The best guitar tuning apps. Best Guitar Tuning Apps Tune the first string of your guitar online sound

The best guitar tuning apps.  Best Guitar Tuning Apps Tune the first string of your guitar online sound
The best guitar tuning apps. Best Guitar Tuning Apps Tune the first string of your guitar online sound

Online guitar tuning is carried out using a special tuner application, which you can see on our website. What are its advantages? You don't need to spend money to buy a "real" device, just open the site and you can already tune an acoustic or electric guitar at home.

But before you figure out how to tune a six-string guitar, you need to know what we get at the finish. The standard guitar tuning looks like this: MI - LA - RE - SOL - SI - MI, in the tuner it is designated as E - A - D - G - H - E.

The list goes from the top (thickest) string to the bottom (thinner) string. Just in case, I will note that the extreme "mi" is not the same sound, together they make up the "octave" interval, that is, they sound at different heights. The guitar has such a small paradox: the higher the string is on the fretboard, the lower it sounds.

Standard guitar tuning

Note Frequency Hz
E Mi 329.63
5 A La
6 E Mi

Tuning your guitar using an online tuner

How to use the tuner:

  • We press the button "Allow".
  • We pull the string.
  • We pull or lower it in accordance with the table above.
  • If nothing is clear, then read the text below :).

If you do not see the guitar tuner above this inscription and the services below, then you need to download and install Adobe Flash Player and refresh the page after installation.

So, the required minimum of knowledge has been obtained, now let's figure out how to tune the guitar using the tuner. It is available in two modes: by ear and with a microphone.

Tuning by ear

How to tune your guitar by ear? Select the appropriate mode in the tuner and specify the scale, for example, standard. You see strings with lettering notes. Click on the one you want to tune, listen to how it sounds and make sure that the string on your guitar sounds exactly the same.

Smartphone Apps

Are you logged in from a mobile device and the tuners are not displayed? Then we recommend downloading a good, proven tuner to your smartphone or tablet.

A conditionally free tuner with great functionality (it can be expanded for money, but the standard tuning is free). The tuner features a higher tuning accuracy and simplicity. Recommended for those who can play in the standard tuning.

A free but limited version of the online tuner is available here.

How do you know they sound the same? There are two methods. First, hit the corresponding string on the tuner, listen, and then pick it up on your guitar. If the sound has not changed, then the string is tuned. Second, find on the Internet how the "unison" interval sounds, listen to it, remember and compare what you get with it.

If you still do not understand how to do this, we have prepared a visual video for you. But be that as it may, this is not an easy way for beginners. Then how to tune a guitar for a beginner? "

To do this, the tuner has a second mode, select it and indicate the required tuning. Now choose the string you want to tune and at this stage you will need a microphone from your computer. Bring it to the instrument (or the instrument to it, if the instrument is built-in, for example, in a laptop) and pull the string.

Now look at what the device is showing. You see an arrow - if the string is tuned correctly it will be in the middle. If it deviates to the left, then you have not reached, i.e. the sound is lower than necessary, if to the right, it means that they have been dragged.

What to do if the arrow jumps randomly or does not react to you in any way? Try moving the microphone closer or further. Remember, you don’t need to bring it close to the strings, but at the same time, don’t hold it too far. Ideal location 30-50 cm from the outlet (round hole under the strings on the body).

It seems that everything is simple, but just in case, we recorded a video for you.

Perhaps you wondered, why then the first mode if there is a second, which is much easier to use? Well, firstly, not everyone has a microphone, and it is impossible to use a tuner without it, and secondly, tuning the guitar by ear is very develops. So if you are a beginner guitarist, the ideal option is to first tune the instrument by ear and then check it through the tuner.

In a word, tuning a guitar at home is a simple process, but at first it can be difficult for a beginner. But, as practice shows, every time you get it faster and faster, and after a few attempts the question "How to tune the guitar correctly" will not bother you.

Types of guitar tuning

In the appendix, we decided to specify alternative tuning types for the guitar. they are used in different ways. For example, Drop D is more used in rock or hard rock styles. a Drop C In heavy metal and metal core.

