Violin Tuner: Tune G D A E With Your Mic

Yes. It is free, needs no account or download, and works in any current browser on a phone, tablet or computer.

No. The sound is analysed live inside your browser and discarded straight away. Nothing is recorded, stored or uploaded.

Yes. On a clean, sustained note the reading is steady to about a cent, and a string counts as in tune within 5 cents. Bowed notes give the steadiest reading. If the needle jumps, play a little louder, keep the bow speed even and stop the other strings ringing.

Tune to whatever your teacher or ensemble uses. 440 Hz is the standard reference and the default here; many orchestras use 442 Hz. Type the number in the A4 box (430 to 450 Hz) and the targets for G, D and E move with it.

Yes. Open this page on your phone, allow the microphone and stand the phone on a music stand about half a metre away, so both hands are free for the bow and the fine tuners. Tap a string button to hear its reference note if you want to tune by ear.

Press Start Tuning and allow the microphone. Tune the A string first, the note orchestras tune to, then D, G and E. Bow each string with a steady, medium-weight stroke near the middle of the bow, or pluck it, and watch the needle: left of centre is flat, right of centre is sharp. Use the fine tuners on the tailpiece for small corrections of a few cents. Use the pegs only when a string is well off: turn the peg a tiny amount while pressing it gently into the pegbox, so it grips and does not slip back.

Violin standard tuning, low to high: G3 (196.00 Hz), D4 (293.66 Hz), A4 (440.00 Hz), E5 (659.26 Hz), each string a perfect fifth above the last. The viola keeps the lower three and adds a C below: C3 (130.81 Hz), G3, D4, A4. The cello sounds an octave below the viola: C2 (65.41 Hz), G2 (98.00 Hz), D3 (146.83 Hz), A3 (220.00 Hz). Choose Viola or Cello above to tune those, and the string buttons play each open string's note.

Many orchestras tune their A a little higher than 440 Hz, commonly 442 Hz and in some places 443 Hz. Set the A4 box to match your ensemble and every string target follows. Fiddlers use cross tunings such as A E A E (A3 E4 A4 E5) and G D G D, which ring with open strings in one key, and Bach's fifth cello suite asks for the A string tuned down to G. For these, switch to Chromatic and tune each string to its new note.

A peg that slips needs pushing a little further into the pegbox as you turn it; a peg that sticks or jumps can be eased with peg compound. If a fine tuner is screwed all the way in, back it out to the middle of its travel and bring the string up with the peg instead. Watch the bridge as you tune: tightening strings pulls its top towards the fingerboard. Its back, the side facing the tailpiece, should stay at right angles to the top of the violin. If it leans forward, ask a teacher or luthier to straighten it, because a leaning bridge can warp or fall. Tuning by ear in pure fifths from the A leaves the D about 2 cents and the G about 4 cents below the tuner's equal-tempered notes, and the E about 2 cents above. Both are right: match the tuner to play with a piano, and pure fifths sound sweet alone or in a quartet.

No. The free tools need no account and no download. They run in your browser, and nothing you play or drop in is uploaded.

Yes, in any current mobile browser. MIDI keyboards and pad controllers need Chrome, Edge or Opera, on a computer or an Android phone.

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