How to Tune a Guitar With an Online Tuner

If you want to know how to tune a guitar, open the Guitar Tuner, allow the microphone, and pluck one string at a time, turning its peg until the needle sits in the middle and the note turns green. Work from the thickest string to the thinnest (E, A, D, G, B, E), then go round once more. The whole job takes a couple of minutes.

What you'll need

• A guitar. Acoustic, classical, or electric. An unplugged electric is quiet, so hold it close to the mic.
• A phone, tablet, or laptop with a microphone.
• A quiet room. The tuner listens through an ordinary mic, so background noise makes its job harder.

There is no app to install and no account to create. The first time you press Start, your browser asks for permission to use the microphone. The sound is analysed live, so your audio never leaves your device, and nothing is recorded or stored.

Standard tuning: the six notes

Standard tuning is the set of six notes nearly every chord chart and lesson assumes. Strings are numbered from the thinnest (1st) to the thickest (6th), but you tune in the opposite order.

String	Note	Frequency
6th (thickest)	E2	82.41 Hz
5th	A2	110.00 Hz
4th	D3	146.83 Hz
3rd	G3	196.00 Hz
2nd	B3	246.94 Hz
1st (thinnest)	E4	329.63 Hz

The number after each letter is the octave, so E2 and E4 are the same note name two octaves apart. The frequencies assume A4 = 440 Hz, the usual reference. A low E listed as 41.20 Hz is the bass guitar's E1, an octave below yours.

The tool's Guitar button is selected by default. In that mode it is a standard-tuning guitar tuner: it knows these six notes and nothing else.

How to tune a guitar with a tuner, string by string

1. Check the settings. Leave the instrument on Guitar and the "A4 =" field at 440 Hz unless you're matching an instrument tuned to something else.
2. Press the amber "Start tuner" button and allow the microphone when the browser asks. The hint under the meter changes to "Listening… pluck a single string and let it ring".
3. Pluck the 6th string on its own. Use a medium touch and let it ring. The big readout shows the nearest string's note, with a line under it such as "82.1 Hz · -6 cents".
4. Follow the hint. "Too low — tune up" means tighten the string. "Too high — tune down" means loosen it. Turn the peg a little, pluck again, and watch the needle move toward the centre line.
5. Stop when it goes green. The note name and the needle turn green and the hint reads "In tune" once you are within 5 cents of the target.
6. Repeat for the 5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd and 1st strings. The matching button in the "Strings" row highlights as each one is detected, so you can confirm the tuner is hearing the string you meant to play.
7. Press "Stop tuner" when you're finished. That releases the microphone.

Not sure which peg belongs to which string? Follow the string up to the post it wraps around before you turn anything.

How to read the cents needle

A cent is one hundredth of a semitone, and a semitone is the distance from one fret to the next. There are 1,200 cents in an octave. The guide to semitones and cents has the background.

The meter runs from ♭ −50 on the left to +50 ♯ on the right, with a line in the centre for the exact note.

• Needle left of centre, negative number: the string is flat (too low). Tighten.
• Needle right of centre, positive number: the string is sharp (too high). Loosen.
• Needle on the centre line and green: you are within 5 cents either way. Move on.

Read the sustained note, not the pluck. A string reads slightly sharp in the first moment after you hit it and then settles as it rings. The tuner updates several times a second and smooths its readings, but you will still see a small swing at the start. Wait a moment, then judge.

Don't chase zero. HyperPhysics gives the smallest pitch difference people can hear as around 5 cents, and it varies with the listener and the note. A needle hovering at +2 or −3 is a guitar in tune. A ringing string never holds perfectly still, so trying to pin the display at 0 wastes time.

If the needle is stuck hard against one end, the string is more than 50 cents out. The hint changes to "Far too low — tighten the string" or "Far too high — loosen the string".

Why you tune up to pitch

Always arrive at the note from below. If a string is sharp, loosen it until it reads flat, then tighten back up to the centre.

The reason is in the tuning machine. There is a little dead space between its gear teeth, called backlash. Tightening presses the gears together under load. Loosen down to a note and stop, and the gear can be left sitting in that slack, so the string creeps flat as you play. Taylor's beginner tuning guide gives the same advice, and Taylor's Andy Powers explains the gear behaviour in Premier Guitar.

Second pass, and using the reference tones by ear

Once all six strings are green, go round again. Changing the tension on one string changes the load on the neck and bridge, which shifts the others slightly. The second pass is usually small corrections.

The row labelled "Strings — tap to hear the reference note" plays each string's target pitch, and it works without the microphone. Tap E2, A2, D3, G3, B3 or E4 and the tool plays that pitch for about three seconds; tap again to stop it early. To practise by ear, play the tone, pluck the string, and adjust until the two sound like one note.