Tuning Drop C

Frequency Hz

Guitar Tuning is an app already used by over 20 million users. The utility, using the microphone of your mobile device, will detect the sound even in noisy conditions, allowing you to adjust the optimal sound.

Specifications

Guitar Tuning app is used by both beginners and professionals. It allows users to tune their electric and regular guitars, bass guitars and ukuleles, mandolins and violas, balalaikas and banjos, cellos and violins, as well as many other stringed instruments, and with a different number of strings (including non-standard combinations).

Sound recognition technology has received honorary awards. Now, using an ordinary smartphone or tablet, you can tune your guitar accurately and without assistance.

Peculiarities

  • An accurate tuner based on your mobile device's microphone allows you to tune acoustic and electronic guitars.
  • Professional modes with maximum precision. Included in Advanced User Settings.

  • Simple controls. Recommended for use by tutors and guitar teachers, thanks to its clear response and signal history, as well as, most importantly, a large number of automatic settings - no extra clicks, string by string, super-fast, and so on).
  • Additional functions - metronome, chords, song practice with tabs, alternative guitar tunings, etc.

Tuning the guitar by ear is easy only for experienced musicians - beginners can spend a lot of time on this activity and still not achieve a result. Tuners - special devices for tuning guitars and other musical instruments - are assistants to novice musicians. Tuners are available not only as physical devices, but also as mobile applications for iOS and Android - many of them are fairly simple programs and are free.

Price: Free +

Guitar Tuna Is a handy utility that determines not only the note, but also the string that the musician tunes. The app is equally successful in tuning both an acoustic instrument and an electric guitar; it is capable of detecting sound even in conditions of increased noise (that is, at concerts).

Guitar tuning is just one of the program's functions . In addition to the tuner, there are three more sections:

  1. Metronome - with the help of it, beginners can learn to play smoothly.
  2. The games will teach you to recognize chords by ear and help you remember the fingerings of the main ones. If your own instrument has not yet been purchased, the beginner will be able to practice on the virtual one.
  3. Chord Library - in this section, the musician will be able to find the fingering of any, even the most complex chord.

Use Guitar Tuna for normal customization is free. For the ability to quickly tune more exotic instruments such as viola, ukelele, mandolin, cavakinho, you will have to pay (299 rubles for each instrument). The guitar tuning application requires the same amount for alternative guitar tunings - Drop D, Open C and others.

Guitar tuner

Price: Free

The developers of this application for tuning guitar on Android were guided by the goal of creating the most simple solution with an attractive interface, suitable for both experienced musicians and beginners alike. As a result Guitar Tuner received a tube design pleasant to every guitarist, as well as outstanding software capabilities.

The virtual tuner accurately detects the deviation of the string and shows on the smartphone screen in which direction and how much the peg should be twisted. Based on user reviews, one can judge that tuning a guitar using the application Guitar Tuner takes only 2 minutes. Sophisticated musicians are pleased with free access to alternative tunings, as well as the presence of a tuning fork capable of generating frequencies in the range from 1 to 22050 Hz.

Download the app Guitar Tuner It's completely free on Google Play - no paid extensions are provided.

n-Track Tuner

Price: Free +

nTrack Tuner- choice of sound engineers: it is very convenient that the main screen of the application is presented in the form of a spectrum analyzer. The arrow on the top points exactly to the frequency that the device is tracking - this technology allows you to quickly get rid of such an unpleasant thing as a microphone winding at concerts.

As a guitar tuner nTrack Tuner is also great: the program will determine the note played and indicate in which direction the tone should be adjusted - up (red bar) or down (green). The main advantage of the app is that it doesn't care what is being tuned - an acoustic guitar, bass or, say, a balalaika. It is enough for a musician to know the tuning - then tuning will be a matter of five minutes.

Free and paid versions of the application are provided - the Pro version gives the user additional options:

  1. Correct the tuner sensitivity - up to a tenth of a cent.
  2. Make a non-standard setting (for example, with a new reference note).
  3. Observe the change in the frequency spectrum over time in 3D using the "Sonogram" tab.

