Violin tuner – Standard (GDAE)
G-D-A-E · 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 Violin is to Standard (GDAE) tuning (G-D-A-E). 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 Standard (GDAE) tuning
Standard (GDAE) is the reference tuning for the Violin – 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 G-D-A-E – from G3 at the bottom to E5 at the top, a span of 1 octave and 9 semitones. Step by step across the neck the intervals are a fifth, a fifth, a fifth, and that is what decides how chord shapes fall under the hand.
GDAE in perfect fifths has been the violin's tuning since the sixteenth century, and the entire technique of the instrument is built on it. Fifths give the four strings a range of well over three octaves in first position alone, and they let a player stop two adjacent strings with one finger to produce the double stops the repertoire is full of.
Violinists tune the A first, usually to an oboe or a piano, then tune the remaining strings by listening for a beatless fifth against it – a skill a meter can support but not replace.
History
Violin
The violin appeared in northern Italy in the early 16th century. Andrea Amati of Cremona (c. 1505–1577) is the maker of the oldest surviving violins, and the design he fixed has hardly changed since. Cremona then produced the most celebrated makers of all: Nicolò Amati, Antonio Stradivari (1644–1737) and Giuseppe Guarneri “del Gesù”. The Brescian maker Gasparo da Salò worked in the same period.
The violin was tuned in fifths from the beginning – the three-string early instruments already used them, and the fourth string completed the familiar G-D-A-E. What changed over the centuries was the setup: longer, angled necks and higher bridges in the 19th century for larger halls, and in the 20th century a steel E string and synthetic-core strings replacing gut.
Where the Standard (GDAE) tuning comes from
G-D-A-E in fifths has been the violin's tuning since the 16th century. The pitch has varied with the pitch standard, and composers occasionally used scordatura: Paganini, for example, had the soloist tune a semitone higher in his First Violin Concerto.
Other Violin tunings
Standard
How do I tune my Violin to Standard (GDAE)?
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 (G-D-A-E).
Which notes are used in Standard (GDAE) tuning?
Standard (GDAE) tuning for Violin uses the notes G-D-A-E, 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.