How to use the guitar tuner
- Press Start tuner and allow microphone access when your browser asks. On a laptop, the built-in mic works fine; with an electric guitar, hold the phone or laptop near the amp's speaker.
- Pick your instrument and tuning. The page starts on a six-string guitar in standard tuning (E A D G B E).
- Pluck one open string and let it ring. The tuner finds the nearest string of the tuning by itself, shows its name, the frequency it hears and how many cents it is off.
- Turn that string's peg the way the tuner says: Tune up tightens the string to raise the pitch, Tune down loosens it. Stop when the needle rests in the green zone and the string's dot turns green.
- Go through every string, then check them all once more: changing one string's tension pulls slightly on the neck and the others.
Reading the needle and the strobe
The big letter is the string the tuner thinks you are playing. Below it, the cents reading says how far off it is: −12¢ means 12 hundredths of a semitone flat. The needle covers ±50 cents, half a fret either way. Green means within ±3 cents, amber within ±10, red further away. When a string is more than a semitone off, the hint switches to semitones ("Tune down 2 semitones"), which is what you see after switching to a tuning like Drop D.
The striped band under the needle works like a strobe tuner: it drifts right when the string is sharp, left when it is flat, and the slower it drifts the closer you are. When it stands still, the string is in tune. Turn the peg slowly near the end: the needle follows a fraction of a second behind the string.
Standard tuning frequencies
| String | Note | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | E2 | 82.41 Hz |
| 5 | A2 | 110.00 Hz |
| 4 | D3 | 146.83 Hz |
| 3 | G3 | 196.00 Hz |
| 2 | B3 | 246.94 Hz |
| 1 | E4 | 329.63 Hz |
The tuner works from the A4 reference you set (440 Hz unless you change it) and equal temperament, so each string's target is the same note a piano or keyboard would play. A440 is the international standard pitch (ISO 16), and if you play along with an instrument tuned a little higher, such as an orchestra at 442 Hz, set the reference to match.
Alternate tunings, other instruments
The tuning menu has Drop D, half step down, DADGAD, open G, open D and open E. Choosing one changes the targets, and the tuner tells you which way and how far to move each string. The instrument menu adds 4- and 5-string bass, ukulele (high G, low G, D tuning and baritone), violin, viola and cello, and a chromatic mode that names any note: use it for instruments not on the list or to check a single note.
Tips for a steady reading
- One string at a time. Mute the others with the side of your hand; two ringing strings confuse any tuner.
- Pluck with the fleshy part of your thumb, near the 12th fret. A hard pick attack reads sharp for an instant before it settles.
- Tune up to the note. Many players finish every string by tightening: if a string is sharp, loosen it below the note, then bring it back up.
- Lock a string with its button when the room is noisy or the string is far off; Auto goes back to following what you play.
- Hear the note. Press Play to hear the target string from your speakers and tune by ear. While the reference tone plays, the tuner doesn't count readings, since your mic hears the tone too. For sustained tones in any tuning, the guitar tuning tones page plays every string's note.
Nothing leaves your device
The tuner listens through your browser's microphone access and finds the pitch on your device; no sound is recorded or uploaded. If the meter doesn't move, check your microphone with the mic test. Once you are in tune, practise along with the virtual piano or find a song's tempo with the BPM finder.