Free online guitar tuner

Standard guitar tuning: notes and frequencies

Standard tuning, from the thickest string (6) to the thinnest (1), is E A D G B E. The table gives each string's note with its octave and the frequency the tuner aims for when A4 is 440 Hz.

To remember the order from low to high, many players use "Eddie Ate Dynamite, Good Bye Eddie".

How to tune your guitar with this tuner

1. 1

   Start the tuner

   Press Start tuner and allow the microphone. On a phone, hold it near the soundhole or the amp. The sound stays on your device.

2. 2

   Pick your instrument and tuning

   Choose guitar, bass, or ukulele, then a tuning. Standard is selected first; the list also has Drop D, Drop C, DADGAD, open tunings, and 7-string.

3. 3

   Play one string

   Pluck a single open string and let it ring. Rest your fretting hand lightly on the other strings so the tuner hears one note. It works out which string you played.

4. 4

   Follow the arrow

   Tune up means the string is flat, so tighten it. Tune down means it is sharp, so loosen it. Stop when the marker sits in the green center and the string gets a check mark.

5. 5

   Check every string twice

   Tightening one string pulls on the neck and moves the others a little, more so after a big change such as Drop C. Go across all strings a second time.

Changing to a new tuning? Tap the string you are about to tune first. The tuner then aims for that string's new note, even when the string starts several notes away and sounds closer to a different string.

How to tune a guitar by ear

No microphone, or a noisy room? Tap a string in the tuner to hear its note and match your string to it. To tune the strings to each other, use the fifth fret method:

1. Tune the 6th string (low E) to a reference: the tuner's E2 note, a piano, or another instrument.
2. Press the 6th string at the 5th fret. That note is A: tune the open 5th string until the two match.
3. Press the 5th string at the 5th fret and tune the open 4th string (D) to it. Then do the same from the 4th string to the open 3rd string (G).
4. Press the 3rd string at the 4th fret, not the 5th, and tune the open 2nd string (B) to it.
5. Press the 2nd string at the 5th fret and tune the open 1st string (high E) to it.

When two notes are close but not the same, you hear a slow wobble in the sound. Keep turning the peg the same way until the wobble stops.

Alternate guitar tunings

Every guitar tuning in the tuner, with notes from the 6th string to the 1st. Select Tune to load one into the tuner above.

• StandardE A D G B E

  The default for almost every song, lesson, and tab.

  Tune

• Drop DD A D G B E

  Only the low E drops to D, for heavier riffs and one-finger power chords on the bottom strings.

  Tune

• Half Step DownE♭ A♭ D♭ G♭ B♭ E♭

  Every string a semitone lower, for a looser feel and a darker sound. Common in rock and blues.

  Tune

• Drop C#C♯ G♯ C♯ F♯ A♯ D♯

  Half step down with the low string dropped a further whole step. Heavy rock and metal.

  Tune

• D StandardD G C F A D

  Every string a whole step lower. A heavier tone, and bends come easier.

  Tune

• Drop CC G C F A D

  D standard with the low string dropped to C. A staple of metal and hard rock.

  Tune

• Drop BB F♯ B E G♯ C♯

  Lower again, for modern metal on a six-string. Heavier strings keep it from feeling loose.

  Tune

• DADGADD A D G A D

  Open, ringing chords that suit folk and fingerstyle.

  Tune

• Open GD G D G B D

  The open strings form a G chord. A favorite for slide and rock and roll rhythm.

  Tune

• Open DD A D F♯ A D

  The open strings form a D chord. Slide guitar and folk.

  Tune

• Open EE B E G♯ B E

  The open strings form an E chord. Slide guitar, with more string tension than Open D.

  Tune

• Open CC G C G C E

  A wide, deep open C chord for fingerstyle and ambient playing.

  Tune

• 7-String StandardB E A D G B E

  Standard tuning with an extra low B string.

  Tune

Drop D and Drop C, string by string

Both start from standard tuning. Drop D changes one string. Drop C lowers every string a whole step, then the 6th string one step further. Highlighted notes are the ones that change.

Bass and ukulele tuning

A 4-string bass is tuned E A D G, an octave below the four lowest guitar strings. A 5-string bass adds a low B, at 30.87 Hz. Pick Bass in the tuner for 4, 5, and 6 strings and for Drop D.

Soprano, concert, and tenor ukuleles are tuned G C E A, with the G string higher than the C. Low G tuning moves that string down an octave, and a baritone ukulele is tuned D G B E, like the top four guitar strings. All three are under Ukulele in the tuner.

Open the bass tunerOpen the ukulele tuner

Why your guitar goes out of tune

New strings stretch

Fresh strings keep dropping in pitch for the first day or two. Tune, gently pull each string away from the fretboard, and tune again.

Temperature and humidity

Wood and metal move with the weather. A guitar carried from a cold car into a warm room drifts until it settles, so give it a few minutes before you tune.

Tuning down to the note

If a string is sharp, lower it below the note and bring it back up. The string and gear settle under tension and hold the pitch longer.

Strings slipping

Too few turns around the tuning post, or a string not seated at the bridge, lets it creep flat. Two or three turns on the post are usually enough.

Open strings in tune, chords not

If every open string reads in tune but fretted notes sound off, the cause is intonation or high action rather than tuning. A setup at a guitar shop fixes it.

Guitar tuner FAQ

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