If you have no tuner at all, the 5th-fret method gets the guitar in tune with itself:

• 6th string, fret 5 = open 5th string (A)
• 5th string, fret 5 = open 4th string (D)
• 4th string, fret 5 = open 3rd string (G)
• 3rd string, fret 4 = open 2nd string (B)
• 2nd string, fret 5 = open 1st string (E)

The G string is the odd one out at fret 4. This method is relative only: if the 6th string starts flat, the whole guitar ends up flat by the same amount, which matters as soon as you play with someone else.

Troubleshooting

The tuner shows nothing, or stays on "Listening…"

The tuner ignores sound that is too quiet to trust. Move the guitar closer to the mic and pluck a bit harder. If nothing changes, check that your microphone isn't muted. If the tuner never started and shows an error instead, the browser has blocked microphone access for the page. The Mic Test shows whether any input is reaching the browser at all. The display also clears after about a second of silence, so let the string ring.

It shows the wrong string, or the needle is pinned

In Guitar mode the tuner snaps to the nearest open string. A string that is a long way out can sit closer to its neighbour's note than its own. A very slack 5th string, for example, can read as E2 with "Far too high — loosen the string", which is the opposite of what it needs.

Tap the string's button to hear the target and bring the string roughly into range by ear. Or switch to Chromatic, which shows the note the string is actually producing, get it to the right note name, then go back to Guitar for the fine work.

The reading jumps around

• Rest your fretting hand across the other five strings so only one rings.
• Pluck more gently, near the 12th fret.
• Turn off any background noise.

It goes out of tune again quickly

New strings stretch. How long they take to settle depends on who you ask, anywhere from minutes of playing to a few days, and nylon strings take longer than steel.

Temperature and humidity changes also shift tuning. If the guitar has just come in from outside, let it acclimate to the room and then tune. For storage, Taylor recommends keeping an acoustic at 45 to 55% relative humidity.

In tune open, but chords sound off higher up the neck

That is intonation, not tuning. Check it by playing the harmonic at the 12th fret, then fretting the same string at the 12th fret. Per Fender's Intonation 101, the two notes should match. If the fretted note is clearly off on the tuner, the guitar needs a setup, which is a repair-shop job for most players.

Related

Playing a uke as well? How to Tune a Uke With an Online Ukulele Tuner covers GCEA tuning and why a low-G string needs Chromatic mode. For bowed strings, How to Tune a Violin: Online Violin Tuner Guide covers GDAE tuning, pegs versus fine tuners, and bringing a string up without snapping it.

The "A4 =" field exists because 440 Hz is a convention. What Is Concert Pitch? explains A440 and when you would change it. The tuner accepts 415 to 466 Hz, and the reference tones follow the setting.

For timing practice, set a click with the free metronome. If a song is too fast to learn at full speed, see how to slow down music to practice an instrument.

If a song sits in an awkward key for your voice, how to transpose a song for capo covers the arithmetic. More walkthroughs are in the audio how-to guides.

Frequently asked questions

What notes are guitar strings tuned to?

In standard tuning the six strings are E, A, D, G, B and E, from the thickest (6th) string to the thinnest (1st). With A4 set to 440 Hz, those notes are E2 at 82.41 Hz, A2 at 110.00 Hz, D3 at 146.83 Hz, G3 at 196.00 Hz, B3 at 246.94 Hz and E4 at 329.63 Hz. Almost all chord charts and lessons assume this tuning.

Which way do I turn the tuning peg?

It depends on how your guitar's headstock is laid out, so there is no single direction that works for every instrument. Pluck the string, turn the peg a small amount, and watch the tuner. If the needle moves right or the pitch rises, you are tightening. If it moves left or the pitch drops, you are loosening. Tightening always raises the pitch.

Are online guitar tuners accurate?

A good online guitar tuner is accurate enough for tuning at home. The Vocal Cut tuner works out pitch on your device and shows it to the nearest cent, which is finer than most ears can hear. Its weak point is the microphone, which hears the room as well as the guitar. In a quiet space that is fine. On a loud stage or in a rehearsal, a clip-on tuner that senses vibration through the headstock is the better choice.

How often should I tune my guitar?

Check the tuning every time you pick the guitar up, and again during a long session if chords start to sound sour. Strings drift with playing, string bends, and changes in temperature and humidity. New strings need retuning much more often until they finish stretching. A quick check with a tuner takes well under a minute once you are used to it.

Can I tune to drop D or other tunings with an online tuner?

Yes, by switching the tuner to Chromatic mode. Guitar mode only knows standard tuning (E A D G B E) and snaps every reading to one of those six strings. Chromatic mode shows whichever note the string is nearest to, so for drop D you lower the 6th string until it reads D2, one whole step below E2, and leave the other five strings in standard.