Bicycle Mechanics - Wheel Retruing Question

I'm retruing my rear wheel and while I have previously done this and know the concept I can't figure out which way to turn the spokes to loosen/tighten.Can someone give me a frame of reference for this ie. clockwise/counterclockwise while on left/right while nipple is on top/bottom of circumference etc.The website I previously used for advice is no longer available and others I have checked simply say tighten/loosen without any detail.

If you have your tire off of the wheel and are looking at the nipple head you will see a screwdriver slot in them. If you use that as a reference, turn just like a normal screw, right/tight.
If you put a spoke wrench on the nipple when you do that, it will show the direction to tighten or loosen.

Hope this helps, have a good weekend.

It took me awhile to get the hang of this too.

Think of the nipple on the spoke like a nut on a bolt however, you turn the nipple in the opposite direction to tighten it. This is because you want the nipple to "climb" the threads of the spoke to pull it tighter.

Or...

Put the wheel in a truing in stand or turn your bike upside down. Turn the nipples to the left to tighten them and right to loosen them.

"Lefty loosey, Righty tighty". Works for most regular nuts and bolts, however like I said in this case it's the opposite.

Am I making any sense??

turn the wheel so that the nipple you wish to tighten is at 12 o'clock

hold a bolt with nut on it up beside the spoke

turn the nut on the bolt. observe the position of the nut on the bolt


the nut goes up on the bolt (left = loose)

the nut goes down on the bolt (right = tight)

the nipple is a "nut"

the spoke is a "bolt"

easy, huh?

Thanks for all the advice.walts tip got me on the right track unfortunately I had gotten the tightness off so much and as I was improvising using a pair of vice grips instead of spoke wrench the result was I busted a spoke (of course on rear drive side) and ended up getting a mechanic to replace spoke ,retrue,adjust brake cable ,adjust stuck handlebars and lube all for 12 dollars which I thought was a good deal.As I watched and asked questions now I know how to do these jobs correctly and exactly what tools I will need(freewheel not cassette)

Remember you are turning the nut (nipple), not the bolt (spoke). Pretend to take a screwdriver, and strick it through the tire to the back side of the nipple. Now, think of tightening the tension by turning the nipple clockwise. Or, loosen tension by turning the screwdriver counter-clockwise. See more at http://www.parktool.com/repair_help/howfix_truing.shtml