I must be accidentally changing the pitch, help.

I have a problem with a previously recorded track somehow increasing in pitch compared to a track I am trying to add. I have not changed the BPM, and -did- check "Preserve pitch when changing rate" (as a precaution). The playback rate is 0.826446, which is apparently the default<?> (I tested this with a new track). I tuned my guitar against 3 different tuners, all of which agreed (I thought perhaps one of them was goofy, explaining the mystery). I always tune prior to each track recording. This has happened with 2 songs (I have only done 2..) The previously recorded track is sharp. I don't know what I am doing wrong. I know it is pretty hard to know what wacky mistake a newbie is making without being there, but I thought I would ask anyway. :) Any suggestion would be appreciated.

This may not solve your issue, but FYI: playback rate is per project, not per track. The default is 1.0. If you start a new project, it should be 1.0.

not sure if it helps but have a look here and here

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I skimmed through those two threads, and will go back and read them more carefully. It is good to know the playback rate is supposed to be 1. I thought 0.826446 sounded a bit too precise, or something. I tried changing the playback to 1 as an experiment. I discovered two things: 1) The metronome beat no longer matched the playback. 2) I wish I really COULD pick that fast. I will start a new recording project and check that this setting starts out at 1, and stays there. Thanks again. If I discover anything useful, I will report back.

Fixed! 

Thanks to your pointing me in the right direction, I found the problem. I was looking at the track properties, where the playback rate was 0.826446 (still don't know how that got there). Changing this did not fix the issue. However- I noticed there is another "Rate" field at the bottom of the track display window (to the right of the BPM field). This was set at 1.21. This must be the field everybody was discussing in those threads. I changed this to 1.0 and -presto- the track's pitch matches my guitar! I noticed the 1.21 setting "stuck" even when I created a new project, so if I had not manually set it back to 1.0, my problem would have carried over from project to project (explaining why I had the same problem in two recordings). Changing this field also affected the metronome, which remained in sync with the recording. The only downside; now I pick even slower than I thought I did..

You're getting closer! I don't think Tracks have their own playrates. Items do. You can, in fact, have several Items on a given track all with different play rates! Each item also has its own Preserve Pitch option. Then there's the master playrate which controls the whole project. This affects everything in the project, and comes after essentially everything else. That is why your metronome runs fast. It is playing at 110, but then the Playrate is speeding it up. The BPM field always tells you what it would be if Playrate was 1. Note also that the Master Playrate also has a Preserve Pitch associated with it. I think if you Right-Click on or near the Playrate field. (?)