The only problem nTrack Tuner obtrusive advertising of various (sometimes not at all musical) topics. You can turn off ads only after payment.

Fine tuner

Price: Free

Fine Tuner- the easiest chromatic tuner for Android. On the main screen of the application, the user will see a scale of notes and an arrow. To tune, just select the desired note and play it on a musical instrument. The arrow will show how far the string's sound deviates from the template.

Have a minimalistic Fine Tuner there are a number of advantages:

  1. High tuning accuracy - up to 0.01 semitones.
  2. Effective in noisy environments.
  3. Fast response.
  4. Light weight of the application (less than a megabyte).
  5. Adaptation for screens of all sizes (starting from the smallest).

Fine Tuner has a drawback, moreover, a rather serious one: the application works in a limited frequency range (low middle), so it will not be possible to tune, for example, a bass guitar using it.

K amerton is a device that reproduces a reference note from which all other sounds on the instrument are tuned. There are the following common types of tuning forks: metal, wind and electronic.

1.1. Metal tuning fork

The metal tuning fork has come to us from time immemorial. It is reliable, accurate, durable, and just looks beautiful.

Most of these tuning forks give the note "A" of the first octave, which corresponds to the sound of the 1st string (strings are counted from bottom to top, the first string is the thinnest), pressed down at the 5th fret. The tuning fork is used in two modes: quiet and loud. Quiet mode is when you bring the oscillating tuning fork to your ear. And loud when you touch them, say, a piano or a guitar deck. At the same time, the volume of the sound increases noticeably.

So, let's get down to tuning the guitar.

  1. Take the tuning fork from the side where it has one tip and tap it.
  2. Listen to the note.
  3. You need to tune the first string so that, when pressed down at the 5th fret, it produces the same sound that a tuning fork gives - the note "la". Rotate the peg carefully so as not to overtighten or break the string.
  4. Have you set up? Now let's listen to the open (not pressed) 1st string. This is the note "mi". We want the 2nd string pressed down at the 5th fret to sound the same way - in the E note. Customize it. Please note that the E on the 1st and 2nd strings does not sound exactly the same - there is a difference in timbre (color of the sound).
  5. Now by analogy. Tune the 3rd string so it sounds like an open 2nd at the 4th fret. This is the C note.
  6. The 4th string at the 5th fret is like the 3rd open (G note).
  7. The 5th string at the 5th fret is like the 4th open (D).
  8. The 6th string at the 5th fret is like the 5th open (A).

Unlike metal, a wind tuning fork gives 6 sounds of open strings. This is convenient, but there are significant drawbacks. Such tuning forks are short-lived and gradually lose accuracy due to oxidation of the reeds.

  1. Blow into the hole corresponding to any string;
  2. Tune this string.

Although the error does not accumulate, checking the intervals and chords will still allow you to tune the guitar more accurately.

1.3 Electronic tuning fork

It can produce many different sounds, the set of which differs depending on the model. The photo shows a Korg instrument that successfully combines a tuning fork and a metronome in one body.

Most of these tuning forks can be used to calibrate the pitch of the first octave “A” reference note, relative to which the device adjusts the rest of the sounds. This can be useful if you play, say, with a piano tuned to 442 Hz (remember that the reference frequency is 440 Hz). Here's how to tune your guitar:

String Note name and octave Indication on the display (depending on the model of the device)
The device indicates the octaves according to the Helmholtz system The device denotes octaves in scientific notation The device indicates the note and number of the guitar string
1 "Mi" of the first octave e1 E4 E1
2 Small octave "C" b (possibly "h" *) B3 (possibly "H3" *) B2 (possibly "H2" *)
3 Small octave "salt" g G3 G3
4 Small octave "D" d D3 D4
5 "La" large octave A (capital letter "A") A2 A5
6 "Mi" big octave E (capital letter "E") E2 E6

* - there is confusion associated with the designation of the note "si". Part of the musical world is designated by the letter "B", and part - "H". Moreover, in the case of "H", the note B-flat is designated as "B". Most likely, your tuning fork will use the first designation, where "s" is "B".

Consider this point not only when tuning your guitar, but also when reading alphanumeric chord symbols.

