How to tune a violin with these tones
- Press A4 to hear the A at 440 Hz, and play or pluck the open A string while the tone sounds. If you hear the loudness wobble, the string is slightly off; the faster the wobble, the further off it is.
- Adjust the A string until the wobble stops. If your violin has fine tuners on the tailpiece, use them for small corrections and the peg only when a string is far off.
- Press D4, G3 and E5 in turn and tune each string the same way. Pressing the button that is playing stops the tone.
The tones are pure sine waves: without harmonics of their own, they only beat against your string’s fundamental, so you hear one wobble rather than several. Set the volume so the tone and the string sound about equally loud.
Equal temperament or pure fifths
| String | Equal temperament (piano) | Pure fifths from A 440 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| G3 | 196.00 Hz | 195.56 Hz | 3.9 cents lower |
| D4 | 293.66 Hz | 293.33 Hz | 2.0 cents lower |
| A4 | 440.00 Hz | 440.00 Hz | none |
| E5 | 659.26 Hz | 660.00 Hz | 2.0 cents higher |
A cent is a hundredth of a semitone. A pure fifth has frequencies in the ratio 3:2, so a string tuned in pure fifths below A 440 lands at 440 × 2/3 = 293.33 Hz (D) and then 293.33 × 2/3 = 195.56 Hz (G), while the E above is 440 × 3/2 = 660 Hz. A piano divides the octave into twelve equal semitones instead, which makes each of its fifths about 2 cents narrower than pure. The error adds up away from the A: the G string ends up twice as far from the piano as the D.
To check a pure fifth without the tones, bow two neighbouring strings together. When the fifth is pure, the sound is smooth and steady; a slow beat in it means one string needs adjusting, and the beat slows as you get closer.
Related pages
Viola and cello are tuned in fifths as well, and any of their notes can be played on the tone generator by typing the note name, such as C3, into the Note box. Fretted instruments use equal temperament: see the guitar tuning and ukulele tuning tones.