harmonics which are much higher pitched and I don't care that much if I'm a little out of tune when I'm just
practicing. Of course, you can avoid all this by buying yourself a
tuner which costs about
10 bucks and will give you accurate tuning as long as it has
batteries.