Another interesting point concerns where the octave is on the neck of the guitar. You can often find information that the first open string is the "Mi" of the second octave, and all the others, respectively, refer to the first and the small. This is an erroneous statement. It came from the fact that the notes for the guitar are recorded an octave higher than the piano. I will dispel this statement. The first open string is the "Mi" of the first octave, as it is written in the table.

1.4. Other tuning fork options

The role of a tuning fork can be performed by a dial tone on a landline phone, the first note of a ringtone on a cell phone, or something else. Just use your imagination.

2. Piano tuning

Everything is simple here. The piano is the same tuning fork, you just need to know which key to press. The diagram shows which key corresponds to which open string.

How well the piano is tuned is another matter. Practice shows that it is usually not very good. In this case, you can take only one of the piano notes as a reference, and rebuild all the others from it, as is the case with a metal tuning fork. It is important that the strings of the guitar are first built with each other, and only then with the piano. If you tune a guitar for a synthesizer, then there is no problem in tuning (as long as the synthesizer is in good technical condition).

3. Tuning the guitar by the tuner

A tuner is a device that responds to the sound of your instrument and helps you tune it. The display shows various useful information, for example:

  • Note name and octave;
  • String name;
  • The vibration frequency of the note;
  • Recommendations for stretching or loosening the string;
  • The frequency of the reference note "A" of the first octave.

The most important characteristics for a tuner are the speed of the indicator response to the sound played and the size of the indicator step (the smaller the step, the more accurately you can tune the guitar). Tuners are different in terms of design and purpose. The following table summarizes the main varieties:

Tuner type Appointment pros Minuses
Neck clip-on tuner Acoustic concerts Aesthetic, lightweight, attach and forget Has moving parts that fail over time
Effects pedal Electric concerts at high volume Reacts only to the useful signal of the guitar, the noise in the hall does not interfere with it Bulky, works only through a cord connection
Small rectangular device powered by AA or AAA batteries Homework These tuners often have a built-in metronome, which is convenient for home workouts. Not convenient for use at concerts
Tuner mobile app Homework Free Not convenient for use at concerts, may ring

Now let's look at how to tune a guitar using the example of two tuners - mobile applications. The first of these is the popular GuitarTuna. This tuner is designed specifically for guitarists, as indicated by its guitar-style interface.

The app is capable of automatically detecting which string you are playing if the auto mode is on. It is on by default, but check it out anyway.

  1. Play the first string.
  2. Look at the display. Make sure the tuner recognizes the first string (the first string peg is highlighted). You will also see an indicator arrow sliding across the top of the screen and a green line extending from it. If the arrow and line are to the left of the center line, then the string needs to be pulled slightly. If on the right - weaken. It is necessary to ensure that the green line covers the central *. You can experimentally figure out which way to turn the peg.
  3. Tune the first string and do the same for the 2nd, 3rd, etc.

* - The string does not sound mathematically even, so the arrow dangles a little to the right and left and it may not be possible to completely close the middle strip. Just strive to close it as much as possible. The 5th and 6th strings are especially capricious in this respect. When setting them, you need to wait for the moment when the green bar becomes more or less stable. You may have to wait a second or two. First, you will see a curve, as if drawing a mountain across the entire screen, but then the indicator will find a conditionally stable position (it is “conditionally stable” because the arrow still dangles back and forth, but at a small amplitude). You should be guided by this conditionally stable position.

The most common mistakes beginner guitarists make when tuning their guitar:

  • The wrong peg rotates
  • Plays the wrong string
  • Adjusts in a too noisy place
  • Disabled "auto" mode and forgot about it
  • Plays a note, immediately muffles it, and only then rotates the peg (the peg must be rotated when the note is sounding, observing the behavior of the indicator arrow in real time).

In auto mode, the tuner determines the pitch by pitch. That is, he hears that now something close in frequency to the first string sounds and determines that this is the first string. If the guitar is very much out of tune, then this method does not work. Then you need to set the string manually.

  1. Disable the "auto" mode;
  2. Click on the picture of the peg of the required string, make sure that the peg is selected;
  3. Tune the string;
  4. Click on the picture of the tuner for another string and tune it. Tune the rest of the strings by analogy.

