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Hello Im new to tuning. I just started about 2 months ago I have learned to detect beats but I have some confusion. When listenng for the beats I hear a few different beats (possibly each harmonic above the fundamental.)If that makes any sense which beat should I listen for.

Also what is the proper way to use the tuning lever. I see some guys moving it in a smooth motion while other tuners use a jerking motion.

Any replies will be appreciated

Tuning is more learning what not to listen to than what to listen to. Sometimes a smoothe motion workd great and other times it takes some jerking. The biggest secret to tuning is practice and the best help you could ever have is to be able to work with a tuner. It's going to be a lot tougher without a mentor.

You need to find which harmonics are nearly coincidental, those would be the ones that produce the beats in that interval.

It might help if you first play the actual notes that would match the nearly coincidental partials to try to listen "where" the beats will be beating.

Greg Seagraves is right, tuning is not easy. Find an experienced tech, get in contact with your local PTG chapter, look for a formal piano technology programme.

First of all in piano terminology we talk about partials not harmonics. That is because the stiffness of piano strings make overtones to have a slightly higher frequency than theoretical harmonics, this phenomenom is known as inharmonicity.

Yes, you hear several beats at once. If you are hearing a major third then you hear only one beat, it is produced by the 5th partial of the lower note and the 4th partial of the upper note.

In a 5th you will hear two different beats, one is produced by the third partial of the lower note and the 2nd partial of the upper note. The other beat you hear is produced by the 6th partial of the lower note and the 4th partial of the upper note. So we talk about 3:2 fifths and 6:4 fifths.

For an octave you can hear several beats: 2:1, 4:2, 6:3, 8:4, 10:5, 12:6, etc.

The most complex interval is obviously the unison because all partials are near coincident: 1:1, 2:2, 3:3, 4:4, 5:5, 6:6, 7:7, 8:8, 9:9, etc. More complex even if you hear three strings sounding at the same time.

For the hammer technique, there are not only two techniques smooth pull and jerking, but I say there are as many techniques as there are tuners. Each tuner has developped his own technique, and even more, each tuner uses different techniques as needed by the particular situation.

There is a very interesting book: Different Strokes. Hammer Techniques for Piano Technicians by Ken Burton RPT.

This book describes in great detail twenty different hammer techniques. Very useful to learn tuning and to achieve stability in your tunings.