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CalcChef

Guitar Tuner

Tune a guitar, bass or ukulele with your microphone: nearest string, pitch in Hz, cents flat or sharp, seven guitar tunings and a chromatic mode. How it works

Use the Guitar Tuner

Press Space to toggle listening

Click Mic to Start (or press Space)
Flat (b)In TuneSharp (#)

About the Guitar Tuner

Standard guitar tuning at A=440 is E2 82.41 Hz, A2 110.00 Hz, D3 146.83 Hz, G3 196.00 Hz, B3 246.94 Hz and E4 329.63 Hz. This guitar tuner listens through your microphone, names the nearest string, shows the pitch in hertz and the gap in cents, and says In tune when it is less than 5 cents from the string. Chromatic mode names any note instead.

Standard tuning at A=440 and A=442

InstrumentStringA=440A=442
GuitarE282.41 Hz82.78 Hz
GuitarA2110.00 Hz110.50 Hz
GuitarD3146.83 Hz147.50 Hz
GuitarG3196.00 Hz196.89 Hz
GuitarB3246.94 Hz248.06 Hz
GuitarE4329.63 Hz331.13 Hz
BassE141.20 Hz41.39 Hz
BassA155.00 Hz55.25 Hz
BassD273.42 Hz73.75 Hz
BassG298.00 Hz98.45 Hz
UkuleleG4392.00 Hz393.78 Hz
UkuleleC4261.63 Hz262.82 Hz
UkuleleE4329.63 Hz331.13 Hz
UkuleleA4440.00 Hz442.00 Hz

The tuner’s Standard preset for each instrument. Choosing A=442 multiplies every frequency by 442 ÷ 440.

The guitar tunings the tuner offers besides Standard

TuningStrings, low to high
Drop DD2 A2 D3 G3 B3 E4
Drop CC2 G2 C3 F3 A3 D4
Half-Step DownEb2 Ab2 Db3 Gb3 Bb3 Eb4
Open GD2 G2 D3 G3 B3 D4
Open DD2 A2 D3 F#3 A3 D4
DADGADD2 A2 D3 G3 A3 D4

Drop C and Open D follow Wikipedia’s list of guitar tunings and are offered for guitar only. On bass, Drop D is D1 A1 D2 G2, Half-Step Down is Eb1 Ab1 Db2 Gb2 and Open G is D1 G1 D2 G2. The bass has no DADGAD, which on four strings would only repeat Drop D. The ukulele has Standard plus the tuner’s own Drop D (G4 C4 D4 A4), Half-Step Down (Gb4 B3 Eb4 Ab4) and Open G (G4 B3 D4 G4).

How to use this tool

  1. Choose guitar, bass or ukulele, then a tuning and a reference pitch, or turn on Chromatic to tune to any note.
  2. Press the microphone button, or Space, and allow microphone access.
  3. Play one string and follow the readout: Flat means tighten the string, Sharp means loosen it, until it says In tune and the note turns green.
  4. No microphone? Press a string button to hear that string’s reference tone for 2.5 seconds and tune by ear.

Frequently asked questions

What are the standard guitar tuning frequencies?
At A=440: E2 82.41 Hz, A2 110.00 Hz, D3 146.83 Hz, G3 196.00 Hz, B3 246.94 Hz and E4 329.63 Hz, from the sixth string to the first. Each frequency is a whole number of equal-tempered semitones from A4 = 440 Hz.
What is the standard tuning for a bass or a ukulele?
The bass preset is E1 41.20 Hz, A1 55.00 Hz, D2 73.42 Hz and G2 98.00 Hz. The ukulele preset is G4 C4 E4 A4, the common re-entrant tuning in which the G string is tuned high.
What does A=442 mean?
It sets the pitch of the note A above middle C to 442 Hz instead of 440 Hz, which raises every string by about 8 cents. A=440 is the ISO standard concert pitch (ISO 16); some orchestras tune higher. Use A=442 only when you are playing with an instrument that does.
What is a cent?
One hundredth of a semitone, so an octave is 1200 cents. The tuner computes 1200 × log₂(heard Hz ÷ target Hz). Playing 83 Hz against E2 at 82.41 Hz is +12.4 cents, which is sharp.
How do I get a steady reading?
Play one string, mute the others and let it ring. The tuner reads only when the level bar shows about 4 or more, so keep the microphone close. Below that it says Listening until the first reading, and after that it keeps the last reading on screen. Read after the pluck settles: the trend line plots the last 20 readings, about two-thirds of a second, and goes flat when the pitch holds. A string far out of tune can be named as its neighbor, so turn on Chromatic to see the real note. A denied microphone shows a message under the meter.
Is the tuner recording me?
The microphone signal is analyzed in your browser while the tuner is on, and this page does not record it or send it anywhere. Press the microphone button again, or leave the page, to stop listening.

Tuning by ear and microphone

Allow the microphone, play one string and the tuner names the nearest string, the pitch in hertz and the gap in cents, with In tune, Flat: tighten the string, or Sharp: loosen the string. Chromatic mode names the nearest of all twelve notes instead, for any tuning. Each string has a play button that sounds a 2.5-second reference tone for tuning by ear, at A=440 or A=442.

Guitar has seven tunings. Drop D lowers only the low E string a whole step, to D2 at 73.42 Hz. Drop C (C2 G2 C3 F3 A3 D4) is Drop D a whole step lower, with the sixth string at C2 65.41 Hz. Half-Step Down lowers every string by 100 cents, to Eb2 at 77.78 Hz on the sixth. Open G (D2 G2 D3 G3 B3 D4) and DADGAD (D2 A2 D3 G3 A3 D4) retune three strings, Open D (D2 A2 D3 F#3 A3 D4) four.

Bass has Standard, Drop D, Half-Step Down and Open G (D1 G1 D2 G2), but no DADGAD, which on four strings is Drop D. The ukulele's Drop D, Half-Step Down and Open G are this tuner's own, not common ukulele tunings.

Pitch, target string and cents

The tuner estimates the pitch by autocorrelation on 2,048 samples about 30 times a second, and reads only when the signal is loud enough. It picks the string whose target is closest in hertz, or in Chromatic mode the nearest equal-tempered note, and shows the gap in cents:

cents = 1200 × log₂(heard Hz ÷ target Hz)

Example: playing 83 Hz against E2 at 82.41 Hz is +12.4 cents, sharp. The note turns green when it is less than 5 cents off, a warning color under 20 cents and red from 20 cents. A semitone is 100 cents.

At A=440 the guitar strings are E2 82.41, A2 110.00, D3 146.83, G3 196.00, B3 246.94 and E4 329.63 Hz. Choosing A=442 multiplies every target by 442 ÷ 440, so E2 becomes 82.78 Hz.

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