It is important not to forget to switch the string by clicking on the peg icon. Otherwise, there is a risk of overtightening and breaking the string.

Now let's try another tuner. It's called "DaTuner". He is a representative of a different concept of tuners. There is no highly specialized guitar information on the display, such as "which tuner to turn and which string we are currently tuning." But there is the name of the note, the octave and the frequency of the sound in hertz.

And now, using the table, we tune each string.

If you decide to buy a tuner-clothespin or something else, then I advise you to first practice in these two mobile applications. The point is, they are accurate and fast. Using them, you will understand what a real tuner should be, and when you come to the store, you will choose a high-quality device.

4. Conclusion

The tuner makes tuning your guitar much easier. In fact, it sets up the instrument for you. Someone may say that it is harmful to use it, because it does not develop your own ear for music. But I will object. Quite the opposite: hearing develops as the guitarist develops a standard for the correct sound of the instrument and over time he gets used to how it should be, and he becomes able to accurately tune the guitar by ear. If he starts with a tuning fork, then it is not a fact that his tuning will be accurate. For some reason, some people believe that tuning by ear is easy, but I personally have observed more than once how even musicians, whose ear for music cannot be doubted, cannot cope with this task.

Once you've mastered the tuning techniques presented in this article, it's time to deepen your understanding by reading my article "Professional Guitar Tuning". The fact is that although the tuner makes it possible to precisely tune open strings, this does not mean that your guitar will perfectly hold the tuning, say, in consonances of three sounds. For live performances, the precision of the tuner is more than sufficient, but in the studio more precision is required. This is especially important for electric guitars with distortion, where the slightest inaccuracy of tuning leads to "beats" and "out of tune" in fifths.

Kirill Pospelov was with you. If you have any questions about the article - write to me at

Guitar Tuner allows you to perform professional tuning of any string instrument on Android; its speed and accuracy will surprise many who want to try its functionality. Perfect for both beginner guitarists and music professionals. The application uses the device's microphone to realize its capabilities.

Tuner Features

The guitar tuner is already used by a large number of musicians. And this is not surprising.

Features and functions will delight many:

  • The tuner is characterized by special accuracy, convenience for different types of guitars.
  • In the characteristics, you can switch the program to professional mode, which allows highly accurate tuning of instruments for use by experienced musicians.
  • By changing the setup mode to functionality for beginners, you will get a convenient, intuitive interface that teachers advise to use.
  • The visual response is intuitive, with logs and history of previous signals being recorded.
  • An automatic configuration mode is available, which is very fast and does not require unnecessary clicks.

A little more about the capabilities of the program

In addition to what was described, there are many more features implemented in the Guitar Tuner. The metronome allows you to manually beat the rhythm using the monitor screen - while maintaining sound change. The application has built-in games that allow you to learn the necessary chords and train not only playing technique, but also your ear. At the same time, the internal library has all possible diagrams of previously known chords.

There is a function of learning some songs, melodies. Four built-in songs with trumpets help to test the skills of playing a stringed musical instrument. The application's audio recognition technology has won multiple awards. At the same time, the developers of the application are actively establishing feedback with their users, taking into account all the tips and suggestions.

During the tuning period, the background noise is automatically drowned out, which makes it possible to perform tuning in any room. Serious specialists worked on the development of the application: software developers, professional musicians and sound technicians.

And why exactly it?

It will help beginners to master the basics of playing the guitar and at first is able to replace the teacher or supplement his lessons. For complete beginners, there is a training video that will help you understand the tuner mechanism and tune your guitar for the first time. In addition to all types of guitars, the program also helps in tuning such instruments: mandolins, banjo, viola, violin, balalaika, cello and any other strings. The application has additional features that are implemented on a paid basis. But all basic settings work in the free version.

Have you decided to learn how to play the guitar? Not sure how to tune your instrument? Download the application for Android right now and have a lot of pleasure from using it. The guitar tuner is one of the best products in this direction, professional developers are constantly working to improve it. Install the app and enjoy learning to play the instruments!