Domra tuner – 3-String (EAD)
E-A-D · Standard
Press “Start tuner” – the browser will ask for microphone access. Sound is analysed on this device and never uploaded.
This free online tuner listens through your microphone and shows how close each string of your Domra is to 3-String (EAD) tuning (E-A-D). Play a string, watch the needle, and turn the peg until the meter glows green. If you prefer tuning by ear, tap any string card to hear its reference tone.
About 3-String (EAD) tuning
3-String (EAD) is the reference tuning for the Domra – the pitch the instrument normally ships at, and the starting point every other tuning on this page is measured from.
Played open, the strings sound E-A-D – from E4 at the bottom to D5 at the top, a span of 10 semitones. Step by step across the neck the intervals are a fourth, a fourth, and that is what decides how chord shapes fall under the hand.
Left open, the strings together spell Asus4. That is a by-product of how the intervals are laid out rather than the point of the tuning, but it does mean some chords need very few fingers here. See Asus4 shapes in this tuning →
The three-string domra is tuned EAD in fourths – the Russian academic standard, and the reason the domra and the balalaika are different instruments despite looking related. Fourths suit a melodic instrument played with a plectrum in continuous tremolo.
The domra is the melody voice of the Russian folk orchestra, and this tuning is what Andreyev's reconstruction of the instrument settled on in the 1890s.
History
Domra
The domra is mentioned in Russian sources from the 16th and 17th centuries as an instrument of the skomorokhi, the travelling minstrels. When Tsar Alexis banned their performances in 1648, the domra disappeared from Russian musical life almost entirely.
It was revived – some say reinvented – in 1896, when Vasily Andreyev, the father of the balalaika orchestra, came across an old round-bodied instrument in Vyatka province that he took to be a domra. With the craftsman Semyon Nalimov he built a three-string domra family for his orchestra. In 1908 Grigory Lyubimov developed a four-string domra tuned in fifths like the violin, which is still standard in Ukraine and Belarus.
Where the 3-String (EAD) tuning comes from
E-A-D in fourths is the tuning of the three-string domra that Andreyev and Semyon Nalimov developed in 1896. It is the standard tuning of Russian domra orchestras.
Other Domra tunings
Chords for this tuning
How do I tune my Domra to 3-String (EAD)?
Allow microphone access, pluck a string, and the tuner will detect it automatically. The needle shows whether the string is flat or sharp – adjust until the reading is within ±5 cents (E-A-D).
Which notes are used in 3-String (EAD) tuning?
3-String (EAD) tuning for Domra uses the notes E-A-D, listed from the lowest string to the highest.
Can I tune without a microphone?
Yes. Every string card plays a reference tone – tap it and match your string to the sound by ear.