thanks jake, with a little help from my electronic tuner and help from you i figured it out. i noticed where the needle on my tuner was when i fretted the low E on the 11th fret, and then tuned the E string to the same frequency. i was having a hard time hearing the E flat (how do you make that special symbol?) played on the A or D string and transfering it to the E.
is there ever a case when you would tune up half a step?